Julio Cortázar

Julio Cortázar (August 26, 1914 - February 12, 1984) was an Argentine intellectual and author of several experimental novels and many short stories.

Biography

Julio Cortázar was born in Brussels, Belgium, in 1914, to Argentine parents. When he was four years old, his family returned to Buenos Aires to a section of town called Banfield. After completing his studies at the University of Buenos Aires, he became a professor of French literature at the University of Cuyo, Mendoza, in the middle 1940s.

Related Topics:
Brussels - Belgium - 1914 - Buenos Aires - Banfield - French literature - Mendoza

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In 1951, in opposition to the Perón regime, Cortázar emigrated to France, where he lived until his death. From 1952 he worked for UNESCO as a translator. His translation projects included Spanish renderings of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and the stories of Edgar Allan Poe, and it is commonly noted that Poe's influence is recognizable in his work.

Related Topics:
1951 - Perón - 1952 - UNESCO - Translator - Spanish - Robinson Crusoe - Edgar Allan Poe

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In his later years he underwent a political transformation, becoming actively engaged with leftist causes in Latin America, and openly supporting the Cuban Revolution and the Sandinista government in Nicaragua.

Related Topics:
Cuban Revolution - Sandinista - Nicaragua

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He was married three times, to Aurora Bernardez (in 1953), Ugné Karvelis and Carol Dunlop.

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Cortázar died of leukemia in Paris in 1984. It has recently been suggested, however, that AIDS (contracted through a blood transfusion before this disease was identified and given a name) may have been the real cause of his death.

Related Topics:
Leukemia - Paris - 1984 - AIDS

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