Synopses & Reviews
Long undiscovered, Final Exam, Julio Cortazar's first novel (published 1986 in Spanish) is a major work by this important Argentinian author, now available in English translation for the first time. In its characters, themes, and preoccupations it prefigures Cortazar's later fictions, including Blow-Up and his masterpiece Hopscotch. Written in 1950 (just before the fall of Peron's government), Final Exam is Cortazar's allegorical, bitter, and melancholy farewell to an Argentina from which he was about to be permanently self-exiled. (Cortazar moved to Paris the following year.)
The setting of Final Exam 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 at a college called The House (the Great Books are read aloud there by so-called Readers), meet up with their friends Andres and Stella, as well as a journalist friend they call the chronicler. Juan and Clara are getting ready to take their final exam, but instead of preparing, they wander the city with their friends, encounter strange happenings in the square, attend concerts, and discuss their lives in cafes.
Final Exam is a fascinating literary experiment: with stream-of-consciousness narrative techniques, radical typographical innovations, and also shifts in rhythm and direction of its characters' thoughts and speech.
Darkly funny -- and riddled with unresolved ambiguities -- Final Exam is translated ably here by Alfred MacAdam. It is one of Cortazar's best works -- long over-due in English.
Review
"Cortázar spoke of something more than novelty or progress--he spoke of the radically new and joyful nature of every instant, of the body, the memory and the imagination of men and women." Carlos Fuentes
Review
"The stream-of-consciousness narrative helps to make this one of Cortázar's key works." Multicultural Review
Review
"[A] major undiscovered work...a novel about Buenos Aires which one night turns into a Kafkaesque nightmare. (, Harry Morales, Summer 2001) "
Synopsis
The setting ofFinal Exam 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 Andres 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 cafes. All the while, they are trailed by the mysterious Abel. With its daring typography, its shifts in rhythm as well as in the wildly veering directions of its characters' thoughts and speech, Final Exam breaks new ground in the territory of stream-of-consciousness narrative techniques. It is considered one of Cortazar's best works. "
Synopsis
Written in 1950 (just before the fall of Per n's government), Final Exam is Julio Cort zar's bitter and melancholy allegorical farewell to an Argentina from which he would soon be permanently self-exiled.
In a surreal Buenos Aires, a strange fog has enveloped the city to everyone's bewilderment. Juan and Clara, two students at a college called "The House," meet up with their friends, and, instead of preparing for their final exam, wander the city, encountering strange happenings and pondering life in caf s. All the while, they are trailed by the mysterious Abel.
With its daring typography, shifts in rhythm, as well as wildly veering directions of thought and speech, Final Exam breaks new ground in the territory of stream-of-consciousness writing. Darkly funny--and riddled with unresolved ambiguities--Final Exam is one of Cort zar's best works.
Author of Hopscotch and Blow-Up, Julio Cort zar's (1914-1984) was a novelist, poet, essayist, and short-story writer. He was born in Brussels, lived in Argentina, but moved permanently to France in 1951, where he became one of the twentieth century's major experimental writers.
Synopsis
In its characters, themes, and preoccupations, prefigures Cortázar's later fictions, including and his masterpiece, . 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.) The setting of 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. With its daring typography, its shifts in rhythm as well as in the wildly veering directions of its characters' thoughts and speech, breaks new ground in the territory of stream-of-consciousness narrative techniques. It is considered one of Cortázar's best works.
Synopsis
One of Julio Cortázar's great early novels. "Anyone who doesn't read Cortázar is doomed."--Pablo Neruda
About the Author
Julio Cortázar (1914-1984), Argentine novelist, poet, essayist, and short-story writer, was born in Brussels, and moved permanently to France in 1951. Cortazar is now recognized as one of the century's major experimental writers, reflecting the influence of French surrealism, psychoanalysis, and his love of both photography and jazz, along with his strong commitment to revolutionary Latin American politics.