Hopscotch is a
novelA novel is a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by
ArgentineArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
author
Julio CortázarJulio Cortázar, born Jules Florencio Cortázar, was an Argentine author of novels and short stories...
. It was written in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and published in
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
in 1963 and in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
in 1966. The English translation by
Gregory RabassaGregory Rabassa is a renowned literary translator from Spanish and Portuguese to English who currently teaches at Queens College.-Life and career:Rabassa was born in Yonkers, New York, U.S., into a family headed by a Cuban émigré...
won the 1967 U.S.
National Book AwardThe National Book Awards are among the most eminent literary prizes in the United States. Started in 1950, the awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the prior year, as well as lifetime achievement awards including the "Medal of Distinguished Contribution to...
.
Highly influenced by
Henry MillerHenry Valentine Miller was an American novelist and painter. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of 'novel' that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is...
’s reckless and relentless search for
truthTruth can have a variety of meanings, from the state of being the case, being in accord with a particular fact or reality, being in accord with the body of real things, events, actuality, or fidelity to an original or to a standard. In archaic usage it could be fidelity, constancy or sincerity in...
in post-decadent
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and
Daisetz Teitaro SuzukiDaisetsu Teitaro Suzuki was a famous Japanese author of books and essays on Buddhism, Zen and Shin that were instrumental in spreading interest in both Zen and Shin to the West. Suzuki was also a prolific translator of Chinese, Japanese, and Sanskrit literature...
’s
modalModal jazz is jazz that uses musical modes rather than chord progressions as a harmonic framework.-History:An understanding of modal jazz requires knowledge of musical modes....
teachings on Zen Buddhism, Hopscotch is an introspective
stream-of-consciousnessStream of consciousness refers to the flow of thoughts in the conscious mind. The full range of thoughts that one can be aware of can form the content of this stream, not just verbal thoughts...
where characters fluctuate and play with the subjective mind of the reader.
Cortázar's employment of interior monologue, punning,
slangSlang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's dialect or language. It is often used as a way to say words that are not appropriate, and is not often found in the standard dictionary for the language...
, and his use of different languages is reminiscent of
Modernist writersModernist literature is the literary expression of the tendencies of Modernism, especially High modernism.Modernism as a literary movement reached its height in Europe between 1900 and the middle 1920s. Modernist literature addressed aesthetic problems similar to those examined in non-literary...
like
JoyceJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish expatriate author, playwright and poet of the 20th century. He is known for his landmark novel Ulysses and its controversial successor Finnegans Wake , as well as the short story collection Dubliners and the semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of...
, although his main influences were
SurrealismSurrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
and the French
New NovelThe nouveau roman is a type of 1950s French novel that diverged from classical literary genres. Émile Henriot coined the title in an article in the popular French newspaper Le Monde on May 22, 1957 to describe certain writers who experimented with style in each novel, creating an essentially new...
, as well as the "riffing" aesthetic of jazz.
Hopscotch is a
novelA novel is a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by
ArgentineArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
author
Julio CortázarJulio Cortázar, born Jules Florencio Cortázar, was an Argentine author of novels and short stories...
. It was written in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and published in
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
in 1963 and in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
in 1966. The English translation by
Gregory RabassaGregory Rabassa is a renowned literary translator from Spanish and Portuguese to English who currently teaches at Queens College.-Life and career:Rabassa was born in Yonkers, New York, U.S., into a family headed by a Cuban émigré...
won the 1967 U.S.
National Book AwardThe National Book Awards are among the most eminent literary prizes in the United States. Started in 1950, the awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the prior year, as well as lifetime achievement awards including the "Medal of Distinguished Contribution to...
.
Introduction
Highly influenced by
Henry MillerHenry Valentine Miller was an American novelist and painter. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of 'novel' that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is...
’s reckless and relentless search for
truthTruth can have a variety of meanings, from the state of being the case, being in accord with a particular fact or reality, being in accord with the body of real things, events, actuality, or fidelity to an original or to a standard. In archaic usage it could be fidelity, constancy or sincerity in...
in post-decadent
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and
Daisetz Teitaro SuzukiDaisetsu Teitaro Suzuki was a famous Japanese author of books and essays on Buddhism, Zen and Shin that were instrumental in spreading interest in both Zen and Shin to the West. Suzuki was also a prolific translator of Chinese, Japanese, and Sanskrit literature...
’s
modalModal jazz is jazz that uses musical modes rather than chord progressions as a harmonic framework.-History:An understanding of modal jazz requires knowledge of musical modes....
teachings on Zen Buddhism, Hopscotch is an introspective
stream-of-consciousnessStream of consciousness refers to the flow of thoughts in the conscious mind. The full range of thoughts that one can be aware of can form the content of this stream, not just verbal thoughts...
where characters fluctuate and play with the subjective mind of the reader.
