• Autonauts of the Cosmoroute
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Archipelago Books

Autonauts of the Cosmoroute

Autonauts of the Cosmoroute

by Julio Cortázar, translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean

$20.00
$0.00 $20.00
Spanish Literature
Format

With photographs by Julio Cortázar and Carol Dunlop and illustrations by Stéphane Hébert.

Autonauts of the Cosmoroute is a love story, a travelogue, a collection of stories and snapshots, both visual and verbal, irreverent and brilliant. In May of ‘82, Julio Cortázar, literary explorer of the highest order, set out with Carol Dunlop aboard their VW camper van (a.k.a. Fafner) to explore the uncharted territory of the Paris-Marseilles freeway. It was a route they’d driven before, usually in about ten hours. This time, they loaded up with supplies—food, water, wine, typewriters, cameras—and prepared for an arduous voyage of thirty-three days without leaving the autoroute, at a rate of two rest stops per day. Along the way they would uncover the hidden side of the freeway and take the notion of literature from a serious game to a logical, surreal extreme.

Additional Book Information

Series: Archipelago Books
ISBN: 9780979333002
Pages: 354
Publication Date:

Praise

Idols invite respect, admiration, affection, and, of course, great envy. Cortázar inspired all of these feelings as very few writers can, but he inspired, above all, an emotion much rarer: devotion. He was, perhaps without trying, the Argentine who made the whole world love him.
—Gabriel García Márquez

Anyone who doesn’t read Cortázar is doomed. Not to read him is a serious invisible disease, which in time can have terrible consequences. Something similar to a man who has never tasted peaches. He would quietly become sadder ... and, probably, little by little, he would lose his hair.
—Pablo Neruda

Despite the unpromising terrain of the autoroute, they make interesting discoveries daily. Much of the travelogue is humorous, yet it’s also a serious book about ’slow travel’ in which they subvert the autoroute’s efficiency and find adventure in unexpected places.
—Yaël Schlick, Toronto Star

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