Essay Julio Cortazars Axolotl Misidentified as Magical...

Julio Cortazars Axolotl Misidentified as Magical Realism Some people consider a book to be magical realism based on the author or the part of the world it was written in. Just because an author has written a book that is magical realism does not mean that all of the books that author writes will be magical realism. Though most magical realism stories are written by Latin American authors, a story is not necessarily magical realism if the author came from that region. Julio Cortazar is an Argentine writer who has published many short stories and novels. In 1956, he wrote a short story called Axolotl. A careful reading of this work will reveal that it is not an example of magical realism. Like magical realism, this story has†¦show more content†¦Outside, my face came close to the glass again, I saw my mouth, the lips compressed with the effort of understanding the axolotls(15). How can the boy be seeing through the axolotls eyes? Later, the narrator says what was his obsession is now an axolotl (15). How can a persons obsession turn into a living thing? However, the characters do not question the story. No transition and no surprise, I saw my face against the glass, I saw it on the outside of the tank, I saw it on the other side of the glass (14). This story can have different purposes. One of the purposes is for entertainment. It can also be used to see life in a new way. The eyes of the axolotls spoke to me of the presence of a different life, of another way of seeing (13). The story can also make the reader wonder if he or she sometimes watches himself or herself from somewhere else. Axolotl also has a few sublime characteristics. Longinus states that the sublime is perceived in a moment...through the effects of speech and language (qtd. in Arensberg 3). These types of language can include amplification, elevation, metaphors, hyperbolas, etc. The main character says that they were devouring me slowly with their eyes, in a cannibalism of gold (14). This description could be a metaphor because eyes can not devour anything, or it could be amplifying the intensity of the eyes. This possibility can cause a person to believe that Axolotl is a sublime story rather than a