{"title":"Julio Cortázar","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"final-exam-by-julio-cortazar-9780811217521","title":"Final Exam","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn its characters, themes, and preoccupations, \u003cem\u003eFinal Exam\u003c\/em\u003e prefigures Cortázar's later fictions, including \u003cem\u003eBlow-Up\u003c\/em\u003e and his masterpiece, \u003cem\u003eHopscotch\u003c\/em\u003e. Written in 1950 (just before the fall of Perón's government), it is Cortázar's allegorical, bitter, and melancholy farewell to an Argentina from which he was about to be permanently self-exiled. (Cortázar moved to Paris the following year.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe setting of \u003cem\u003eFinal Exam\u003c\/em\u003e is a surreal Buenos Aires, dark and eerie, where a strange fog has enveloped the city to everyone's bewilderment. Juan and Clara, two students, meet up with their friends Andrés and Stella, as well as a journalist friend they call \"the chronicler.\" Juan and Clara are getting ready to take their final exams, but instead of preparing, they wander the city with their friends, encounter strange happenings in the squares, and ponder life in cafés. All the while, they are trailed by the mysterious Abel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith its daring typography, its shifts in rhythm, as well as in the wildly veering directions of its characters' thoughts and speech, \u003cem\u003eFinal Exam\u003c\/em\u003e breaks new ground in the territory of stream-of-consciousness narrative techniques. It is considered one of Cortázar's best works.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47463036715244,"sku":"9780811217521","price":35.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780811217521-final-exam.jpg?v=1775026530"},{"product_id":"bestiary-by-julio-cortazar-9781784875855","title":"Bestiary","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA collection of masterful short stories in Julio Cortázar's sophisticated, powerful and gripping style.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eJulio Cortázar\u003c\/em\u003e is truly a sorcerer and the best of him is here, in these hilariously fraught and almost eerily affecting stories. \u003cem\u003eKevin Barry\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA grieving family home becomes the site of a terrifying invasion. A frustrated love triangle, brought together by a plundered Aztec idol, spills over into brutality. A lodger's inability to stop vomiting bunny rabbits inspires a personal confession.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs dream melds into reality, and reality melts into nightmare, one constant remains throughout these thirty-five stories: the singular brilliance of Julio Cortázar's imagination.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY KEVIN BARRY\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAnyone who doesn't read Cortázar is doomed\u003c\/em\u003e Pablo Neruda\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House Distribution","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67639904207084,"sku":"9781784875855","price":37.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781784875855-bestiary-1.jpg?v=1791243936"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/julio-cortazar-1.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}