Argentine Authors Overview

Julio Cortazar
-Born in Argentia, 1914-1984
-Grew up in Buenos Aires
-Taught French literature at the University of Cuyo
-Jailed briefly for political activities during Peron administration
-Left Argentina in 1952--move to Paris, France
-Worked as a free-lance interpreter


Major Themes:
- Concerned with problems and intangibles of human life (that part of the human condition we can't easily explain or define)
-Uses fantasy and surrealsim to stir up the realities buried under the habits of daily life
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Jorge Luis Borges
-Born in Argentina in 1899, died 1986
-Ancestors fought in Argentine wars for independence
-Spoke both English and Spanish (leanred French, German, Latin)
-Worked as a librarian; in 1955 was appointed director of National Library in Buenos Aires


Themes and Tropes:
-Borges's most important symbol of life is that of a circular labyrinth
-"What if" tales (what if we were all immortal? what if we had simulataneous vision of all things?)
-Often works are about the art of writing itself
-Stories within stories
-complex plots / puzzles / traps to symbolize the chaos of reality