A Manual for Manuel

Julio Cortazar

In his first political novel, Julio Cortazar, the internationally acclaimed Argentinian author, applies his special mindscape to today’s headlines as he tackles the surreal world of Latin American exiles in Paris who are intent on committing revolutionary acts. Using smuggled counterfeit money, they finance a plan to kidnap a top Latin American police official, whose headquarters are in Paris, and hold him for ransom until certain political prisoners in Latin America are released.
Amidst pages interspersed with newspaper clippings of jailbreaks, police attacks, torture, and various acts of rebellion, the world of Cortazar’s sometimes wildly improbable intellectuals-on-the-run blossoms. His characters are all searching for an almost mystical ‘bridge’ to a revolutionary new world; but he bridge proves elusive, the revolution far away. Only Manuel, a baby for whom this manual of clippings and thoughts is being complied, may live to see its arrival.

status Copy #1 (8654): in
genre Literature and Fiction » Magical Realism
publisher Random House, Inc
publish date 1978
popularity checked out 0 time(s)

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