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Letters from Julio
ByPublisher Description
A collection of letters by one of the greatest writers of the last hundred years, Letters from Julio spans nearly three decades of Cortázar's life.
"He was, perhaps without trying, the Argentine who made the whole world love him."
— Gabriel García Márquez
Julio Cortázar's extraordinary novels and short stories changed the course of 20th-century literature. In this first volume of Letters from Julio, readers will find Cortázar, candid and mischievous, describing his life, reflecting on art, and practically bouncing with questions for his interlocutors. These letters reflect a warm spirit coupled with a uniquely inventive and daring mind. They traverse Cortázar's move from Argentina to Paris, his love affair and the first years of a lifelong friendship with Edith Aron (the inspiration for La Maga in Hopscotch), his romance and marriage to Aurora Bernárdez, his friendships with artists from Alejandra Pizarnik to Luis Buñuel to Mario Vargas Llosa. In letters to his translators and fellow cronopios, Cortázar gives insights into the creation of his early work and describes his reactions to the poems and novels that inspired him. Passionate and tremendously generous, Cortázar's high tempo prose is bound to delight readers, from the most devoted of devotees to burgeoning bibliophiles who have not yet discovered Cortázar's fiction.
"He was, perhaps without trying, the Argentine who made the whole world love him."
— Gabriel García Márquez
Julio Cortázar's extraordinary novels and short stories changed the course of 20th-century literature. In this first volume of Letters from Julio, readers will find Cortázar, candid and mischievous, describing his life, reflecting on art, and practically bouncing with questions for his interlocutors. These letters reflect a warm spirit coupled with a uniquely inventive and daring mind. They traverse Cortázar's move from Argentina to Paris, his love affair and the first years of a lifelong friendship with Edith Aron (the inspiration for La Maga in Hopscotch), his romance and marriage to Aurora Bernárdez, his friendships with artists from Alejandra Pizarnik to Luis Buñuel to Mario Vargas Llosa. In letters to his translators and fellow cronopios, Cortázar gives insights into the creation of his early work and describes his reactions to the poems and novels that inspired him. Passionate and tremendously generous, Cortázar's high tempo prose is bound to delight readers, from the most devoted of devotees to burgeoning bibliophiles who have not yet discovered Cortázar's fiction.
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About Julio Cortázar
Julio Cortázar (1914-1984), was born in Brussels to Argentine parents, grew up in Buenos Aires from the age of four, and moved to Paris in 1951. From 1935 to 1945 he taught in secondary schools in several Argentine towns. From 1945 to 1951 he worked as a literary translator for Argentine publishing houses, translating the complete prose works of Edgar Allan Poe, as well as works by André Gide, Walter de la Mare, Daniel Defoe, and Jean Giono. He refused a chair at the University of Buenos Aires because of his opposition to the Perón regime, and moved to France, where he lived until his death.
Active in Latin American politics, he visited Cuba in 1961 and Nicaragua in 1983; he donated his Prix Médicis prize money for his novel Libro de Manuel to the United Chilean Front. During most of his years in France he worked for four months as a translator from French and English into Spanish for UNESCO and devoted the rest of the year to his writing and other loves such as the jazz trumpet. His works include Autonauts of the Cosmoroute, Hopscotch, Blow-Up and Other Stories, Diary of Andrés Fava, All Fires the Fire, From the Observatory, We Love Glenda So Much, A Certain Lucas, Around the Day in Eighty Worlds, and Cronopios and Famas.
Translator bios:
Anne McLean studied history in London, Ontario, and literary translation in London, England. She translates Latin American and Spanish novels, short stories, memoirs, and other writings by authors including Héctor Abad, Javier Cercas, Julio Cortázar, and Juan Gabriel Vásquez. Recent translations include Until August by Gabriel García Márquez (Knopf) and a co-translation with Victor Meadowcroft of Evelio Rosero’s Way Far Away (New Directions). She is based in Toronto.
Sarah Moses was born in Toronto in 1980. Moses's collection of short fiction, Strange Water, was published by 1366 Books/Guernica Editions in 2024. Her translations include Tender Is the Flesh, Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird, and The Unworthy, by Agustina Bazterrica. Die, My Love, by Ariana Harwicz, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, the Premio Valle Inclán, and the Best Translated Book Award. The film adaptation, by Lynne Ramsay, premiered in 2025. Her most recent publication is Diving Board by Tomás Downey.
Active in Latin American politics, he visited Cuba in 1961 and Nicaragua in 1983; he donated his Prix Médicis prize money for his novel Libro de Manuel to the United Chilean Front. During most of his years in France he worked for four months as a translator from French and English into Spanish for UNESCO and devoted the rest of the year to his writing and other loves such as the jazz trumpet. His works include Autonauts of the Cosmoroute, Hopscotch, Blow-Up and Other Stories, Diary of Andrés Fava, All Fires the Fire, From the Observatory, We Love Glenda So Much, A Certain Lucas, Around the Day in Eighty Worlds, and Cronopios and Famas.
Translator bios:
Anne McLean studied history in London, Ontario, and literary translation in London, England. She translates Latin American and Spanish novels, short stories, memoirs, and other writings by authors including Héctor Abad, Javier Cercas, Julio Cortázar, and Juan Gabriel Vásquez. Recent translations include Until August by Gabriel García Márquez (Knopf) and a co-translation with Victor Meadowcroft of Evelio Rosero’s Way Far Away (New Directions). She is based in Toronto.
Sarah Moses was born in Toronto in 1980. Moses's collection of short fiction, Strange Water, was published by 1366 Books/Guernica Editions in 2024. Her translations include Tender Is the Flesh, Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird, and The Unworthy, by Agustina Bazterrica. Die, My Love, by Ariana Harwicz, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, the Premio Valle Inclán, and the Best Translated Book Award. The film adaptation, by Lynne Ramsay, premiered in 2025. Her most recent publication is Diving Board by Tomás Downey.
Other books by Julio Cortázar
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