Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0271 - Julio Cortazar's Worlds

Along with his compatriot J.L. Borges, Julio Cortazar's writings altered contemporary literature. His fictions are relentlessly self-reflexive: they problematize the representation of reality through various linguistic and stylistic devices, which the course will study in detail. By reconstructing the literary traditions, cultural situations and historical moments in which his texts were produced and circulated we will also ascertain his impact. A particular rich case study will be his short-story "Las babas del diablo,' translated as "Blow-Up." The story became the basis for an intersemiotic translation, Antonioni's film "Blowup," which in turn was "re-made" by De Palma as "Blow Out." We will also pay attention to his collection of flash fiction, Cronopios and Famas, given how increasingly prevalent this genre has become due to the Internet.

Independent Work Multiple Cultural Perspectives Writing and Research Students are expected to spend 6-8 hours weekly in preparation and work outside of class time.