Today would have been the birthday of Argentinian writer Julio Cortazar (b. 1914), known for his innovative style and jazz-like pacing. Cortazar's novel Hopscotch is often cited as an example of great modern Latin American writing, and his story "Las Babas del Diablo" ("The Devil's Drool") was the basis for Antonioni's 1960s film Blow-Up. Which was later remade by Brian DePalma (Blow-Out) and starred John Travolta, Nancy Allen, the City of Philadelphia, and John Lithgow as a really mean man.

In my Latin American Writers course in college, I had an anthology with a picture of Julio Cortazar in it and always thought he was pretty intriguing-looking. I also loved his "Letter to A Young Lady in Paris," about staying at the apartment of a woman while she's out of town. The writing is initially so beautiful in that story as he describes the essence of Andrea, the young lady presently in Paris, and the items that make up her home and decor:

the crystal ashtray that looks like a soap-bubble that’s been cut open on this exact spot on the little table, and always a perfume, a sound, a sprouting of plants, a photograph of the dead friend, the ritual of tea trays and sugar tongs…

And then things take a turn toward the surreal and the narrator begins to tell us about his strange issues with rabbits and how he's even vomiting bunnies, but we're in the hands of Cortazar so it will all be handled well.

Julio Cortazar died in Paris on February 12, 1984.