'Blow Up' Analysis and Creative Writing (Fernanda)

Creative Writing. The School for Professional Assassins, Prologue. A book I´m writing.

'Katherine…’ She heard the voice calling, a voice so melodic, almost hypnotizing. While in her trance a figure materialized in front of her, she was so beautiful, Katherine though that she might be one of those mythic creatures called angels that her uncle always told her about. She knew it was ridiculous but nothing human could look like that.

‘Who are you?’ The laughter of the woman was mesmerizing, it was as if there were no troubles in the world, as if all the worries and sadness inside her had suddenly vanished, it was magical.

‘I do believe you know who I am’ the singsong way of speaking of the woman had Katherine’s complete attention, but as soon as she realized who she was speaking to Katherine immediately kneeled as a sign of respect. ‘Goddess’ stated Katherine in a low silvery voice.

‘Yes child, I have many names and faces, I am Selene, Diana, Phoebe, but your  people know me best as Artemis, the  moon, I ride the skies by night and protect unseen by day, but today I visit my huntress to warn her of what is yet to come’

‘You will be our savior yet our demise, your actions will define Andromeda’s future, you lie between darkness and light. Sacrifices will forever be your curse, love will be your downfall but also your salvation. There will come a time when you must decide between your duties and love, that choice will define all. Do not be scared child, for you have my blessing, your wisdom will be your strongest weapon I believe in your soul’s power. I believe in you.’

A man’s laughter interrupted her goddess’ warning. His voice was strangely smoky, but Katherine quickly erased that thought from her mind. She tried to look around but she saw no-one, it was just a pitch-black sea of darkness.

‘Katherine,’ he said almost teasingly  ‘what a beautiful name, I’m afraid I can’t talk much, holding an irritated goddess can be quite hard’ When Katherine saw the image of her goddess she was immediately terrified, she stood in front of her like before, but she was frozen in place like a statue.

‘Who are you?’ whispered Katherine, terror crawling in her throat.

Completely ignoring her the voice went on, ‘you have something I want, your goddess showing up here just proves that, if you cooperate I might let you live, refuse and I will be your worst nightmare.’

‘I’m not scared of you’ she tried to make her voice as even as she possibly could but some of her emotions escaped without her permission. Why was her heart rate increasing so rapidly? She had never been as panicked as she was now, fear freezing her in place mimicking her own goddess.

His laughter had a seductive tone to it, and Katherine couldn’t help but comparing it to that of her goddess. ‘I believe you are, now, I need you to give me something that is part of a collection, one owned by your mother, It’s a very rare crystal, it is said to be black as night yet so clear you can see through it.’

‘Why should I help you?’ Gathering all the courage she had left.

‘Because if you fail, I will make sure that the blood of those you love spills, be loyal to me and I will spare them, you have my word’.

And just like that her goddess unfroze and easily drowned the voice away, back into the dark abyss.

‘I urge you not to listen to him Katherine, even if you give him what he wants he will not spare those dearest to you, the only thing that would change is that you helped him.’

‘Who was he?’

‘That, my huntress, was a child of Apollo, my brother.’

Katherine almost fell out bed, had it all been a dream? No, she knew better than that, her goddess had warned her of the prophecy she would have to face.

She looked at the beautiful moon that stood upon the sky, and to the lullaby of Artemis, she went back to sleep.

'Blow up' Analysis.

In my opinion, it seems ridiculous to read an author in a foreign lenguaje when you have the opportunity to read him in it´s mother tongue. This is why I think that reading Julio Cortázar in English class is so absurd, and why I´m refusing to do a Short Story analysis. Instead, I will sum up a couple of reasons why we shouldn´t be reading Cortázar in our class. 

First of all, I think that when you are reading a translation of a book, you no longer are reading the author, instead you read the translator. This means that reading Cortázar in English is us not reading him at all. It is us reading Paul Blackburn´s representation of Cortázar. No doubt that some good translations exist, but none can ever compare to the original author. This due to the fact that the author probably meant more things than what the translator is passing to us. We will never be able to understand a text to the same extent until we read its original version, and 'Blow Up' is no exception. 

Another factor that we must consider is the fact that there are somethings that cannot be translated. Some cultures and languages have a very particular vocabulary and no literal translation exist for some words. Being from argentina, Cortázar had a very particular vocabulary specific to argentina. Therefore by not reading his original works we cannot understand his 'signature' way of writing. 

These are only a few reasons why I refuse to read Cortázar in English and therefore do the Short Story Analysis of the same work, 'Blow Up'.