Archipelago’s latest offering, From the Observatory, is a slender, gorgeous thing, a photo-essay-cum-prose-poem-manifesto . . . joyously slippery.

The photographs beautifully evoke their subject and also give some key to the genesis of the work itself . . . They recall the cinematic values that inspired two of the finest films of the French New Wave, Alain Resnais's Last Year at Marienbad and Hiroshima Mon Amour.

Cortazar seeks 'another possible profile of man.' From the outset, as rendered in Anne McLean's elegant translation, he embraces the slipperiness of knowledge and language itself . . . [From the Observatory] articulate[es] a constellation of its own from previously unexplored connections.

From The Observatory pulls us in like a whirlpool and makes us its own… The cycle of the eels in European waters and a sultan′s strolls through an astronomical observatory in Jaipur intertwine to produce a discourse of rich texture, complex weave, and vertiginous rhythm.

A writer who knows how to combine, like few others, an incredible imagination and a moving humanism.

Cortázar is a unique storyteller. He can induce the kind of chilling unease that strikes like a sound in the night.

Idols invite respect, admiration, affection, and, of course, great envy. Cortázar inspired all of these feelings as very few writers can, but he inspired, above all, an emotion much rarer: devotion. He was, perhaps without trying, the Argentine who made the whole world love him."

Anyone who doesn’t read Cortázar is doomed.

Pure Cortazar in all his masterful out-of-this-world imagery. Illusory and poetic text accompanied by stunning photos make this book a perfect summer present for visitors or hosts as it is its own magical fairytale journey for adults. This is as beautiful as the perfect summer day.

From the Observatory is a welcome addition to [Cortazar's] well-established English oeuvre. It exposes the intelligence and idiosyncratic connections that reflect a unique and creative mind.

A first-class literary imagination at work.

Julio Cortazar is a stunning writer. It is difficult to imagine how he could improve as a writer of short stories.

A glittering showcase for a daring talent...Julio Cortazar is a dazzler.

Vivid... Cortazar makes both science and language something utterly sensual... In a stunning translation by the talented Anne Mclean.