ÍBERO SPANISH SCHOOL in Buenos Aires, Argentina offers a special course studying the life and work of Julio Cortázar. Cortázar was born in Brussels, Belguim in 1914, just days after the German invasion and beginning of World War I. The family spent the following years in Switzerland and Spain and then later returned to Argentina where Cortázar resided for the rest of his childhood in Buenos Aires.
Although he never received his philosophy or language degree from the University of Buenos Aires, he taught several courses in secondary schools and published his first book of sonnets in 1938. In 1944, he became a professor of French Literature at the University of Cuyo and in 1949 published his play, “The Kings.”
Due to his opposition to the government of Juan Domingo Perón, Julio Cortázar moved to France where he worked and lived for the rest of his life. He worked as a translator in Paris where he ended up writing all of his major works. He published poetry, drama and several non-fiction pieces. His famous Hopscotch was praised by many Latin American writers for its open-ended structure that invites the reader to choose between a linear or non-linear mode of reading. His use of inner monologue and stream of consciousness is owed to James Joyce and other modernists, but his main influence was Surrealism.
Other Cortázar pieces served as inspiration for different films made in the 1960´s. His story, “The Droolings of the Devil” inspired Michelangelo Antonioni´s film Blowup, and his story “The Southern Thruway” influenced Jean-Luc Godard´s Week End; both of which were well received by the public.
In his later years, Cortázar became actively engaged in opposing the abuses of human rights in Latin America and became a supporter of the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua. He continued writing short stories and translating works from authors like Edgar Allen Poe. However, at a late age he developed Leukemia and died in Paris in 1984.
ÍBERO SPANISH SCHOOL is offering a wonderful opportunity to learn Spanish and study the literary works of this famous author at the same time. We will focus on his life, his influences, his impact in the literary world and ,of course, his writing.
“His literature is a piece of magic”, says Florencia Bozzano, Director of Studies and Founder of Íbero.
If you are at all interested in Julio Cortázar, don´t let this great opportunity pass you by and register with Íbero today!
http://www.iberospanish.com
