“The Night Face Up”

by Julio Cortázar

Jenna Spoont, Claire Grant, Zachary Phelps, and Steven

Li

Characters and ConflictCharactersThe nameless man is the protagonistThe Aztecs are the antagonists

ConflictMan vs. His dreamsMan vs. RealityMan vs. Society

Modern Plot Structure

Setting: Modern city presumably in Mexico Exposition

Narrator late for something (work, appointment)Drives down calming street Precipitating event: Narrator gets in accident

with women Rising Action

Brought to hospital Almost happy except for a pain in his stomach Climax: brought into surgery, drifts into dream

Modern Plot Structure Cont.

Falling actionRecovers in hospitalRealizes a gap between crash and his reawakening:

“He tried to fix the moment of the accident exactly and it got him very angry to notice that there was a void there, an emptiness he could not manage to fill. Between the impact and the moment that they picked him up off the pavement, the passing out or what went on, there was nothing he could see. And at the same time he had the feeling that this void, this nothingness, had lasted an eternity. No, not even time, more as if, in this void, he had passed across something, or had run back immense distances” (Julio Cortázar 696).

Resolution: trapped in Aztec world

Aztec Plot Structure

Setting: Aztec forests near Teocalli temple

Exposition: Motec indian being chased by Aztecs during the “war of the blossom.”

Rising ActionDrifts off the motec path, foot gets stuck in

mudAztecs find him and capture himWakes up in the dark, hands tied

Climax: carried to top of Aztec temple to be sacrificed.

Aztec Plot Structure Cont.

Falling Action: attempts to escape from dream to modern times as the… “waning moon fell on a face whose eyes wanted not

to see it, were closing and opening desperately, trying to pass to the other side, to find again the bare, protecting ceiling of the ward. And every time they opened it was night and the moon…” (Julio Cortázar 697).

Resolution Aztec world becomes reality Modern world becomes dream Trapped in the Aztec reality

“He managed to close his eyelids again, although he knew now he was not going to wake up, that he was awake, that the marvelous dream had been in the other, absurd as all dreams are” (Julio Cortázar 689).

For the visual learners

Modern city in Mexico, Narrator late for work.

Gets in accident with women

Brought to hospital

Almost happy, except for pain in stomach

Brought into surgery drifts into dream

Realization of gap between accident and awakening

Recovers in hospital

Trapped in dreams

Narrator is a motec, escaping from Aztecs

Drifts off the motec path and feet get stuck in mud

Aztecs find him and capture him

Wakes up in dark, hands tied

Carried to top of Aztec temple to be sacrificed

Attempts to escape to modern times Dream becomes

reality, modern story becomes the dream, and narrator is trapped in Aztec times.

Elements of Magical Realism Realistic Elements:

Motorcycle and crashHospital and drugs/X-rays/painNurses/DoctorsEverything in the hospital is whiteForests, daggers, warriors chasing himEmotionsSmells

"He opened his eyes and it was afternoon, the sun already low in the oversized windows of the long ward. While trying to smile at his neighbor, he detached himself almost physically from the final scene of the nightmare“ (Cortázar 694).

Elements of Magical Realism

Magical Elements:The protagonist switches from Modern era to Aztec era

His dream being in the hospital, to his reality being in Mexico

“His dreams are frequently interrupted…by brief moments of awareness of his hospital surroundings” (Peden 112).

“As he was sleeping on his back, the position in which he came to did not surprise him…he was surrounded by an absolute darkness. Tried to get up and felt ropes pinning his wrists and ankles. He was staked to the ground on a floor of dank, icy stone slabs” (Cortázar 696).

Purpose of the Magical Elements

“The short stories of this modern Argentine author becomes one of delusions, hallucinations, and nightmares—powerful fantasies that at times have the strength to kill and that frequently destroys the minds of the afflicted characters” (Gyurko 112).

Characters’ Reactions to Magical Elements“Cortázar’s characters are pawns of fate,

suborned by demons that they struggle against but whom they are compelled to obey” (Gyurko 112-113).

“In most instances, Cortázar’s characters destroy their own selves. Fate becomes an inner force, the relentless action of the obsessed and tormented consciousness” (Gyurko 113).

Dreamlike Qualities of Story

“It was unusual as a dream because it was full of smells, and he never dreamt smells” (Cortázar 694).

“Maybe an animal that, like himself, was escaping from the smell of war” (Cortázar 694).

Treatment of Magical ElementsThe Reality:

War of the blossom Aztec era

Dream:Motorcycle accidentHospital

Modern era“Fantasy worlds are experienced with a conviction and an

intensity that make them real for the characters. External reality, on the other hand, recedes to the level of the unreal” (Gyurko 113).

