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Julio CortazarArgentine novelist
Date of Birth: 26.08.1914
Country: ![]() |
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Biography of Julio Cortázar
Julio Cortázar was an Argentine writer who gained literary fame after the publication of his collection of short stories, "Bestiario" (Bestiary, 1951), which explores the relationship between the human and animal worlds. He was born on August 26, 1914 in Brussels, Belgium, but grew up in Argentina. After completing his education at a teacher's college in Buenos Aires in 1935, he worked as a teacher in a secondary school. In 1951, he left Argentina to escape the dictatorship of Juan Domingo Perón. He occasionally visited Argentina thereafter, but permanently resided in Paris, working as a translator for UNESCO.
Early Works and Literary Success
Cortázar's first publication, a collection of sonnets titled "Presencia" (Presence, 1938), foreshadowed some of the important elements of his future prose, such as the interplay between reality and fantasy, the search for the absolute, and the desire for harmony between man and the universe. He then published a dramatic poem called "Los reyes" (The Kings, 1949), a paraphrase of the myth of the Minotaur. His literary fame came after the publication of "Bestiario" (Bestiary, 1951), a collection of short stories that delves into the relationship between the human and animal worlds.
Later Works and Legacy
In his first novel, "Los premios" (The Winners, 1960), Cortázar explores the perennial human dissatisfaction using the traditional image of a ship of fools: a group of lottery winners embark on a sea voyage that turns into a journey into the depths of their own consciousness. In the short and ironic stories of "Historias de Cronopios y de Famas" (Stories of Cronopios and Famas, 1969), the writer focuses on the illogical conventions of human life. "Rayuela" (Hopscotch, 1963), hailed by critics as the "first great Latin American novel," is structured in a way that contains multiple narratives and allows the reader to choose their preferred path.
Cortázar's works continue to be influential and celebrated. He passed away in Paris on February 12, 1984.