The Literature Book

274

NOTHING IS LOST IF

ONE HAS THE COURAGE

TO PROCLAIM THAT ALL

IS LOST AND WE MUST

BEGIN ANEW

HOPSCOTCH (1963), JULIO CORTÁZAR

O

ne of the distinguishing

features of the novel is

generally thought to be

the sequential, linear organization

of its narrative segments: chapters,

more or less in sequence, are

presumed or expected to hold

equal status with each other,

from a narrative perspective.

The antinovel—first named as

such by French writer Jean-Paul

Sartre in the mid-20th century—

subverts this assumption, marking

a radical departure from the

conventional novel with respect to

plot, dialogue, and structure. In the

case of Argentine writer Julio

Cortázar’s Hopscotch, the novel is

subverted even from a physical point

of view. The reader of an antinovel

is forced to suspend all narrative

expectations and to engage with

the text in ways that a traditional

work of fiction does not require. As

the reader of Hopscotch is told in the

book’s Table of Instructions, “In its

own way, this book consists of many

books, but two books above all.”

An open-ended book

Hopscotch can be read as a

straightforward novel—the first

book—one chapter after the other

(ending at Chapter 56), or as a

second story, skipping from the

so-called Expendable Chapter 73

to 1, back and forth, all the way to

58 and 131, where the reader gets

caught in an endless loop of the

latter two. The author also allows

the reader to explore the novel in

any other sequence, and to ignore

the Expendable Chapters entirely.

Even in the more linear option,

the plot moves in an erratic fashion,

capturing a series of fragments as it

follows the main character, Horacio

Oliveira, initially in 1950s Paris.

We discover Oliveira’s intellectual

interests and his passion for jazz—a

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

The antinovel

BEFORE

1605 Don Quixote, by Miguel

de Cervantes, is regarded as

the first modern novel, but its

literary features and episodic

structure are at odds with later

definitions of the genre.

1939 At Swim-Two-Birds by

Irish author Flann O’Brien has

multiple characters and plots

that lose linear structure.

AFTER

1973 The Castle of Crossed

Destinies, by Italian author

Italo Calvino, has multiple

plots; each is determined by

a randomly chosen sequence

of tarot cards.

2001 Bartleby & Co., by

Spanish writer Enrique

Villa-Matas, revolves around

unwritten texts, fragmented

notes, footnotes, literary

allusions, and comments on

authors both real and fictional.

References to jazz appear throughout

Hopscotch, not only in its subject

matter but also in its jazz-infused

language, nonlinear structure, and

improvisational approach.

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