Relationship Between the Real World and the Unreal Elements

The Irony:What is used as a dream is actually what

is realityWhat is used as reality is actually what is

a dream

Uses Cortázar’s:“sense of supernatural, uncanny or

weird…Fantastic literature” (Jones, Ed. 692).

Descriptive Passages/Imagery

“ Now he was beginning the most pleasant part of the run, the real ride: a long street bordered with trees, very little traffic, with spacious villas whose gardens rambled all the way down to the sidewalks, which were barely indicated by low hedges” (693).

"First, a marshy smell...But the reek lifted, and instead there came a dark, fresh composite fragrance, like the night under which he moved, in flight from the Aztecs" (694).

Hyperbole

Exaggerations When he passes out during the

accident, feels like a much longer time

War with Aztecs

Similes and Personification

"The fever was winning slowly and he would have to be able to sleep again..."(695).

"As if the sky were aflame on the horizon, he saw torches moving among the branches, very near him" (695).

"The creaking of the wooden latches jolted him like a whip" (696-697).

"A violet lamp kept watch high on the far wall like a guardian eye" (696).

Similes and Personification

"Now sleep began to take over again, to pull him slowly down" (696).

Vivid descriptions "Cortazar's narrative art is one of

paradox, ambiguity, and ironic reversal" (Grossvogel 113).

Metaphors

Anyway, he felt an immense relief in coming out of the black pit while the people were lifting him off the ground"(696).

“His jaws were twisted back as if with a rope or stick" (696).

“He detached himself almost physically from the final scene of the nightmare" (694).

Descriptive Passages/Imagery

"His feet sank into a bed of leaves and mud, and then he couldn't take a step that the branches of shrubs didn't whiplash against his ribs and legs" (695). ~also personification

Makes the audience see, smell, feel the scene

Typical of Magical realism

Symbolism

Parallels between reality and dream “Thus the stretcher on which he is placed prior

to his operation can be linked to his sensation of being carried face-up through a passageway of the pyramid; the lights and medicinal odors of the hospital reappear as Aztec torches and the cloying smells of war; the pulley holding his broken arm immobile is repeated in the ropes binding him to a stone slab; and his surgery emerges as a prelude to his sacrifice by a knife-wielding Indian priest” (113).

Treatment of Time

A few daysStarts at ten to nine Literary critic talks about theses parallels saying, “Still,

numerous parallels between his conscious and unconscious states creates a unifying, reflecting-mirror structure that foreshadows the surrealistic denouement”(Peden113).

Parallels between real world and dream-Wakes up in dream -Falls asleep in reality Passes out between dream and reality for a few

minutes, seems like a long time

Treatment of Time

“And at the same time he had the feeling that this void, this nothingness, had lasted an eternity. No, not even time, more as if, in this void he had passed across something, or had run back immense distances”(696).

Uses time to show how quickly the accident happens, his recovery, surgery, etc.

Uses time of day and lighting to know what time of day it is

Political/Cultural Messages

The intensity and horrors of war Challenges the reader’s faith in reality To shock people Tells about the Aztec world “In ‘La noche boca arriba’ he goes a step

further, transforming objective reality into an insane dream and the terrible nightmare of Aztec savagery into reality, but he nevertheless accomplishes something akin to the surrealists’ goal”(Peden 113).

Themes

Tale about the impossibility of telling and about the frustration of seeing—twin expressions of the ontological dilemma that defines man.

Present situation that seem to be absurd or fantastic. Two worlds, one supernatural, one equally as convincing as the other.

“Characters are prone to absorption into fantasy worlds because they are narcissistic, emotionally unstable” (Gyurko 113).

Many characters lack a name.

Author Biographical Information

Julio Cortázar

Julio Cortázar August 26, 1914—February 12, 1984 Born in Brussels, Belgium and his parents were of

Argentinean decent 6 ft. 6in, long hair, and a beard. Produced novels, short stories, as well as writing poetry. Translated works from famous writers such as Edgar Allen

Poe into Spanish. Began career as an elementary and high school teacher.

Also taught French literature at a university. He then moved to Buenos Aires where he became a

translator. He then continued translating in Paris for the United Nations

after receiving an offer from France. Was criticized by many for losing his Argentinean identity,

but he claimed he was like a snail that "carries his nest with him and travels all over the world" (The Contemporary World 1236).

Stories, Novels, Pieces of Work

Bestiary 1951 (Included “House Taken Over” which we went over yesterday)

Cronopias and Famas 1969Hopscotch 1963 was considered his most remarkable

novel62: A model Kit 1968Last Round (1969)Fantomas Takes On the Multinational Vampires 1975A manual for Manuel 1973

-Around the day in eighty worlds 1967 (this is not a typo that’s the name of the book)