Comparative Essay Between Angela Carter and Julio Cortázar

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Pablo J. Padilla Pérez [A01362369] Novel and short story analysis. 311. IB Prof. Arturo Reyes Martinez Final Essay Assignment 25 · 11 · 2013 The Enemies of Reason Essay on The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman, by Angela Carter; and Rayuela, by Julio Cortázar. Given that narrative -and literature in general- is an instrument of communication addressed to portray and condense the infinitely wide diversity of human ideas and sentiments, It is basically impossible to find two works that share nothing in common in terms of ideas and content. Even when considering two apparently different pieces of narrative (in this case, two novels) and submit them to a further analysis, it is possible to find enough coincidences (although not always obvious) between them in account of the content, and consequently notice the convergence of some ideas from both works into a unique premise. In this work, after analyzing The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman by Angela Carter, and Rayuela by Julio Cortázar; and contrasting each novel against the other in terms of context, author, audience, style such other aspects, we will be able to recognize, in spite of the evident divergences, the similarities in some of the ideas treated by the authors, though in each work supported by different stylistic devices and narrative strategies. First of all, it is necessary to distinguish and understand the context and historical scenario within which each novel was written, for some of these characteristics have undoubtedly a direct impact on the main ideas exposed by both of them. On the one hand, Carter’s novel was written and published in the decade of 1970, in the United States. Within this geographical and historical scope, a new mentality was beginning to arise from the dawn of globalization and form the ashes of the decadent communitarianism of the 1960’s decade; this
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