Les gens simples, leurs lectures et leur superstitions laissaient transparaître une réalité mal définie, et, tout jeune, j’appris que le loup-garou sortait les nuits de pleine lune, que la mandragore était un fruit de la potence, qu’il se passait dans les cimetières des chose a faire dresser les cheveux sur la tête, que les ongles et les cheveux des morts poussaient interminablement, qu’il y avait dans notre maison un souterrain ou personne ne se risquerait a descendre, jamais.

Ma maison, vue dans la perspective de l’enfance, était elle aussi gothique, non par son architecture mais par l’accumulation de terreurs qui naissaient des choses et des croyances, des couleurs mal éclairés et des conversations des grandes personnes après dîner. Cortazar invokes the cultural isolation of the region, and the fact that, from an early age, he was brought up, with a stress on imaginative freedom rather than strictness of knowledge, “par une mère éminemment gothique dans ses goûts littéraires et par des maîtresses d’école qui confondaient pathétiquement imagination et savoir.” His account of the house is full of the Gothic: In that piece, he describes the fantastique tradition of the writers from the river River Plate, which links Argentina and Uruguay: Lugones, Quiroga, Borges, Adolfo Bioy, Silvina Ocampo and Felisberto Hernandez.

Horacio admits that.1The main external evidence for the Argentine writer, Julio Cortazar’s relationship to the Gothic lies in the fascinating essay, “Notes sur le Gothique vu du Rio de la Plata”, which he wrote for the famous Cahiers de l’Herne issue on Romantisme Noir. He promises that he will not leave her as long as Rocamadour is ill, but they both sense that their affair is ending. In Chapter 20, Rocamadour is asleep, and Horacio and La Maga discuss whether he will leave her.

His unwillingness to take part illustrates his distrust of action in any form. Etienne suggests he help in their efforts for Algerian independence, passing out literature. He has been thinking more, lately, turning every aspect in his life into a dialectical quandary. Horacio is convinced La Maga is sleeping with Ossip, since he has given her a necklace from 'mother.' In Chapter 90, Horacio examines his relationship with La Maga. In Chapter 19, Rocamadour has been moved in with La Maga and Horacio, owing to a fever. Book 1, From the Other Side: Chapters 153, 19, 90, 20, 126, 21, 79, 22, 62, 23 SummaryĬhapter 153 is a short Argentinean anecdote.

62 by Julio Cortázar