Cortázar's employment of interior monologue, punning,
slangSlang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's dialect or language. It is often used as a way to say words that are not appropriate, and is not often found in the standard dictionary for the language...
, and his use of different languages is reminiscent of
Modernist writersModernist literature is the literary expression of the tendencies of Modernism, especially High modernism.Modernism as a literary movement reached its height in Europe between 1900 and the middle 1920s. Modernist literature addressed aesthetic problems similar to those examined in non-literary...
like
JoyceJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish expatriate author, playwright and poet of the 20th century. He is known for his landmark novel Ulysses and its controversial successor Finnegans Wake , as well as the short story collection Dubliners and the semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of...
, although his main influences were
SurrealismSurrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
and the French
New NovelThe nouveau roman is a type of 1950s French novel that diverged from classical literary genres. Émile Henriot coined the title in an article in the popular French newspaper Le Monde on May 22, 1957 to describe certain writers who experimented with style in each novel, creating an essentially new...
, as well as the "riffing" aesthetic of jazz. According to
Emir Rodríguez MonegalEmir Rodríguez Monegal was a Uruguayan scholar, literary critic, and editor of Latin American literature. From 1969 to 1985, Rodríguez Monegal was professor of Latin American contemporary literature at Yale University. He is usually called by his second surname Emir R...
, the influence of
H. Bustos DomecqH. is a pseudonym used for several collaborative works by the Argentine writers Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares.-Origin:Bustos Domecq made his first appearance as F...
(pseudonym of
Adolfo Bioy CasaresAdolfo Bioy Casares was an Argentine fiction writer.Bioy Casares was born in Buenos Aires, the grandson of a wealthy landowner and dairy processor, and the descendant of Patrick Lynch, a successful Irish emigrant. Bioy's parents were keen alphabet enthusiasts, which explains their choice of his...
and
Jorge Luis BorgesJorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , best known as Jorge Luis Borges, was an Argentine writer and poet born in Buenos Aires. In 1914, his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school and traveled to Spain. On his return to Argentina in 1921, Borges began publishing his poems and...
) was also felt in the use of fictional language and slang.
Since Julio Cortázar’s death in 1984, there has been a great deal of ambiguity regarding the classification of the book which in turn became a ‘novel without genre’. Works such as
William S. BurroughsWilliam Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, essayist, social critic, painter and spoken word performer.Much of Burroughs's work is semi-autobiographical, drawn from his experiences as an opiate addict, a condition that marked the last fifty years of his life...
' 1962 novel,
The Ticket that Exploded have earned a similar title.
Structure
Written in an episodic, snapshot manner, the novel has 155 chapters, the last 99 being designated as "expendable." The book can be read either in direct sequence from chapter 1 to 56, which, Cortázar writes, the reader can do “with a clean conscience”, or by
hopscotchHopscotch is a simple children's game which can be played with several players or alone. Hopscotch is often played on playgrounds by children.- Court and rules :- The court :To play hopscotch, a course is first laid out...
ing through the entire set of 155 chapters--except chapter 55--according to a table provided by the author that leaves the reader, finally, in an infinite loop between the last two chapters in the sequence. There are several other ways to read the novel, such as reading only the odd or even pages, or choosing chapters in completely random order. Some of the "expendable" chapters fill in gaps in the main story, while others add information about the characters or record the aesthetic and literary speculations of a writer named Morelli (possibly a stand-in for the author) who makes a brief appearance in the narrative. The novel is also considered to belong in the genre of Latin American magical realism and is an example of
multiple endingsMultiple endings refer to a case in entertainment where the story could end in different ways, depending on the actions of the characters. Audience interactivity is usually an important factor in determining which ending to use...
.
Narration is an important part of the structure of the book. In part one, From the Other Side, it seems clear that Horacio is the narrator and the ‘writer’ of the story, especially since it is repeatedly implied that La Maga is his muse and eventual literary salvation. However, in part two, From This Side, the introduction of Morelli as a character seems to hint that he is the true ‘writer’ of the story. Especially in the ‘Morelliana’ of the expendable chapters, Cortázar makes clear that Morelli is the talented writer, and the one who could achieve success if only he could escape the cages of his life. Morelli as author also makes more sense since the chapters seem to randomly switch back and forth between first person for Horacio, third person limited for any number of characters, and occasionally third person omniscient. This novel is often referred to as a contranovela, even by Cortázar himself.
“Surpass the subjective clauses of objectivity to reach the human soul in its purest state of nakedness.”
