Jazz discourse in Julio Cortazar's "Rayuela": Improvising a narrative

Julio Cortazar's preoccupation with the musicality of language celebrates the paradox of its intent to construct and convey meaning and its inability to be equated with actual human experience. His works expand traditional boundaries associated with the narrative form by encompassing characteristics typical of various forms of communication other than literary, which he engages for the purpose of seeking authenticity in all and every aspect of human existence. Rayuela, like a jazz musician's improvisation, is Cortazar's testimony; although not explicitly autobiographical, its fluidity and lack of constructed pretension allow for a direct bridge of communication between author, narrative, and reader akin to the experience of jazz performance. Like a musical improvisation, Rayuela juxtaposes the serious elements of structure and logical sequencing with a playful, intuitive imagination that succeeds in catapulting the reader into new worlds which, like an individual improvised solo, is never repeated in exactly the same way.