Hopscotch (Cortázar novel)
A novel that can be read in multiple sequences, including a recursive loop.
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Argentine author Julio Cortázar wrote the novel Hopscotch while living in Paris, and it first appeared in Spanish during 1963.[1] Cortázar himself described this work as a counter-novel.[2] The novel involves a perpetual quest through questions that cannot be answered, and it explores multiple possible conclusions.[2]
Making and release
An author's note suggests reading either chapters 1 to 56 or "hopscotching" through all 155 chapters via a "Table of Instructions"[3] Chapter 55 is left out in the second method, and the book ends with a recursive loop between chapters 58 and 131.[3] The third section, "From Diverse Sides," contains solutions to puzzles from the first two parts.[4] The Spanish edition came out in 1963, with an English translation following three years later in 1966.[1]
Gregory Rabassa, who translated the initial U.S. version, was a co-recipient of the first National Book Award given for translation.[1] Readers are given the freedom to select their own individual route through the story.[3] Under the section title "From the Other Side," the initial 36 chapters depict Horacio Oliveira's experiences in Paris during the 1950s.[4] The character Morelli is used by Cortázar to suggest an ambition to craft a book where the reader becomes an active collaborator.[4]
What the cited sources add
Gioia notes that Cortázar finds a meeting ground between structuralist and existentialist camps.[5] Patricia Novillo-Corvalán's article states that a 1968 symposium in Cuba assessed the novel's impact and compared it to James Joyce's Ulysses.[6] The same source notes that Cortázar's novel is saturated with linguistic games and transgressions of Spanish language rules.[6] A blog post on "Hopscotch: The Wacky Structure" observes that Cortázar uses non-linearity to mimic psychological states in characters and readers.[7]
The blog also notes that the structure deprives the reader of any definitive "ending" to the novel.[7]
References
- Wikipedia, "Hopscotch (Cortázar novel)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "National Book Awards – 1967". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-11. – There was a "Translation" award from 1967 to 1983. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Hopscotch (Cortázar novel)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "La novela que quiso que fueras libre", Brecha, 16 August 2019 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Hopscotch (Cortázar novel)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Hopscotch: The Wacky Structure", evening all afternoon, 20 February 2010 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Hopscotch (Cortázar novel)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Hopscotch Study Guide & Plot Summary" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Gioia, Ted, "How to Win at Hopscotch: The 50th Anniversary of Julio Cortázar's Novel", Los Angeles Review of Books, 28 June 2013. facts only, no text reused. lareviewofbooks.org
- Patricia Novillo-Corvalán, "Rereading Cortázar's Hopscotch through Joyce's Ulysses", Inverse Journal, 23 March 2019. facts only, no text reused. inversejournal.com
- "Hopscotch: The Wacky Structure", evening all afternoon, 20 February 2010. facts only, no text reused. eveningallafternoon.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Hopscotch (Cortázar novel) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Hopscotch (Cortázar novel) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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