1. Cortázar

2.   Born August 26, 1914 in Brussels, Belgium  Buenos Aires (1918-1951)  Father abandons family – Los Venenos  Mother selects readings – Jules Verne & begins imaginary writing “Buenos Aires was some kind of punishment” Cortázar Beginnings "I spent my childhood in a haze full of goblins and elves, with a sense of space and time that was different from everybody else's.“ (Cortázar in Plural)

3.   1935 to 1945 - French Literature Teacher in Buenos Aires high schools  1951 – emigrates to France from opposition Juan Domingo Perón  First collection short stories Bestiary  Translated Robinson Crusoe & Edgar Allan Poe into Spanish under United Nations  Active in Latin American politics -visits Cuba in 1961 and Nicaragua in 1983 Cortazar Life

4.   Born in Cairo in 1911  Cairo is a huge influence on his works  Published his first novel in 1939, published 10 more before Revolution of 1952  Strict Muslim Upbringing  Stopped writing after this for several years  Every work is political in nature  Books banned in many Islamic countries for being blasphemous  Assassination attempt Mahfouz

5.   Cairo (hometown)  100 years from birth  2011 declared Mahfouz year Commemoration

6.   Rayuela (1966, Hopscotch) – masterpiece  Anti-novel using stream of consciousness with multiple endings  Reflection of life in that protagonist desperately searching for his life's purpose in South America and Europe (Exstitiental??)  Reader re-arrange chapters “Table of Instruction” Rayuela

7.  Cortazar  Quest for identity - Hopscotch  Hidden reality behind the everyday lives  Existential trouble Themes Mahfouz  Existentialism  Stream of Consciousness  Modernism

8.   Proust, Tolstoy, Chekov, Ibsen  Taha Hussein, Muhammed Husayn Haykal  Henri Bergson  Egyptian nationalism & politics  Socialism- Al-Khalili and New Cai  El-Muwaylili – Arabic novel Mahfouz Influences

9.   Jean Cocteau´s Opio  French Surrealism- sub-consciousness & imagery  Jules Verne (science fiction)  Edgar Allan Poe (translations)  James Joyce(stream of consciousness)  Borges- similar themes of fantasy/ perception of reality – Los Reyes Influences of Cortazar

10.  Impacts Cortazar  Modern Egyptian/Middle Eastern Literature  Alaa Al Aswany  Bridged gap between Arabic literature and European and American traditions Mahfouz  Pioneer Latin Boom & magical realism genre  w/ Marquez & Carlos Fuentes  Rayuela opened the door to linguistic innovation of Spanish language and influenced deeply Latin American writers “opened doors for five generations of Arab novelists.”

11.  Magical Realism