The Real Within the Dream

The Real Within the Dream

Latin American modernist authors were inspired by European surrealists to craft their own experimental style, magical realism. In his short story, “The Night Face Up” ("La Noche Boca Arriba"), Argentine author Julio Cortázar employs magical realism to alter the reader’s perception of the “real” and the “dream” world. The story opens with an unnamed protagonist who gets into a motorcycle accident. The remainder of the story alternates between scenes from his hospital bed and scenes from a presumed dream, where he is a Motecan warrior running from the Aztecs. The reader is expected to believe that the hospital scene constitutes reality when, in fact (or fiction), it is the dream. Our presentation will discuss several indicators that prove the presumed dream to be “real,” such as uses of smell, voids in time, references to a trail and the absence of common names of objects. We will argue that Cortázar provides in his short story not just entertainment but a lesson in perception: we should refrain from allowing our own perceptions of reality interfere with the perceptions revealed in the story, because if we do, we will be taken quite literally on a ride.