Julio Cortázar

Julio Cortázar (1910-1984) was born in Belgium, and when the First World War ended, he moved with his family to Buenos Aires. A great admirer of Jorge Luis Borges, Cortázar very early identified with the Surrealist movement. He studied literature and education, and worked as a teacher in several cities in Argentina, while he published literary criticism, articles, and short stories. In the 40s he settled in Paris, where he worked for UNESCO as a translator. In 1963, he published Rayuela, a novel which caused an upheaval in the cultural landscape and established him as one of the most innovative and original writers of his time. A master of the short story and poetic prose, his "miscellanies," in which he mixes fiction, chronicle, poetry and essays, are also important. In 1984, the Fundación Konex awarded him the Premio Konex de Honor posthumously for his contribution to the history of Argentine literature. (Biography: Agencia Literaria Carmen Balcells)