Reader’s Guide to Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar

The Voyage Out Book Group’s Reader’s Guide to Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar

Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar

Pantheon

564 pages

9780394752846

The Literature of Latin America

Other Books From Region:

Roberto Bolano’s By Night in Chile

Mario Vargas Llosa’s The Feast of the Goat

Julio Cortazar lived from 1914-1984. Known most for his fantastical short stories, Cortazar’s Hopscotch will also live on as one of the more challenging texts of the 20^th century.

Born in Brussels to Argentinian parents, Cortazar’s family moved back to Argentina when he was around four years old. His childhood was spent in a suburb of Buenos Aires. He studied at a teacher’s training college, and went on to teach, briefly, on the secondary level.

A radical by nature, Cortazar became involved in many of the political movements of his time. A dedicated anti-Peronist, he also supported the Cuban revolution, Allende’s…