Julio Cortázar was born in Brussels, Belgium to Argentine parents. He attended school in Argentina and went on to teach high school and translate literature. He moved to Paris on the eve of his debut publication, a short story collection titled Bestiario ("Bestiary") in 1951. Dissatisfied with the state of the Argentinian government under Juan Perón, Paris remained Cortázar's primary residence until his death, though he was an avid traveler, kept his Argentinian citizenship, and involved himself in political causes in South America.
Cortázar became known for his existential, experimental narratives. He published two more story collections in the 1950s: End of the Game (1956) and The Secret Weapons (1958). He was also a widely-read novelist, his most famous work being Hopscotch (1963), which is classified as an "antinovel" and considered a masterpiece of avant-garde literature. In addition to stories and novels, his extensive body of work includes plays, essays, and poetry. Cortázar died in Paris, three years after he attained French citizenship, in 1984.
The short stories of Julio Cortazar belong to a Latin American tradition of fiction known as magical realism. Weird things occur in seemingly normal circumstances, such as a tiger having the free run of an ancestral home while people go about...
