Bestiario was Julio Cortázar's first collection of stories, published in 1951. It includes "Casa tomada," in which a brother and sister living in a large family house are gradually forced out by unseen intruders, and "Carta a una señorita en París," in which a man vomits small rabbits in the apartment of a friend. Others show games, childhood fears and the intrusion of the uncanny into everyday life, in a style that leaves ambiguous what is real. The title refers to the different beasts, literal or symbolic, found in the stories.
Readers who enjoy Latin American fantasy and short fiction that mixes the everyday with the strange will find a good place to begin with Cortázar.
Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Literary Connoisseur. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1951
- Language
- EN
