Second Time Around: A Re-Evaluation of the Function of the Fantastic in “Segunda vez” by Julio Cortázar

ABSTRACT “Segunda vez” is one of a few overtly political texts from Julio Cortázar’s 1977 collection Alguien que anda por ahí, describing the inexplicable disappearance of a civilian at an anonymous government ministry. Despite the narrative’s Argentine setting and clear allusions to the situation of the desaparecidos, critical evaluations of the story have historically been divided about whether to classify it as fantastic or political. These differences in interpretation can primarily be seen to belong to English-language and Spanish-language criticism respectively. This article argues for the reassessment of Cortázar’s later stories through a close reading of “Segunda vez” and its licensed translations, and explores the various possible factors that have contributed to the differences in critical interpretations of the text between Latin America and the English-speaking world. It is concluded that the mode of the fantastic is employed by Cortázar to evoke his ideological concerns.