This labyrinth, our amulet: considerations about Julio Cortázar and Roberto Bolaño

Abstract

The concept of labyrinth is important to Julio Cortázar's literature, especially in works like Rayuela and in tales like those gathered in Bestiario. As his reader, Roberto Bolaño for the time being seems to manifest in works like Amuleto the resignification of this labyrinthine capacity, taking literature to other levels, in which the notions of construction and destruction of the narrative can be associated with both the fatality of an abyss and the performance that involves the point of view of the narrator. This article aims to analyze how these movements occur in both authors and to what extent approximations and distances are possible within this larger labyrinth in which they both live together, Latin American literature.