The collection brings together stories by the Argentine writer Julio Cortázar, among them the title story, in which a photographer in Paris sees something in an enlargement that changes a scene he thought he understood. Other pieces include a man who becomes obsessed with the axolotls he watches at an aquarium, and a brother and sister whose family home is gradually taken over by an unseen presence. Cortázar blurs the line between the ordinary and the uncanny and refuses to explain it, trusting the reader to feel the strangeness.
Those interested in Latin American fiction, fantasy and short stories that stay with you will find a rich starting place. The stories are brief and can be read in any order.
Deep, inward-looking, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Literary Connoisseur. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1968
- Language
- EN
