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  • Published: 7 May 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529956832
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 128
Categories:

Divertimento



Never before translated into English, DIVERITMENTO is the bewitching debut novel from Latin America’s most influential literary alchemist, Julio Cortázar.

Dive into the mesmerizing dreamworld of Latin America’s literary great, Julio Cortázar.

As the 1949 carnival dances on in Buenos Aires, a group of young creatives gather in the sumptuous seclusion of an art studio. In this surreal, bohemian sanctuary, ruled by the dazzling Renato Lozano, elaborate meals are assembled, while strange poetry and merciless witticisms flow like wine.

Yet, as time passes, tensions and secrets begin to unravel, and so too do the boundaries of established reality. Divertimento will whisk you away on a bizarre and brilliant journey, taking you to the hidden heart of art, fantasy and the alchemy that is creative interpretation.

This is Julio Cortázar’s bold, experimental debut, here translated into English for the very first time.

TRANSLATED BY HARRY MORALES

'Anyone who doesn't read Cortázar is doomed' Pablo Neruda

‘Julio Cortázar is truly a sorcerer’ Kevin Barry

'A first-class literary imagination' The New York Times Book Review

‘Bring back Cortázar….Maybe we’re only just now ready to read Cortázar, to truly read him’ Alejandro Zambra

  • Published: 7 May 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529956832
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 128
Categories:

About the author

Julio Cortazar

Julio Cortazar lived in Buenos Aires for the first thirty years of his life, and after that in Paris. His stories, written under the dual influence of the English masters of the uncanny and of French surrealism, are extraordinary inventions, just this side of nightmare. In later life Cortazar became a passionate advocate for human rights and a persistent critic of the military dictatorships in Latin America. He died in 1984.

Also by Julio Cortazar

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Praise for Divertimento

Cortázar can induce the kind of chilling unease that strikes like a sound in the night

Time

Cortázar is one of the most distinctive voices in Latin American literature

Newsday

Cortázar is truly a sorcerer

Kevin Barry

I'm permanently indebted to the work of Cortázar

Roberto Bolaño

Bring back Cortázar….Maybe we’re only just now ready to read Cortázar, to truly read him

Alejandro Zambra

A first-class literary imagination

The New York Times Book Review

Anyone who doesn’t read Cortazar is doomed

Pablo Neruda