1.25.2008

On Cortazar

The language is fairy tale, allegorical, a way of saying that he's going to teach us an important lesson w/o being at all teacherly or threatening about it.

The fun part of the allegory for adults angle is that there's no clear moral. Do you side with the Cronopios (the underclass, the outsiders, the immigrants, the Indians, the hippies), in all their dampness and sadness and chaos and confusion, because the ultimate reward for being like Lambs of God is that you are the closest to nature, to the Truth? Because it's admirable, and desirable, but not very rewarding, really, in this lifetime anyway.

Or are you more sympathetic to the Famas (upper-class, bougie), all of this earth, all organized and with it and beautiful? Because you may be participating in a corrupt system, and you may be stifling variation, but you are BEAUTIFUL and BELOVED and LUCKY and SUCCESSFUL. Not so magical, not so close to anything other than the rest of the famas, but... fun, for now, and rewarding.

Or are you siding with the esperanzas (cogs, middle-class, strivers) who are admirable in nothing except that they are safe safe safe?

If all the world is this way, and to some degree it truly is, how do you make a life for yourself?

And how do you justify the appeal of the cronopios? I feel like I've done a poor job above.

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