Plot (Book I)
As the book opens, Horacio Oliveira, the narrator, is wandering the bridges of Paris alone one afternoon. He observes the various happenings around him and considers how different Paris is from his native Argentina. That evening he meets up with his lover, Lucía (Best known as
La Maga), and the two of them wander Paris together. That evening they meet up with their friends, a group affectionately referred to as ‘The Serpent Club,’ as they do almost every night. The Club passes the time taking drugs, dissecting literature and philosophy, and listening to jazz records.
During their late-night discussions, they meander their way from subject to subject with ease. Though Horacio is the newest addition to the group, he is easily the most well-versed in literature and in philosophy, surpassing even the arrogant Gregorovius Ossip. All the members have their strengths and weaknesses, generally based on their various nationalities. However, unlike Horacio and the other members of the Club, La Maga is neither well-read nor articulate, and she often needs the others to explain concepts to her. Her insistence on staying in the realm of reality while the others deal primarily with abstracts distances her from the group and foreshadows her eventual disappearance.
After Horacio and La Maga have been living together in their Paris flat for several months, La Maga’s son, Rocamadour, is sent from the children’s hospital in Belgium because La Maga cannot pay his bills. Though La Maga is initially interested in seeing her son again, his treatment is so complex and time-consuming that she becomes a very disaffected mother and only tends to him when his crying cannot be ignored. Only when he becomes deathly ill does she even allow him to sleep in the flat’s only bed, rather than on a cot on the floor.
Horacio does not enjoy having Rocamadour in his and La Maga’s flat, since he is reminded of La Maga’s previous affairs by her son’s presence. One afternoon, Horacio decides that because Ossip so frequently explains his philosophical quandaries to La Maga, the two of them must be having an affair. He decides that since La Maga is cheating on him, he can begin seeing an old girlfriend of his, a woman named Pola who lives in northern Paris. When La Maga finds out about Horacio’s affair with Pola, she crafts a voodoo doll out of wax and sticks pins through the chest, hoping Pola will have a heart attack and die. Instead, Pola develops breast cancer.
Horacio goes to see Pola and comes back to find Ossip in the flat with La Maga. Though La Maga did not sleep with Ossip, she expects Horacio to be angry with her. Instead, Horacio and Ossip begin a deep discussion of Rousseau. Soon after, Ronald, Babs and Étienne arrive at the flat with news that Wong had a bad reaction to the drugs he was doing and had to go to the hospital. Horacio greets the news with his typical stoicism and offers mate to the Club to calm down. During this discussion, Horacio finds out that Rocamadour has died, but does nothing about it. After a while, La Maga finds that the kid has died and becomes hysterical, and Babs tries to calm her down while Horacio nonchalantly leaves the flat. Babs tells the men that they should all leave, seeing as they will have to call the police and they are fairly inebriated.
La Maga holds a funeral for Rocamadour. All the members of the Club except Horacio attend the funeral. By the time Horacio stumbles back to the flat, several days have gone by and he finds that La Maga is gone and Ossip is in control of the flat. Ossip suspects that La Maga might have returned to
MontevideoMontevideo is the largest city, the capital and chief port of Uruguay. Montevideo is the only city in the country with a population over 1,000,000...
, but Horacio doubts that she has enough money to do so. Horacio is angry, in his disaffected literary sort of way, and tells an insipid Ossip, “I hate stupidity.”
Horacio suspects that La Maga may have killed herself, and goes to look for her at the park. There he finds a 'clochard' (a homeless woman), and has a conversation with her about "La Maga". They get to a small street, where no one could find them and get drunk. Clochard wants to have sex with Horacio and he is about to agree, but a policeman notices and arrests them.
Plot (Book II)
Horacio goes back to Buenos Aires, and his friend Traveler (who hasn't traveled much) goes to pick him up.
Traveler and his wife Talita work as administrators for the circus, and when Horacio’s work as a fabric seller falls through Traveler arranges for his friend to begin work at the circus. Soon after, however, the owner of the circus understands that he is bored of circus, sells the entire operation to a Brazilian businessman and buys a mental institution. Traveler, Talita and Horacio decide to go work with him.
They had to live in a mental institution for a whole week, except Saturday. All the patients have numbers instead of names, most of all are calm and do not cause any trouble.
One night when Traveler is asleep, Horacio watches Talita wander out to the street and play hopscotch with a pebble. Horacio invents a story of La Maga doing the same thing. When he tells Talita the story, she is compassionate, realizing that Horacio is lost in the net of his own thoughts. She can't understand what she feels for him, and Horacio kisses her.
Later that night, Talita tells Traveler about that kiss, but he doesn't seem to be angry. At the same time, Horacio is building "the defense line" with water-filled basins and a huge skein of colorful threads.
When he finishes, he sits near the window and begins to smoke. Soon he sees La Maga below the window, on the street, playing hopscotch. But very soon he understands that it was an illusion, and the woman below is Talita. Traveler enters the room, getting trapped in the defense line, and the two begin to talk. Horacio is on one side of the thread web, Traveler on the other. At the same time, the others, including the director, his wife and doctor Overhero are trying to understand what is happening with Horacio and they decide that he has gone mad.
