Julio Cortázar

First published in 1995 but written between 1937 and 1945, the stories that make up La otra orilla constitute Julio Cortázar's first foray into the short story genre. In these tales, Cortázar showcases the fantastic within the interstices of everyday reality. Ghosts, vampires, witches, and doubles emerge, much like the fly in Paula's soup in "Bruja," to reveal that the author himself considers his work to belong to the fantastical genre in its broadest sense, ranging from the supernatural to the mysterious, and from terror to the uncanny. In this book, we encounter an early Cortázar, his obsessions, and his ongoing dialogue with writers such as Horacio Quiroga, Leopoldo Lugones, Jorge Luis Borges, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Silvina Ocampo, and Felisberto Hernández. La otra orilla accompanies, from its title, the recognition of the territory of the Río de la Plata, which is already canon in fantastic, gothic, and horror literature, from which contemporary authors like Mariana Enriquez, Samanta Schweblin, or Luciano Lamberti draw inspiration today. An unmissable and perhaps forgotten work by the beloved cronopio.