Julio Florencio Cortázar (26 August 1914 – 12 February 1984) was an Argentine, nationalized French novelist, short story writer, essayist, and translator. Known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, Cortázar influenced an entire generation of Spanish-speaking readers and writers in America and Europe.
He is considered one of the most innovative and original authors of his time, a master of history, poetic prose and short story in general and a creator of important novels that inaugurated a new way of making literature in the Hispanic world by breaking the classical moulds through narratives that escaped temporal linearity.
He lived his childhood and adolescence and incipient maturity in Argentina and, after the 1950s, in Europe. He lived in Italy, Spain, and in Switzerland. In 1951, he settled in France for more than three decades and composed some of his works there.
Julio Cortázar was born on 26 August 1914, in Ixelles, a municipality of Brussels, Belgium. According to biographer Miguel Herráez, his parents, Julio José Cortázar and María Herminia Descotte, were Argentine citizens, and his father was attached to the Argentine diplomatic service in Belgium.
At the time of Cortázar's birth, Belgium was occupied by the German troops of Kaiser Wilhelm II. After German troops arrived in Belgium, Cortázar and his family moved to Zürich where María Herminia's parents, Victoria Gabel and Louis Descotte (a French National), were waiting in neutral territory. The family group spent the next two years in Switzerland, first in Zürich, then Geneva, before moving for a short period to Barcelona. The Cortázars settled outside of Buenos Aires by the end of 1919.
Cortázar's father left when Julio was six, and the family had no further contact with him. Cortázar spent most of his childhood in Banfield, a suburb south of Buenos Aires, with his mother and younger sister. The home in Banfield, with its back yard, was a source of inspiration for some of his stories. Despite this, in a letter to Graciela M. de Solá on 4 December 1963, he described this period of his life as "full of servitude, excessive touchiness, terrible and frequent sadness." He was a sickly child and spent much of his childhood in bed reading. His mother, who spoke several languages and was a great reader herself, introduced her son to the works of Jules Verne, whom Cortázar admired for the rest of his life. In the magazine Plural (issue 44, Mexico City, May 1975) he wrote: "I spent my childhood in a haze full of goblins and elves, with a sense of space and time that was different from everybody else's". ...
Source: Article "Julio Cortázar" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
To the INFP personality types life is a long quest for meaning and harmony and their personal values are so important to them. This means that it is essential to the INFP that their beliefs and their actions are totally in sync at all times. An INFP is unlikely to take any action which they don’t believe in their heart is right. Yet there is a crusading side to the INFP which would surprise even those who knew the person well. When a personal value, or belief is trodden on, then the INFP can become outspoken and turn on the transgressor. They are so private that their values are usually well hidden so that other people may not realise, but the INFP becomes like a champion of the cause and will be expressive, animated and at times go for the jugular.
The INFP has two contrary characteristics, curiosity and shyness. They love to know what's going on, feel excluded if not kept informed but prefer to be more in the background and not wanting to be the centre of attention. The INFP always wants to be invited to the party - even though the chances are they won't show up. There is a sensitive, caring side to the INFP which means they will be see the interconnections between people and pick up on the verbal and non-verbal cues.
Sensitive, caring and empathetic INFPs are excellent in supporting roles where people have to be looked after - especially if those people are close to the INFP. Because it can take so long (if ever) to get to know the INFP, others paradoxically may see them as slightly aloof, as they engage best when they have allowed someone into their inner sanctum. Optimistic and extremely positive, INFPs are the ultimate dreamers. Forward thinking and focused, they love the possibilities that life might bring.
An INFP does not like to be categorised. They value their autonomy, and feel 'different,' and any system, (including this one), which tries to 'define' or 'explain' them would be denigrated. The INFP would say, 'You can't put me in a box, I'm different,' indeed they would all say this. Optimistic and extremely positive, INFPs are the ultimate dreamers. Forward thinking and focused, they love the possibilities that life might bring. INFPs are extremely future oriented individuals who enjoy flights of fancy and savour potential and the many possibilities unlike their ISFP counterparts, who prefer to stop and savour the sensory, real experiences of “this moment” to the maximum. The ISFP will look down, immersing themselves in actual experiences whilst the INFP will always look up and forward, dreaming big dreams and loving the anticipation of what might come.
INFPs have the ability to see good in almost anyone or anything. Even for the most unlovable individual the INFP can have (often misplaced) empathy and even pity. Their extreme depth of feeling is often hidden, even from themselves, until circumstances see them project a seemingly uncharacteristic impassioned, and extraverted, response. Of course, life is not always harmonious, so INFPs are not immune from all of life’s problems, frustrations and disappointments that we all face.
However, they feel a duty to a higher calling, the greater good. So, although essentially idealists and extremely gentle individuals, INFPs, when their values are contravened, can adopt a more strident, crusading ESTJ type of role, to sort things out, which will surprise even close friends who have only seen the gentle, quiet soul. But then, once they’ve made their point, their energies will be depleted, and they will disappear back to their own, quiet, introverted world of possibilities and harmony, often questioning whether they should have been so harsh and worried that they haven’t either shown too much of themselves (always a concern for the extremely private INFP) or, worse still, that they might have caused hurt to someone, which is never their intention.
Choose another celebrity type to compare side by side the different approaches work, attitudes to conflict and the way they engage with others.