Everybody is afraid that Horacio will commit suicide and they do the best they can to prevent it. At last the wife of the director says "Let's forget about this and get a cup of coffee". Talita shouts at her and the wife, feigning offense, and goes away. Very soon there are only three of them: Horacio on the window, Talita, and Traveler (who was forced to leave by Horacio) on the street. They all feel the wonderful harmony of the moment, and Horacio thinks that it's the best time to commit suicide. The ending is ambiguous as to whether he does or not if only reading the first 56 chapters. Reading the so-called expendable chapters will offer further insight.
Characters
The main character, Horacio Oliveira, is a well-read and loquacious bohemian. He is a spectator and spends most of his time philosophizing. At first it seems Horacio is content merely to exist but really he is desperately searching for a purpose to his life.
For lack of an alternative, La Maga becomes Horacio's life-purpose. She is a beguiling, profound, and improvisational woman. La Maga develops into a muse and a lens for Horacio--inspiring him to examine himself and Paris more thoroughly. She is a point of origin for Horacio and the novel itself.
When Horacio returns to Argentina he is greeted by his old friend Traveler. Traveler holds a steady job and is happily married. He has chosen to participate in society where Horacio feels contempt. Though friends, Traveler and Horacio are foils. Horacio even refers to Traveler as his "
doppelgängerA doppelgänger is the ghostly double of a living person, a sinister form of bilocation.In the vernacular, the word "doppelgänger" has come to refer to any double or look-alike of a person. The word is also used to describe the sensation of having glimpsed oneself in peripheral vision, in a...
."
Other major characters include Talita, Traveler's wife; Rocamadour, La Maga's son; Pola, Horacio's lover; and the members of the Serpent Club: Ossip, Wong, Ronald, Babs and Étienne.
Main themes
- Order vs. Chaos: Horacio says of himself, "I imposed the false order that hides the chaos, pretending that I was dedicated to a profound existence while all the time it was the one that barely dipped its toe into the terrible waters" (end of Chapter 21). Horacio's life follows this description as he switches countries, jobs, and lovers. The novel also attempts to resemble order while ultimately consisting of chaos. The book possesses a beginning and an end but traveling from one to the other seems to be a practically random process. Horacio's fate is just as vague to the reader as it is to Horacio himself. The same idea is perfectly expressed in improvisational jazz. Over several measures, melodies are randomly constructed by following loose musical rules. Cortázar does the same by using a loose form of prose, rich in metaphor and slang, to describe life.
- Horacio vs. Society: Horacio drifts from city to city, job to job, love to love, life to life, yet even in his nomadic existence he tries to find a sense of order in the world’s chaos. He is always isolated: when he is with La Maga, he cannot relate to her; when he is with the Club, he is superior; when he is with Traveler and Talita, he fights their way of life. Even when with Morelli, the character he relates to most, there exists barriers of patient and orderly. Order versus chaos also exists in the structure of the novel, as in Morelli’s statement, "You can read my book any way you want to” (556).
- Isolation and loneliness: Cortázar uses a quick, succinct, vignette chapter style that paints brief images for the reader without relying too much on plot. At one point in the novel Horacio witnesses a car accident. It is said of the victim that "he doesn't have any family, he's a writer." Horacio is stunned by the way violence brings the community together. Medics rush to the scene in an ambulance and speak "friendly, comforting words to him." Violence and conflict continually bring characters together in "Hopscotch." For instance, Talita's crossing of the bridge and Horacio's stunt at the conclusion of the novel.
- The conundrum of consciousness (99): One of the biggest arguments between Horacio and Ossip, one that threatens to put a rift in the club, is what Horacio deems “the conundrum of consciousness.” Does art prove consciousness? Or is it simply a continuation of instinctual leanings toward the collective brain? Talita argues a similar point in her seesaw-questions game with Horacio, who believes that only when one lives in the abstract and lets go of biological history can one achieve true consciousness.
- The definition of failure. Horacio’s life seems hopeless because he has deemed himself a failure. La Maga’s life seems hopeless because she has never worked to resolve the issues of rape and abuse in her childhood. Traveler’s life seems hopeless because he has never done what he wanted to do, and even the name he’s adopted teases at this irony. But none of these people are considered by outward society to be failures. They are stuck where they are because of their own self-defeating ideas.
Short chapters also express the idea that there is no penetrating purpose to the novel and life in general. For Horacio, life is a series of artistic flashes where he perceives the world in a profound way but still remains unable to create anything of value. Other major themes include obsession, madness, life-as-a-circus, the nature and meaning of sex, and self-knowledge.
External links