Long undiscovered, Final Exam, Julio Cortazar's first novel
(published 1986 in Spanish) is a major work by this important
Argentinian author, now available in English translation for the
first time. In its characters, themes, and preoccupations it
prefigures Cortazar's later fictions, including Blow-Up and his
masterpiece Hopscotch. Written in 1950 (just before the fall of
Peron's government), Final Exam is Cortazar's allegorical, bitter,
and melancholy farewell to an Argentina from which he was about to
be permanently self-exiled. (Cortazar moved to Paris the following
year.)
The setting of Final Exam is a surreal Buenos Aires, dark and
eerie, where a strange fog has enveloped the city to everyone's
bewilderment. Juan and Clara, two students at a college called "The
House" (the Great Books are read aloud there by so-called Readers),
meet up with their friends Andres and Stella, as well as a
journalist friend they call "the chronicler". Juan and Clara are
getting ready to take their final exam, but instead of preparing,
they wander the city with their friends, encounter strange
happenings in the square, attend concerts, and discuss their lives
in cafes.
Final Exam is a fascinating literary experiment: with
stream-of-consciousness narrative techniques, radical typographical
innovations, and also shifts in rhythm and direction of its
characters' thoughts and speech.
Darkly funny -- and riddled with unresolved ambiguities -- Final
Exam is translated ably here by Alfred MacAdam. It is one of
Cortazar's best works -- long over-due in English.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
