Current:Home > StocksUnpublished works and manuscript by legendary Argentine writer Cortázar sell for $36,000 at auction -Mastery Money Tools
Unpublished works and manuscript by legendary Argentine writer Cortázar sell for $36,000 at auction
View
Date:2025-04-15 20:16:12
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — A buyer from Argentina paid $36,000 for a manuscript of works, including seven unpublished stories, by legendary Argentine writer Julio Cortázar at an auction Thursday in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo.
The bundle of 60-year-old sheets bound together with metal fasteners bearing the inscription “Julio Cortázar. Historias de Cronopios y de Famas. Paris. 1952” was the basis for the writer’s iconic “Cronopios and Famas” book, published in 1962.
The typewritten manuscript contains 46 stories that make up the heart of what ended up becoming one of Cortázar’s most famous works.
Of the total stories, 35 were published in “Cronopios and Famas.” Some were printed exactly as found in the manuscript that was once thought to be lost forever. It was discovered in Montevideo last year, while others underwent editorial changes. Three other stories were published in magazines before Cortázar’s death in 1984.
The seven unpublished works are: “Inventory,” “Letter from one fame to another fame,” “Automatic Butterflies,” “Travels and Dreams,” “Tiny Unicorn,” “Mirror’s Anger” and “King of the Sea.”
Cortázar is one of Latin America’s most celebrated writers, known for several groundbreaking works that included innovative narrative techniques that influenced future generations of writers.
The 60 yellowed sheets had a starting bid of $12,000 and were being auctioned by Zorrilla, an auction house in Montevideo, in partnership with the Buenos Aires art antique dealer Hilario.
In 1952, Cortázar sent a manuscript titled “Stories of Cronopios and Famas” from Paris to Luis María Baudizzone, the head of Argentine Argos publishing. Baudizzone, a personal friend of the writer, who at the time had only published his first novel, “Bestiario,” never responded, according to Cortázar scholars.
“These little tales of cronopios and famas have been my great companions in Paris. I jotted them down on the street, in cafes, and only two or three exceed one page,” Cortázar wrote to his friend Eduardo Jonquiéres in October 1952. In the same letter, he informed Jonquiéres that he had sent a typescript to Baudizzone.
More than half a century later, the typescript began to be studied by specialists when the son of a book collector, who had passed away in Montevideo, found it at the bottom of a box with other materials.
“It was something that had been lost,” Roberto Vega, head of the Hilario auction house, told The Associated Press. “The book was in an unlisted box. It could have happened that the collector died, and things could have ended up who knows where. It could easily have been lost.”
Vega speculates that Cortázar “lost track of the manuscript” after he sent it to Baudizzone.
The collector’s family, who requested anonymity, does not know how Cortázar’s manuscript ended up in the estate of the deceased, who had silently cherished it. The heir contacted Lucio Aquilanti, a Buenos Aires antiquarian bookseller, and a prominent Cortázar bibliographer, who confirmed the piece’s authenticity.
Institutions, collectors and researchers from both the Americas and Europe had been inquiring about the manuscript recently because of its rarity.
“Very few originals by Cortázar have been sold,” Vega said.
veryGood! (865)
Related
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- Kate Middleton Gives Surprise Musical Performance for Eurovision Song Contest
- How did COVID warp our sense of time? It's a matter of perception
- Kate Middleton Gives Surprise Musical Performance for Eurovision Song Contest
- Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
- Coal Lobbying Groups Losing Members as Industry Tumbles
- In memoriam: Female trailblazers who leapt over barriers to fight for their sisters
- Full transcript of Face the Nation, June 11, 2023
- South Korean president's party divided over defiant martial law speech
- Today’s Climate: August 26, 2010
Ranking
- What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
- Time is fleeting. Here's how to stay on track with New Year's goals
- Fears of a 'dark COVID winter' in rural China grow as the holiday rush begins
- Historian on Trump indictment: Our system is working … Nobody is above the law
- Can Bill Belichick turn North Carolina into a winner? At 72, he's chasing one last high
- American life expectancy is now at its lowest in nearly two decades
- Historian on Trump indictment: Our system is working … Nobody is above the law
- Jamie Foxx Is Out of the Hospital Weeks After Health Scare
Recommendation
Backstage at New York's Jingle Ball with Jimmy Fallon, 'Queer Eye' and Meghan Trainor
All the TV Moms We Wish Would Adopt Us
A Record Number of Scientists Are Running for Congress, and They Get Climate Change
City Centers Are Sweltering. Trees Could Bring Back Some of Their Cool.
New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens
Where Is the Green New Deal Headed in 2020?
Natural Climate Solutions Could Cancel Out a Fifth of U.S. Emissions, Study Finds
6 shot in crowded Houston parking lot after disturbance in nightclub, police say