Blow-Up And Other Stories

A young girl spends her summer vacation in a country house where a tiger roams . . . A man reading a mystery finds out too late that he is the murderer’s intended victim . . .Originally published in hardcover as End of the Game and Other Stories the fifteen stories collected here-including “Blow-Up” which was the basis for Michelangelo Antonioni’s film of the same name-shows Julio Cortázars nimble capacity to explore the shadowy realm where the everyday meets the mysterious perhaps even the terrible. Review Praise for Blow-Up and Other Stories[Cortázar] is a unique storyteller. He can induce the kind of chilling unease that strikes like a sound in the night.-TimeJulio Cortázar is a stunning writer. It is difficult to imagine how he could improve as a writer of short stories.-The Christian Science MonitorA glittering showcase for a daring talent . . . Julio Cortázar is a dazzler.-San Francisco ChronicleA first-class literary imagination at work.-The New York Times Book ReviewCortázar displays throughout his stories the ability to elevate them above the condition of those gimmicky tales which depend for effect solely on a twist ending. His genius here lies in the knack for constructing striking artistically right subordinate circumstances out of which his fantastic and metaphysical whimsies appear normally to spring.-Saturday Review From the Inside Flap A young girl spends her summer vacation in a country house where a tiger roams...A man reading a mystery finds out too late that he is the murderers victim...In the stories collected here -- including Blow-Up on which Antonioni based his film -- Julio Cortazar explores the boundary where the everyday meets the mysterious perhaps even the terrible. This is the most brilliant and celebrated book of short stories by a master of the form. From the Back Cover A young girl spends her summer vacation in a country house where a tiger roams...A man reading a mystery finds out to late that he is the murderers victim... In the stories collected here-including Blow-Up on which Antonioni based his film- Julio Cortazar explores the boundary where the everyday meets the mysterious perhaps even the terrible. This is the most brilliant and celebrated book of short stories by a master of the form. About the Author JULIO CORTÁZAR was born in Brussels to Argentinian parents in 1914 was raised in Argentina and in 1952 moved to Paris where he continued to live for the rest of his life. He was a poet translator an amateur jazz musician as well as the author of several novels and volumes of short stories. Ten of his books have been published in English The Winners Hopscotch (which won the National Book Award) Blow-Up and Other Stories Cronopios and Famas 62 A Model Kit A Change of Light We Love Glenda So Much and A Certain Lucas. He received the Prix Médicis Award (France 1974) and the Rubén Darío Order of Cultural Independence (Nicaragua 1983) among other accolades. Considered one of the great modern Latin American authors he died in Paris in February 1984. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. CONTINUITY OF PARKS He had begun to read the novel a few days before. He had put it down because of some urgent business conferences opened it again on his way back to the estate by train he permitted himself a slowly growing interest in the plot in the characterizations. That afternoon after writing a letter giving his power of attorney and discussing a matter of joint ownership with the manager of his estate he returned to the book in the tranquility of his study which looked out upon the park with its oaks. Sprawled in his favorite armchair its back toward the door-even the possibility of an intrusion would have irritated him had he thought of it-he let his left hand caress repeatedly the green velvet upholstery and set to reading t