La otra orilla
La otra orilla by Julio Cortázar
Book Description
Written between 1937 and 1945, these stories are Cortázar’s first leap into story telling. As a model of self-criticism, he refused to publish almost all of them; fifty years later critics acclaimed them as an impressive sample that anticipated the capacities of this magnificent writer. Whether it is with science fiction, or adapting popular mythological figures, Cortázar manages to make any subject contemporary, with a sober style, and always a revolutionary concept towards the fantastic.
The book is divided in to three parts. The first two parts "Plagios y traducciones" and "Historias de Gabriel Medrano" are similar in style - each story having an ambiguous ending. You are left doubting whether or not things really happen in reality. I did not like the third part as much- "Prolegómenos a la Astronomía."
The book is written in a manner that was very difficult for me to read. The sentences didn't flow nicely and there were many words that I had to look up. The stories were written in the early 1940s so this might be the reason why I had difficulty with the language.