Cortazar, Taking Notes (Teoria del Tunel and Diario de Andres Fava)
DOI: Pending
Patrick O’Connor
Oberlin CollegePublication
Abstract
In his 1947 book-length lecture notes Teoría del túnel, Julio Cortázar summarized the state of contemporary European literature as a dialectic between existentialism and Surrealism; but a closer examination shows that he is far more engaged with Surrealism than existentialism, and in both cases he evokes much older traditions than one might imagine from these terms. His interest in the "lyric novel" goes beyond Surrealism, to include writers such as Rilke and Gide. It's useful to compare his Teoría with his practice, specifically the Gidean small book that accompanies El examen (1950), the also posthumously published Diario de Andrés Fava. Fava, the novelist character in El examen, performs in his diary an extreme isolation and inwardness, typical of the young Gide and Rilke's young Malte Laurids Brigge, that goes well beyond the alienation felt by all the characters of El examen. Uncannily, Cortázar predicts that this work will (always, only) be read as an "immature" work by a future old master –a fate guaranteed by its posthumous publication; meanwhile, the text simultaneously elaborates on and protests this treatment, a supplement that stubbornly bears witness to a time and place he wishes to put behind him but also memorialize.
Keywords
Julio Cortázar, Teoría del túnel, surrealism, existencialism
