Graffiti

by Julio Cortázar

7 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2014

About the author

Julio Cortázar, born Julio Florencio Cortázar Descotte, was an Argentine author of novels and short stories. He influenced an entire generation of Latin American writers from Mexico to Argentina, and most of his best-known work was written in France, where he established himself in 1951.

Reviews

[Glenn Russell]

Fiction as powder keg, fiction as detonating force.

Graffiti, an explosive six-page short story by the one and only Julio Cortázar.

A tale of two graffiti artists who develop a relationship through their art - they never meet face to face or exchange words; they communicate by way of graffiti and only graffiti.

Our story's narrator is a young woman who always addresses her fellow graffiti artist, a guy, in the second person: "I suppose that it amused you to find the sketch beside yours, you attributed it to chance or a whim and only the second time did you realize that it was intentional."

Again, she never actually speaks to him in the flesh - the entire tale gives a reader the impression she is recounting their relationship and past events in her own mind. I say "gives the impression" since with this Argentine author of the fabulous, many aspects of his fiction, both long and short, remain purposely ambiguous and are left to a reader's imagination.

She tells him she knows he started creating graffiti out of a sense of boredom, not even close to political protest or an act of defiance against the prohibition of writing or drawing on walls. And such art doesn't even have to be political in nature; even a simple drawing of a house or dog could get the graffiti artist beaten up or hauled off to jail.

At this point we can ask: Why do dictators and police states act thusly? After all, the desire to transform one's powerful emotions and life experiences into a work of art in any form is a very human and healthy impulse. Seen in this way, graffiti art is perfectly natural. Of course, I recognize such a question is naïve - the iron fist of totalitarianism always and at all times takes the needed steps, frequently brutal and cruel in the extreme, to obliterate personal artistic expression in any form, no matter how seemingly innocent.

She goes on to tell him he never ran any great risk with police or officials since he chose his time well and always would observe people looking at his graffiti from a distance. Once and only once did he dare actually write words to accompany his drawing: It hurts me too. Predictably, the police themselves made it disappear within two hours.

Then, as she continues, he could see another graffiti artist also decided to have some fun by drawing a figure in warm colors next to his, a graffiti artist he knew to be a woman. Wow! And another such sketch popped up next to another of his drawings. Double decker wow!

But, as she goes on to relate, tragedy strikes - "There was a confused crowding by the wall, you ran, in the face of all good sense, and all that helped you with the good luck to have a car turn the corner and put on its brakes when the driver saw the patrol wagon, its bulk protected you and you saw the struggle, black hair pulled by gloved hands, the kicks and the screams, the cut-off glimpse of blue slacks before they threw her into the wagon and took her away."

From this point, Graffiti takes a more dramatic and heartfelt turn. You will have to read for yourself (link below) to see the way in which Julio concludes his tale.

One final reflection: What dictators and their ilk especially fear and despise is an artist not only creating art that opposes their power but an artist working in collaboration with other artists. Totally unacceptable! Thus the order goes out: find them and destroy them. Julio Cortázar handles this theme with a subtlety that's nothing short of magnificent. A piece of flash fiction not to be missed.



Julio Cortázar dedicated Graffiti to Catalan artist Antoni Tàpies - below photo of the artist with one of his works of art




Julio Cortázar, 1914-1984

[¡ mel ⋆]

para el colegio

[Ricardo Mrls · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lo leí para la clase de Literatura.

Un cuento súper cortito, pero hermoso en gran medida.

[Gita · Rating 5 out of 5]

با ترجمه‌ی معین خواندمش.
راجع‌به زن و مردی است که در میانه‌ی انقلاب، به وسیله‌ی گرافیتی‌های روی دیوار باهم گفت‌وگو می‌کنند.

[Mar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gusta mucho este cuento, en especial el final. Da para mucho.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me lo tuve que leer para la Universidad
Realmente, es un relato muy corto y muy agradable de leer

[pilu · Rating 3 out of 5]

nomas lo lei para el colegio

[Bianca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lo lindo de este cuento no radica solo en la belleza del relato y las historias que encierra (en un momento de tanta angustia y represión) sino también en las licencias literarias que se permite Cortázar en los narradores para lograr impactar en lo profundo del lector.
Importante leer hoy, a un día del 24/03. Nos recuerda que la literatura (y el arte) siguen siendo herramientas políticas y símbolos de memoria.

[Asmaå Slimani · Rating 4 out of 5]

تُعد القصة نموذجًا لكيفية الجمع بين الجمال الفني والمعنى العميق.

تسلط الضوء على قيمة الفن في أوقات الأزمات، وكيف يمكن لأبسط الأفعال أن تحمل أعظم الرسائل.
الفن كأداة مقاومة:
الغرافيتي في القصة ليس مجرد أشكال فنية، بل يمثل تمردًا ضد نظام يفرض الصمت والخوف. إنه وسيلة لإظهار الوجود والمقاومة في وجه القمع.

[Meri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hermoso y triste, realmente no me esperaba ese final 😞

[Nadine Mahgoub · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Just one time you wrote a phrase, in black chalk: it hurts me too."

[Mar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me Encanto

[Martine · Rating 5 out of 5]

really liked

[Cande · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5

[Jade Zoe. · Rating 3 out of 5]

un corto libro que leí para mi trabajo de taller de comunicación..

es bueno en sí hay dictadura militar, graffitis, un pequeño amor en la dictadura y algunos problemas en los suburbios

no lo entendí completamente ya que bueno son las 10am y me pase toda la noche terminando crepúsculo jajaja pero despues de todo no es del todo malo como también aún así es muy lindo en gran medida, mientras mi trabajo esté bien ¿ a quién le importa mucho entenderlo o no ? jajajaj

[Lara Prado · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es un relato bastante poético, artístico, romántico y algo desolador.
Ellos no se conocen, o al contrario, se conocen demasiado porque interactuan a través de su arte, callejero, pero arte al fin, el cual la policía busca reprimir.

[Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting (and very European) take on a 1984 like scenario. The language is poetic and there’s an unexpected emotional bite.

[Deni · Rating 5 out of 5]

El mejor

[Naomi Nolasco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Siempre es un placer poder leerte de nuevo, Cortázar, siempre.