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At the time of Cortázar's birth, Belgium was occupied by the German troops of Kaiser Wilhelm II. After German troops arrived in Belgium, Cortázar and his family moved to Zürich where María Herminia's parents, Victoria Gabel and Louis Descotte (a French national), were waiting in neutral territory.
Julio Cortazar, Argentine novelist and short-story writer who combined existential questioning with experimental writing techniques in his works. His masterpiece is the antinovel Hopscotch (1963). Learn more about Cortazar’s life and works, including his other notable books.
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Jun 4, 2024 · Julio Cortazar was born to Julio Jose Cortazar and Maria Herminia Descotte in Belgium, Brussels. His family, originally belonging to Argentina, relocated to Zurich shortly after his birth. For two years, the family moved around Europe, settling at various cities including, Zurich, Geneva and Barcelona.
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Spanish literary innovator Julio Cortázar played a key role in the growth of twentieth-century Spanish American literature as one of the seminal figures of the “Boom,” a surge of excellence and innovation in Latin American literatureduring the 1950s and 1960s. Like Gabriel García Márquez and other contemporary Latin American writers, Cortázar combi...
Early Writing Career in Buenos Aires Cortázar was born on August 26, 1914, in Brussels, Belgium, to Argentine parents, Julio José Cortázar and his wife, María Herminia Descotte de Cortázar. His parents were on a business trip when they became caught up in World War I, as Belgium was invaded by Germany and occupied during the war. In 1918, after the...
Together with fellow writers such as Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel García Márquez, and Carlos Fuentes, Cortázar helped bring Latin American literature and politics to international prominence. Author of the short story that inspired Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 film Blow-Up (1966), Cortázar was also well-known for his novel Hop-scotch. With its elabo...
In Julio Cortázar, Terry J. Peavler writes, “Julio Cortázar thus sought, as he himself declared, to be a Che Guevaraof literature.” Cortázar viewed writing as a game of sorts—“a contest with words.” Critics believed that his novels and short stories bore the Latin American literary stamp of richness in language and imagery. The Invading Creature Co...
Research the government of Argentina during the 1950s as led by Juan Perón. How did it treat artists and writers? From Cortázar's writings, can you conclude what his political opinions may have been?What is “magical realism”? Could Cortázar's work fit that label? Explain why or why not. Also, some writers object to the term “magical realism.” Why do you think that is?As part of a group, read several short stories by the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, such as “The Garden of Forking Paths” (1941). In discussions, talk about these questions: How does Cortázar...Research some of the French theorists that were influential during the 1950s, such as Jacques Lacanand Claude Lévi-Strauss. How would you describe their theories? What do they say about art, metaph...Books
Alazraki, Jaime and Ivar Ivask, eds. The Final Island: The Fiction of Julio Cortázar. Tulsa: University of Oklahoma Press, 1978. Colas, Santiago. Postmodernity in Latin America: The Argentine Paradigm. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1994. Garfield, Evelyn Picon. Julio Cortázar. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1975. Peavler, Terry J. Julio Cortázar. Boston: Twayne, 1990. Stavans, Ilan. Julio Cortázar: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne, 1996.
Born in Belgium to Julio José and María Descotte de Cortázar, Cortázar learned French along with his native Spanish, and his French-Argentine duality underlies all his work.
Nov 15, 2021 · Julio Cortázar was born in 1914 in Belgium, almost at the exact same time as the start of World War I. His family was Argentinian, but spent a few years in Europe due to his father’s job as the Argentinian ambassador in Brussels. Five years later, Cortázar first visited his parents’ country.
Argentine writer Julio Cortázar, a major figure in twentiethcentury Latin American literature, is best known for his masterful short stories and his novel Rayuela (1963; Hopscotch, 1966). Cortázar was born to Argentine parents in Belgium on August 26, 1914.
