Julio Cortzar was a wonderful storyteller. This author touched us with O Jogo da Amarelinha and above all taught us to understand that everyday life also has that special, magical and unforgettable side, few voices in Spanish-American literature have emerged so strongly to inspire entire generations as this great storyteller. literature.
Very recently, it has been 35 years since his loss from leukemia, however, today the surname Cortzar is still considered one of the most important innovators in the art of writing, although it is very common to hear that often when it comes to telling stories, it is very difficult to do something new, the Argentine master has succeeded.
- He was a recognized artist when it came to shape the tale with a strange poetic prose.
- In addition.
- Through his often surreal style.
- He managed to bring us closer to the lights and shadows of our daily life.
- With the hardest but also with the most inspiring Aspects.
- For example.
- The Bestiary remains today a masterpiece through which time never passes.
- As well as our admiration.
Your bibliography is immense, have you left us many legends, novels, essays, poetry, plays?He went one step further in the literary field, and left us, in turn, the path traveled by a man who has always been faithful to his ideals. He even decided on French citizenship to protest against the military government of his country, Argentina.
“Behind this sad spectacle of words, the hope that you will read me, that I will not die entirely in your memory, trembles indescribably. -Julio Cort-zar-
Julio was born in 1914 in Belgium, coinciding exactly with the start of World War I, his family, of Argentine origin, remained in Europe for several years thanks to his father’s work: he was Argentina’s ambassador to Belgium.
Therefore, it was not until five years after Julio Cortzar first visited the land of his parents, the second country that, like France, will mark his personal and literary life.
His training and youth was spent in Argentina, he studied teaching and, for some years, worked as a teacher in small towns, however, in 1951, he returned to his favorite city, Paris, on a scholarship. He long settled as a UNESCO translator and continued his literary work.
At the same time, it should be mentioned that before leaving Buenos Aires he had already published important works such as his famous Bestiario, he had also collaborated in several magazines such as Realidade and Os Anais de Buenos Aires, directed by Jorge Luis Borges.
However, it was in the sixties that his name began to shine with his own light, Julio Cortzar has become a true reference in the world of Spanish-American letters, his name has already appeared alongside personalities such as García Márquez, Juan Rulfo, Mario. Vargas Llosa, Mario Benedetti and his object of admiration, Jorge Luis Borges.
He brought his sensitive and innovative style and his great social awareness, identifying from the beginning with the marginalized classes.
Julio Cortzar never symbolized the discreet and introverted intellectual classic, in his youth he participated in several demonstrations against Peronism, however, it was not until the 1960s that he demonstrated a more energetic and confident activism, until then and in order to preserve his work, he has tried to get his literary productions to echo his voice and thoughts.
Books such as The Other Shore or the New Taken House symbolize these convulsive times through which Argentina crossed at that time, however, as you begin to know and have access to the public sphere, a firmer tone The profile emerges. He went to Cuba to meet Fidel Castro, attended the inauguration of Salvador Allende and did not hesitate to support the Sandinista movement in Nicaragua.
Suddenly, he became a writer-complainant who inspired thousands of people and also sought to defend human rights, began giving lectures and publishing such remarkable books as Chile: the Black Dossier (Dossi Chile: the Black Book, in free translation), where he spoke openly about Pinochet’s regime. It should be noted that his activism was not well accepted by the Argentine government, to the point that he was the subject of an investigation by the Directorate of Police Intelligence.
The pressure (and even the persecution), finally, led Julio Cortzar to apply for French nationality to settle in his favorite city: Paris, where he lived his last years until after the age of 69, he finally left this world because of leukemia .
‘The absurd thing is to go out in the morning and find the bottle of milk at the door and be calm because yesterday the same thing happened and tomorrow it’s going to happen too. ‘ – Julio Cort-zar-
We are not wrong when we say that the publication of O Jogo Da Amarelinha in 1963 marked a before and after in Latin American literature. Cortzar knew how to achieve something never seen in this work.
His gift for the creation of fables, the renewal of language plans, the technical-stylistic universe and that of argumentation opens the door to a new genre of which he is the sole author.
For starters, anyone who has read O Jogo Da Amarelinha knows that there are two ways to delve into its pages. We can do this in a “normal” way, that is, by reading chapters 1 through 56. But, as Cortzar himself explains, we can also read differently, following his ‘guidance table’.
In that case, we would begin in chapter 73 and follow the order indicated at the end of each chapter, nothing more and nothing less than that. The recommendation is to read both ways to participate in this game, of this literary revelation with which it is possible to discover perspectives and play with reality.
The game Amarelinha was written in poetic prose, so one of the objectives of its author was not only to surprise us with its innovative structure, the ultimate goal is to make the reader think, leading him to see how the story can be rewritten, modified, rewritten and even destroyed.
Cortzar avoids conventional language to enter the most emotional realm of our mind through word games, punctuation changes and the use of neologisms.
The character of the book is Horacio Oliveira. C he is an intellectual character, a little cold and analytical, in the end he is a man in crisis who certainly represents a large part of the population, however, his world changes when, suddenly, he finds another unforgettable being of the literary world: Maga.
He is pure, emotional, spontaneous and free of conventionalisms, containing the very essence of surrealism that Cortzar cultivated in French lands.
This character is a challenge for society itself. It is the opposite of Horacio Oliveira, it is an exceptional being, but primitive at the same time; who curiously wishes to have the gift of the word while the intellectuals themselves envy their intuition, magic and simplicity.
The game Amarelinha symbolizes, in essence, the two spheres of our own society: intellectual and emotional, rigid and revolutionary, existentialism and conventionalism. Few books are so essential to challenge our minds and make us reflect on a reality in which time does not seem to pass.
Julio Cortzar presented us with works as unforgettable as they are essential in the history of literature. Books such as O Jogo da Amarelinha and Bestiorio are two wonders that time will never pass through, as well as our admiration for this incomparable style.