Line #6 Creator/JulioCortazar


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Julio_Cortazar_foto_Sara_Facio-780711_3436.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:250:''"I realized that searching was my symbol, the emblem of those who go out at night with nothing in mind, the motives of a destroyer of compasses."'']]
3	->''"But what is memory if not the language of feeling, a dictionary of faces and days and smells which repeat themselves like the verbs and adjectives in a speech, sneaking in behind the thing itself,into the pure present, making us sad or teaching us vicariously.."''
4	-->-- '''Julio Cortázar''', ''Hopscotch''
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6	Julio Cortázar (August 26, 1914-February 12, 1984) is an Argentinian writer, famous for being one of the founders of the Latin American Boom. Actually, though he was from Argentina, he spent most of his time outside the country, first because his family lived in Europe (he was born in a Belgium embassy during the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI German occupation]]) and later in a self-imposed exile in France because of his dislike of the Peron’s administration. He became a supporter of leftism (including the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua) and critic of the human rights violations in Latin America. He died in 1984 of leukemia.
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8	His work is amply revered by the Latin American critics and writers, full of {{Mind Screw}}s around every corner, modernism worthy of Creator/JamesJoyce, wordplay, tracts of stream of consciousness everywhere and bend or just break any convention of literature itself. Some of his most famous works are ''Rayuela'' (''Literature/{{Hopscotch}}'', 1963), ''62, modelo para armar'' (''62: A Model Kit'', 1968), ''Bestiario'' (1951) and ''Final del Juego'' (1956).
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10	Some of his writings (particularly his short stories) have influenced movies, like ''Weekend'' of Jean-Luc Godard or ''Film/BlowUp'' of Michelangelo Antonioni.
11	----
12	!!Tropes about him and his work[[note]]except ''Hopscotch'', which has its own page[[/note]]:
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14	%%* AllJustADream: Played with in [[spoiler:"The Night Face Up".]]
15	* AuthorAppeal: France and jazz appear in a lot of stories.
16	%%* BilingualBonus: Present in all his writings.
17	%%* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler:Hélène in ''62: A Model Kit'']]
18	* ClosedCircle: "South Highway" uses a long traffic jam... a '''very''' long traffic jam. ''The Winners'' uses a ship in the sea.
19	%%* CloudCuckooLander: A lot of characters in a lot of works. Arguably, Cortázar himself.
20	%%* ContemplateOurNavels
21	%%* DownerEnding
22	* DramaticSlip: One of the drabbles in "Unusual Occupations" (from the book ''Cronopios and Famas'').
23	* GainaxEnding: He was also fond of MindScrew type of endings for some of his stories.
24	%%* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:"Axolotl"]].
25	%%* GratuitousEnglish
26	%%* GratuitousFrench
27	%%* HauntedHouse: "House Taken Over"... possibly.
28	%%* HumanSacrifice: [[spoiler:“The Night Face Up”.]]
29	* IncompatibleOrientation: A key plot point in [[spoiler:''62: A Model Kit'']] is this dynamic between Juan and Hélène. [[MindScrew Maybe]].
30	%%* LosingYourHead: One of the drabbles in "Unstable Stuff" (from the book ''Cronopios and Famas'').
31	%%* MagicRealism
32	* MaintainTheLie: In "The Health of the Sick", to not give a woman a shock, her family has to pretend that her son is still alive.
33	* {{Mayincatec}}: Curiously averted in "The Night Face Up". You don’t hear about the Olmecs in your average short story.
34	%%* MindScrew
35	* NoNameGiven: The characters in "South Highway" are only referred by the cars they drive.
36	* NothingIsScarier: Whatever the presence in "House Taken Over" is, it's never described, and that is very, very unsettling.
37	* OlderThanTheyLook: The picture at the top of this page was taken in 1967. Yes, he was 52-53 years old at the time.
38	%%* OldShame: A book of sonnets under the pseudonym Julio Denis.
39	* PerfectlyCromulentWord: 'Cronopio' is the most famous word invented by Cortázar. Supposedly it refers to someone who is naive and idealistic, disorganized, unconventional, and sensitive (he even refers to them as 'creatures').
40	* PunBasedTitle: ''Around the Day in Eighty Worlds'', ''A Manual for Manuel'', etc. They work better in Spanish, obviously.
41	%%* PungeonMaster: Cortázar himself.
42	* RiddleForTheAges: Who or what occupied the house in "House Taken Over"?
43	%%* SchrodingersButterfly: Mercilessly used in "The Night Face Up".
44	* SmokingIsCool: Cortázar always had a cigarette at hand.
45	%%* SwitchingPOV: "Axolotl" does it smoothly right in the middle; "Miss Cora", on the other hand, does it every 100-200 words.
46	* VerbalTic: Cronopios sure like to say 'cronopio' a lot.

Context Creator / JulioCortazar