Books by Julio Cortazar

The story of two young writers whose lives are playing themselves out in Buenos Aires and Paris to the sounds of jazz and brilliant talk, Hopscotch, written in 1963, was the first hypertext novel.

Cortazar's stories are descriptions of ordinary moments in which something impossible quietly takes place. His characters are all innocent: things happen to them but, if they are responsible for what takes place, their responsibility is not revealed to them. They must make sense of fated events.

Novellemesteren fra Buenos Aires Julio Cortázars fascination for metroen begyndte, da han som 8-9-årig jævnligt tog med sin bedstemor fra forstaden Banfield ind til Buenos Aires for at aflægge visit hos nogle venner. For dernede, i underverdenen, er alting anderledes. Lugtene, lydene og det matte, døde lys – et fastfrosset, moderne helvede. En sort handske på en metalstang, der umærkeligt sniger sig ind på en brun handske. Et møde i en rude mellem to spejlbilleder. En passagerkontrol, der afslører, at der ved dagens slutning er gået flere mennesker ned i metroen, end der er kommet op igen; og en mand, der sætter sig for at opklare mysteriet.

With his "counter-novel" Hopscotch and his unforgettable short stories, Julio Cortazar earned a place among the most innovative authors of the twentieth century.