Short Story Month

Julio Cortázar’s “Bestiary”: Man-eating animals

The "Bestiary" narrates pre-adolescent Isabel's summer vacation with her cousin Nino and ... a tiger.

Julio Cortázar, the author of “Bestiary,” is an Argentine writer who’s not really that much from Argentina, known for the novel Hopscotch and the story “Blow-Up,” that latter having inspired Michelangelo Antonioni’s famous film of the same name. “Bestiary” is one of many stories collected in The Art of the Tale, edited by Daniel Halpern.

The “Bestiary” narrates pre-adolescent Isabel’s summer vacation with her cousin Nino and his father and several others of unclear relation. And a tiger that lives on the grounds of the estate. Moving from one part of the estate to another requires continually knowing where the tiger is.

There are no scenes in this story that describe watching the tiger as it stalks through this or that area. In fact, its existence is wholly circumscribed to the second hand. Similarly, there are indications of tension between the Kid and Rema. These characters are both adults. Rema is a female and it’s not clear if she is Luis’ wife. Luis is Nino’s father. The Kid is a man with a bad attitude. And a strange name.

Eventually the tension is resolved in some horror.

Would you like to know more about what I’ve read during this month of short stories?

Recent Posts

  • Viewing Journal

Law & Order, “Damaged”: Who Can Consent?

Aging badly, we say, so certain of our contemporary judgment. Hindsight is 20-fucking-20!

5 days ago
  • Monthly Reading, Viewing Report

Anxious April 2025: Consumption

Greatest hits: Henrik Pontoppidan, "Lucky Per"; the 2024 series "Shōgun"; the long-awaited second season of…

1 month ago
  • Monthly Reading, Viewing Report

March 2025: Reading, Viewing

Greatest Hits: "Triangle of Sadness", "Secrets & Lies", "Shampoo", and the 1989 "Lonesome Dove" series.…

3 months ago
  • Monthly Reading, Viewing Report

Fearful February 2025: Reading, Viewing

Triumphs: "The Red Shoes" and "Picnic at Hanging Rock"! Flaubert's "Sentimental Education"!

4 months ago
  • Monthly Reading, Viewing Report

Enervating Enero 2025, Reading and Writing

All of the books and films don't amount to much when political terror begins.

5 months ago
  • On Literature, Books

Hope or Memory in the Irony of the Romantic Disillusionment: Lukác’s “Theory of the Novel”

The episodes of the romantic novel are sundered, one from the other, but "irradiated" by…

5 months ago