Cortázar
Cortázar Beginnings

 Born August 26, 1914 in Brussels, Belgium
 Buenos Aires (1918-1951)
 Father abandons family – Los Venenos
 Mother selects readings – Jules Verne
& begins imaginary writing
"I spent my
childhood in a haze
full of goblins and
elves, with a sense of
space and time that
was different from
everybody else's.“
(Cortázar in Plural)
“Buenos Aires was some kind of punishment”
Cortazar Life

 1935 to 1945 - French Literature Teacher in Buenos
Aires high schools
 1951 – emigrates to France from opposition Juan
Domingo Perón
 First collection short stories Bestiary
 Translated Robinson Crusoe & Edgar Allan Poe into
Spanish under United Nations
 Active in Latin American politics -visits Cuba in 1961
and Nicaragua in 1983
Mahfouz

 Born in Cairo in 1911
 Cairo is a huge influence on his works
 Published his first novel in 1939, published 10 more
before Revolution of 1952
 Strict Muslim Upbringing
 Stopped writing after this for several years
 Every work is political in nature
 Books banned in many Islamic countries for being
blasphemous
 Assassination attempt
Commemoration

 Cairo (hometown)
 100 years from birth
 2011 declared Mahfouz year
Rayuela

 Rayuela (1966, Hopscotch) – masterpiece
 Anti-novel using stream of consciousness with
multiple endings
 Reflection of life in that protagonist desperately searching
for his life's purpose in South America and Europe
(Exstitiental??)
 Reader re-arrange chapters “Table of Instruction”
Themes

Cortazar
 Quest for identity
- Hopscotch
 Hidden reality
behind the
everyday lives
 Existential
trouble
Mahfouz
 Existentialism
 Stream of
Consciousness
 Modernism
Mahfouz Influences

 Proust, Tolstoy, Chekov, Ibsen
 Taha Hussein, Muhammed Husayn Haykal
 Henri Bergson
 Egyptian nationalism & politics
 Socialism- Al-Khalili and New Cai
 El-Muwaylili – Arabic novel
Influences of Cortazar

 Jean Cocteau´s Opio
 French Surrealism- sub-consciousness & imagery
 Jules Verne (science fiction)
 Edgar Allan Poe (translations)
 James Joyce(stream of consciousness)
 Borges- similar themes of fantasy/
perception of reality – Los Reyes
“opened doors for five
generations of Arab
novelists.”
Impacts

Cortazar
 Modern
Egyptian/Middle
Eastern Literature
 Alaa Al Aswany
 Bridged gap between
Arabic literature and
European and
American traditions
Mahfouz
 Pioneer Latin Boom &
magical realism genre
 w/ Marquez & Carlos
Fuentes
 Rayuela opened the door
to linguistic innovation
of Spanish language and
influenced deeply Latin
American writers
Magical Realism
