Overview

Perhaps Cortazar's most unconventional work, From the Observatory moves from descriptions of the life cycle of the Atlantic eel to glimpses of the unearthly structures of an observatory built in Jaipur by an 18th-century Indian prince. This architectural wonder is not merely a place dedicated to astronomical observation but also a space that bears witness to the dreams of those who entered it. Cortazar's haunting photos of this enigmatic place flow into other images - streets, oceans, night skies - which then flow into his verbal dance with a dream logic all its own. Like fish unaware of why they are migrating, readers will be pulled into this fantastic current.

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9781935744061

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A first-class literary imagination at work. -- The New York Times Book Review Julio Cortazar is a stunning writer. It is difficult to imagine how he could improve as a writer of short stories. -- The Christian Science Monitor A glittering showcase for a daring talent....Julio Cortazar is a dazzler. -- The San Francisco Chronicle Cortazar is a unique storyteller. He can induce the kind of chilling unease that strikes like a sound in the night. -- Time Magazine Anyone who doesn't read Cortazar is doomed. Not to read him is a serious invisible disease, which in time can have terrible consequences. Something similar to a man who has never tasted peaches. He would quietly become sadder . . . and, probably, little by little, he would lose his hair. --Pablo Neruda Idols invite respect, admiration, affection, and, of course, great envy. Cortazar inspired all of these feelings as very few writers can, but he inspired, above all, an emotion much rarer: devotion. He was, perhaps without trying, the Argentine who made the whole world love him. --Gabriel Garcia Marquez

<br> A first-class literary imagination at work. -- The New York Times Book Review <br><br> Julio Cortazar is a stunning writer. It is difficult to imagine how he could improve as a writer of short stories. <br>-- The Christian Science Monitor <br><br> A glittering showcase for a daring talent....Julio Cortazar is a dazzler. <br>-- The San Francisco Chronicle <br><br> Cortazar is a unique storyteller. He can induce the kind of chilling unease that strikes like a sound in the night. -- Time Magazine <br><br> Anyone who doesn't read Cortazar is doomed. Not to read him is a serious invisible disease, which in time can have terrible consequences. Something similar to a man who has never tasted peaches. He would quietly become sadder . . . and, probably, little by little, he would lose his hair. --Pablo Neruda<br><br> Idols invite respect, admiration, affection, and, of course, great envy. Cortazar inspired all of these feelings as very few writers can, but he inspired, above all, an emotion much rarer: devotion. He was, perhaps without trying, the Argentine who made the whole world love him. --Gabriel Garcia Marquez<br>

Pure Cortazar in all his masterful out-of-this-world imagery. Illusory and poetic text accompanied by stunning photos make this book a perfect summer present for visitors or hosts as it is its own magical fairytale journey for adults. <b>--Salonica </b> Cortazar seeks 'another possible profile of man.' From the outset, as rendered in Anne McLean's elegant translation, he embraces the slipperiness of knowledge and language itself.<b><i> --Literaure and Arts of the Americas </i></b> Archipelago's latest offering, From the Observatory, is a slender, gorgeous thing, a photo-essay-cum-prose-poem-manifest . . . joyously slippery. <b><i>--The Nation </i></b> From the Observatory is a welcome addition to [Cortazar's] well-established English oeuvre. It exposes the intelligence and idiosyncratic connections that reflect a unique and creative mind. <b><i>--The Quarterly Conversation </i></b> Vivid... Cortazar makes both science and language something utterly sensual... In a stunning translation by the talented Anne Mclean.<b><i> --The National </i></b> The photographs beautifully evoke their subject and also give some key to the genesis of the work itself... They recall the cinematic values that inspired two of the finest films of the French New Wave, Alain Resnais's Last Year at Marienbad and Hiroshima Mon Amour.<b><i> --The Wall Street Journal </b>A glittering showcase for a daring talent...Julio Cortazar is a dazzler.<b><i> --The San Francisco Chronicle </i></b> Julio Cortazar is a stunning writer. It is difficult to imagine how he could improve as a writer of short stories. <b><i>--The Christian Science Monitor </i></b> A first-class literary imagination at work. <b><i>--The New York Times</i></b>

Pure Cortazar in all his masterful out-of-this-world imagery. Illusory and poetic text accompanied by stunning photos make this book a perfect summer present for visitors or hosts as it is its own magical fairytale journey for adults. --Salonica Cortazar seeks 'another possible profile of man.' From the outset, as rendered in Anne McLean's elegant translation, he embraces the slipperiness of knowledge and language itself. --Literaure and Arts of the Americas Archipelago's latest offering, From the Observatory, is a slender, gorgeous thing, a photo-essay-cum-prose-poem-manifest . . . joyously slippery. --The Nation From the Observatory is a welcome addition to [Cortazar's] well-established English oeuvre. It exposes the intelligence and idiosyncratic connections that reflect a unique and creative mind. --The Quarterly Conversation Vivid... Cortazar makes both science and language something utterly sensual... In a stunning translation by the talented Anne Mclean. --The National The photographs beautifully evoke their subject and also give some key to the genesis of the work itself... They recall the cinematic values that inspired two of the finest films of the French New Wave, Alain Resnais's Last Year at Marienbad and Hiroshima Mon Amour. --The Wall Street Journal A glittering showcase for a daring talent...Julio Cortazar is a dazzler. --The San Francisco Chronicle Julio Cortazar is a stunning writer. It is difficult to imagine how he could improve as a writer of short stories. --The Christian Science Monitor A first-class literary imagination at work. --The New York Times

<br> A first-class literary imagination at work. -- The New York Times Book Review <br> Julio Cortazar is a stunning writer. It is difficult to imagine how he could improve as a writer of short stories. <br>-- The Christian Science Monitor <br> A glittering showcase for a daring talent....Julio Cortazar is a dazzler. <br>-- The San Francisco Chronicle <br> Cortazar is a unique storyteller. He can induce the kind of chilling unease that strikes like a sound in the night. -- Time Magazine <br> Anyone who doesn't read Cortazar is doomed. Not to read him is a serious invisible disease, which in time can have terrible consequences. Something similar to a man who has never tasted peaches. He would quietly become sadder . . . and, probably, little by little, he would lose his hair. --Pablo Neruda <br> Idols invite respect, admiration, affection, and, of course, great envy. Cortazar inspired all of these feelings as very few writers can, but he inspired, above all, a

Author Information

Julio Cortazar was born in Brussels in 1914 and grew up on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. His other works include Autonauts of the Cosmoroute, Hopscotch, Blow-Up and Other Stories, All Fires the Fire, We Love Glenda So Much, A Certain Lucas, Around the Day in Eighty Worlds, and Cronopios and Famas. He died in Paris in 1984. Anne McLean has translated works by Javier Cercas, Evelio Roero, Juan Gabirel Vazquez, Ignacio Martinez Pison, Carmen Martin Gaite, enrique Vila-Matas, and Hector Abad, as well as Autonauts of the Cosmoroute and From the Observatory by Julio Cortazar. She has twice won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.

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