A CERTAIN LUCAS

by Julio Cortazar ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 18, 1984

Like one of Cortazar's earliest books, Cronopios and Famas, this assemblage (very loosely connected to a central figure called Lucas) offers short-takes of whimsy and surrealism: lists, mini-tales, run-on sentences, fragments of invention. The best of the tidbits are like small diamond chips. (""In his most delirious inventions there's something that at the same time is so simple, so little bird, so gin rummy."") Among the standouts: descriptions of a device that straightens out all lettering, thereby obliterating writing as we know it; cats' meows as telephonic messages; tiny golden fish found in the bloodstream of a particular African people; an exclusive restaurant in a Paris subway car. But the less tinkly pieces offer slim pickings indeed--jokes about music, parodies of criticism, certain rhetorical tricks, plus a piece of smooth disingenuousness about politics and literary ""progress."" All in all: uneven sketchwork, beguiling a little less than half the time, from an elegantly imaginative writer--who died just about a month ago.

Pub Date: May 18, 1984

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1984

Categories: FICTION