Cosmonautas de la cosmopista
«Tengo la impresión de que no he logrado nunca una conciencia tan clara de la autopista; nunca la vi extenderse tan lejos en sus dos sentidos, nunca tuve una tal impresión de armonía al seguir sus curvas, subidas y bajadas.»
One afternoon in May 1982 Julio Cortázar and his wife, Canadian photographer Carol Dunlop, began a journey to the south of France along the Motorway that joins the capital city of Paris with the coastal city of Marseille.
The journey was done aboard Fafner, a red Volkswagen combi named after the giant Fafnir, a Runes hero that was converted into a dragon in one of the German-Jewish composer Richard Wagner.
The journey was planned to last 33 days, intending to “discover the thruway,the speed lane along the autoroute, the parallel path hidden in plain sight,.”
The Little Osita and the Wolf planned the trip as if it were a scientific investigation and established a set in stone rules:
They would never leave the highway;
they would stop just at motorway “rest areas” at a rate of 2 rest areas per day
they would take detailed notes on their findings; and, like Marco Polo, they would write a book on their journey as they went.
The whole adventure was reflected in an exhaustive logbook that included, in addition to the itinerary, the flora and fauna that appears along the way, tarot cards, lists of meals, photographs that, over time, became unforgettable and resounding in the echoes of universal time.
The voyage in Autonauts of the Cosmoroute granted a brief redemption—in the couple’s pursuit for a greater understanding of the world and of each other. However, Cortázar was a communist who donated the royalties from the French and Spanish editions of the book to the Sandinistas regime in Salvador.
Indeed, their journey became a gruesome honeymoon, as Carol Dunlop, much younger than him, died five months after the trip of "bone marrow failure" ("aplasia medular")
The autonauts of the cosmopista makes it possible to access, thanks to its playful and literary mixture, the most revealing intimacy of the writer, And it also has the rare privilege of being the last book written – or, better yet, lived – by Julio Cortázar. As Cortazar Died: February 12, 1984 of leukemia. one year later in 1983 the book was published in sPain
Notes:
The trip to Marseille is normally a day’s drive, but with sixty-five rest stops and at a rate of 2 stops per day, they passed an entire month living in the fafner
By traveling at a medieval pace driving between stops —Cortázar and Dunlop entered a different rhythm from which to view the life teeming around them, outside the ordinary time of frantic destinations.
Their plan, and its faithful execution, resembled the notion of the fantasy that feeds Cortázar’s many stories: a realm accessible at any moment under the right conditions.
Such was the ephemeral city that formed anew each night, at the larger rest areas among truckers from far and beyond.
After an extended preamble, which introduces the expedition’s protagonists, genesis, and preparations, the record itself comprises a daily log, photos, hand-drawn maps of the rest areas, and the authors’ many commentaries.
In these, Cortázar and Dunlop dwell on physical surroundings, metaphysical speculations, cultural reflections, and encounters with truckers, highway workers, and other travelers, as well as observations of each other’s habits; they remark, too, on how their enchanted state has changed them, even sharpening the details in their dreams.
The space of fiction within the travelogue opens other perspectives, as in the reappearance of the absurdist freeloaders Calac and Polanco (from Cortázar’s 1968 novel, 62: A Model Kit), who somehow find the couple at multiple rest stops.
In a series of fictitious letters from a mother to her son in Canada, the woman notes how she keeps running across the couple with the van at different rest areas: Guessing the nature of their improbable existence, she concludes that “they look a bit happier than normal people.”
Techno huMans
The Autonautas of the Cosmoroute, a book made up of the compilation of a typewritten travel log, photographs, a narrative account of the experience, fictional letters, newspaper clippings, and hand-drawn maps, was published in 1983 as a means of documenting this experience.
The collection and presentation of these various archival materials and repeated references to technology – the road, van, typewriter, and camera in particular – make visible the materiality of textual production and the intertwined work of the human body and the apparatus. As such, one can examine the photographs within the book and argue that the apparatuses and their photographic representations create a poetics of collaborative creation and playful interruptions, thus revealing an explicit relationship between technology, the last memories for Cortázar and Dunlop and their possible redemption.
Letter to minister Director de la Sociedad de las Autopistas
https://helenasubirats.blogspot.com/2017/06/los-autonautas-de-la-cosmopista.html
deteniéndonos en los 65 paraderos de la autopista a razón de dos por día, es decir empleando algo más de un mes para cumplir el trayecto París-Marsella sin salir jamás de la autopista
Tal es nuestro plan, que se llevaría a cabo con el apoyo de algunos amigos encargados de reabastecernos cada diez días (aparte de lo que encontraremos en los paraderos de la autopista). El único problema está en que, según creemos saber, un vehículo no puede permanecer más de dos días en la autopista, y por esa razón nos dirigimos a usted para pedirle la autorización que, llegado el momento, nos evitaría tener dificultades en los diferentes peajes.Si piensa usted que nuestra idea de escribir un libro sobre el tema no resulta desagradable para su Sociedad, y que no hay inconveniente en autorizarnos a «vivir» un mes desplazándose a razón de dos paraderos por día, me agradaría recibir su respuesta lo antes posible, puesto que quisiéramos partir hacia el 23 de este mes. Queda igualmente entendido que de ninguna manera quisiéramos que nuestro proyecto fuera difundido por la prensa pues, siendo conocidos como escritores, podríamos ver perturbada nuestra soledad de expedicionarios. Llegado el día, nuestro libro se encargaría de contar la historia al público en general.Agradeciéndole por adelantado su buena voluntad con respecto a este proyecto, le ruego acepte, señor Director, mis sentimientos más sinceros, así como los de mi esposa.
Annexes
[Dog} who was Fafner?
See Annex I001
Una tarde de mayo de 1982 Julio Cortázar and his third wife, La fotógrafa canadiense Carol Dunlop,
comienzan un viaje por la Autopista del Sur, París -> Marsella, durando 33 días, and intending to discover the other thruway, the parallel path hidden in plain sight, along the autoroute.
Emprenden el viaje a bordo de Fafner, la combi Volkswagen roja bautizada con el nombre del gigante Fafnir del compositor alemán-judio Richard Wagner
La Osita y el Lobo planean el viaje como si se tratara de una investigación científica y establecen un férreo reglamento que no deberán romper: no abandonar nunca la autopista y parar en dos áreas de descanso cada día Toda la aventura queda reflejada en un exhaustivo cuaderno de bitácora que incluye, además del itinerario, la flora y la fauna que aparece a lo largo del camino, cartas de tarot, listados de comidas, fotografías que, con el tiempo, se volvieron inolvidables y hasta una definición tan rotunda como inesperada acerca de la Guerra de Malvinas Los autonautas de la cosmopista hace posible acceder, gracias a su mezcla lúdica y literaria, a la intimidad más reveladora del escritor. Y tiene, además, el raro privilegio de ser el último libro escrito -o, mejor aún, vivido- por Julio Cortázar.
The better to gain access to that imagined place, the couple established some rules: They would not once leave the highway; they would explore each rest stop, at a rate of two a day; they would take detailed notes on their findings; and, like Marco Polo, they would write a book on their journey as they went.
https://www.textosenlinea.com.ar/cortazar/Los%20autonautas%20de%20la%20cosmopista.pdf
Pollock Project "JULIO ET CAROL" Marco Testoni, Max Di Loreto, Nicola Alesini
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_autonautas_de_la_cosmopista
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