Cortazar

I'm in the middle of a Hopscotch re-read and I'd like to hear some opinions by other people who have also read it.

Or, in any case, anything else by Cortazar.

The best cortazar is a mediocre borges

His short stories are the shit

I'm sure I read something by him. But literary the only thing I can remember is that he had a cat named "Theodor W. Adorno". Which is funny by itself, but at least for me it makes him forgettable as a writer.

Yes. Can someone prove this wrong?

Hah. I am inclined to agree, in a way. Borges can do the same Cortazar does with half the words and half the references to literature and "pop" culture.

I had mostly read those, but Hopscotch was a pleasant surprise. Well. About pleasant. First time I read it from chapter 1 to 56 (I believe), the last one. And it didn't quite leave a lasting impression on me. I liked the France chapters a lot more. And at the very least ONE chapter was memorable enough. (In which the absurdity of life is discussed by the Club while they keep waiting for the inevitable moment in which La Maga discovers baby Rocamadour is dead).

Now I'm skipping around chapters in the recommended order and I'm really getting a lot more from it. The meta content of Morelli's theories strengthens the main narrative.

Think that just makes you a forgettable reader.

It was too stupid to bother with as they are almost nothing alike.

For personal favorite short stories of his there's "House taken over", "The Southern Highway", "Letter to a young lady in Paris" and "Miss Cora".

>I'm a nobody who thinks he has the right to shit on one of the greatest writers of his time and whose work Borges himself ranked higher than anyone else.

Could've just said 'no'

>ya soy axolotl

most meme short story of all time?

If you have the fucking audicity to smugly dismiss and shit on a great author then you don't deserve a straight answer.

I would say read more and ask yourself the question of "if Borges can see genius in his work then why can't I? Does the problem lie with me and my shit taste and understanding of literature"

>himself ranked higher than anyone else.
You totally dont know Borges...

And I'm sure you do

Could've just said 'no'

your mom couldn't

It's a secret to nobody that Cortazar was his protégé and that it was his only reason for placing Cortazar at the top of his favorites, which is why no commentator has ever taken it seriously

Which means it might not be his number one, but he certainly respected him.

Only good post you made. Rest is silly ignorant hero worship

since you seem to be a fan, what do you consider the best reading order?

I have to ask, what's the point of the Hopscotch gimmick? I had originally thought the novel could be read in any order - that I understand, but two orders - one linear and one nonlinear? What is the point of this? Are you expected to read it twice and compare the two experiences? If the novel is more dramatically satisfying in a nonlinear form why include the linear and vice versa. What about the novel justifies the gimmick? Why could the same practice not be applied to War & Peace? And why 'expendable chapters'? How does this differ from giving someone your book and saying "read the first half and then only finish it if it's really gripping you"?

I am curious, not trying to attack the book. I have not read it, I am interested, but the gimmick to me seems so pointless and the content of the novel sounds so generic for literary fiction.

He doesn't really have much in common with Borges. Bolaño was deeply influenced by both, and I think he is actually better than Cortazar, at least when it comes to novels. Savage Detectives is kind of like a less pretentious, more interesting and more beautiful Hopscotch. His short stories however are excellent.

why?
Cortazar will agree with that.


Talita>>>>>>>La Maga

To me, Cortazar feels like Borges with dragon dildos. Can be pretty nice from time to time.

I really don't see how anyone can dislike the Paris chapters or at least think there aren't some fantastic passages in there.

Can someone please give some arguments against the book that aren't "he's not borges?"

Finished my virgin 1-56 reading last week, my plan was to wait a while to do the jump around method and read Blow-Up in the meantime, but I might not be able to wait. It's incredible. The chapter where he walks the piano lady home was a bit too long, but I suppose that was the point, to show Horacio being all manipulative, stringing out the walk, acting like he doesn't want to get laid but then tries to. Was he crying at the end cause she thought he was being a dick, cause no one trusts him, or cause he got caught actually being a dick? Favorite chapter was probably the one with intercepting lines from the book he's reading, so you have to read every other line then go back to the start to see how the other line goes, kinda like the book itself

>Savage Detectives is kind of like a less pretentious, more interesting and more beautiful Hopscotch.
areyousureaboutthat.zip