Blow-Up and Other Stories
Julio Cortázar · 1914–1984 · Argentina / France
Originally Blow-Up and Other Stories (Spanish) · translated by Paul Blackburn
Why it matters
Axolotls that stare back, a house slowly taken over, a photograph that keeps developing: the fantastic breaking through Buenos Aires afternoons. Cortázar's stories are the form at its most perfect since Chekhov, by other rules.
At a glance
short story collectionmagical realism
Difficulty 6/10medium pace245 pagesSurreal ruptures arrive within otherwise tightly controlled, realist short-story form.
