Ashley Duvelius on Cortazar's Work

 Julio Cortazar's literature gives new meaning to the term Magical Realism.  I would always try not to be tricked by his short stories, but Cortazar's imagination would always win in the end.  The first short story we read of Cortazar's was "The Continuity of Parks."  I was entranced by this story.  In the story's beginning, I wondered what importance the business man had.  Then I realized, this could be me any day of any week.  I love to get lost in the world of literature.  I like to have a break from reality, and let my mind wonder into another world, it doesn't matter if it's fiction or non-fiction.  Although, I have always preferred fiction.  "The Continuity of Parks" confused me at first, especially when the lines between the novel and reality began to blur.  The twilight zone affect that the story had was pretty fascinating.  I have never read Magical Realism as a genre of literature.  I've seen it in movies though!  I believe that the story channeled perfectly how I become lost in reading a book.  I enjoyed the reading and was fearful for the man reading innocently in the chair as the stalker approached him with a knife.  I wondered if the story was trying to convey how life can change in seconds and harm can come at any time.  I wonder what became of the man reading in the chair.  Did he escape the clutches of the stalker?  Or was the stalker also merely a figment of his roaming imagination?  These are questions I'd love to ask Cortazar.  As for Cortazar's short story "Our Demeanor at Wakes," I was more confused as to what was going on.  I finally understood when I got to class!  I found it interesting to read about a family that finds joy in crashing mourning family's funerals.  I enjoyed reading the story and found it funny at times because of the exaggerated actions the crashers made.  I actually felt guilty for laughing at their funeral crashing because I find funerals to be extremely serious and personal affairs.  I actually find their crashing to be a violation of the family's privacy and emotions.  I am appalled that people would actually find amusement in doing such a thing.  I found it even more appalling that the crashers took the funeral into their own hands and even spoke at the eulogy.  I considered this to be very disrespectful.  A funeral should definitely be limited to the loved ones of the deceased, anyone who intrudes on this matter is kind of wrong in the head.  The moral of the story though was that a reality can be created anytime and anywhere.  The funeral crashers made their assumed identities a reality as they overthrew the mourning family and took the funeral into their own hands.  Like I said, although I found their ridiculous wailing and smug speeches funny, it doesn't make it morally right.  I was partially offended by this story and my only hope was that this would never happen at my funeral or at any of my loved one's funerals.  On a lighter note, I really enjoyed Cortazar's "Axolotl."  The story begins by saying the narrator is "an axolotl" (Cortazar 1801).  Then it almost takes a step back in time and tells us how the narrator came to have a fascination with axolotls.  I believe this story was all about a human's ability to escape reality through art and imagination.  If one is suffering, one can imagine something better and make themselves happier.  The narrator's fascination with axolotl's was similar to my fascination of canines.  What I wouldn't give to have the simple life of a dog!  I believe Cortazar was trying to highlight the relief of suffering through art, through literature.  It was almost as if the narrator's consciousness was transferred into the axolotl.  He could understand their suffering in their cramped living conditions and identified it with the loneliness he felt in his life.  I would love to write about canines or something I found beautiful, something that can't speak for itself where I'd be needed to express their unspoken emotions.  I could definitely relate to this story because I understand that there are many beings in this world that are helpless and speechless.  Those souls need to be expressed somehow.  I'm glad that Cortazar, or whoever the narrator was, wrote a story about the under appreciated axolotls, giving them a voice in the world.  I admire the fact that Cortazar wanted to give light to those that are easily forgotten.  Once again, I really enjoyed "Axolotl" because it made me realize that words don't always have to be composed of human thought.  It was a beautiful tale and I would love to continue reading Julio Cortazar's Magical Realism literature!