Straight from The Horse's Mouth? On the Origins of Cortazar's "El perseguidor'

This article purports to cast new light on the sources of inspiration for Julio Cortazar's pivotal story El perseguidor'. In particular, it aims to demonstrate that Cortazar's depiction of the creative artist in the story was decisively shaped not only or even primarily by the life of jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, but also by his reading of Joyce Cary's novel The Horse's Mouth (1944), a whole series of often revealing references to which can be found in his correspondence. A detailed comparison of the two works suggests multiple borrowings which help account for both the thematic focus of El perseguidor', its particular choice of narrative perspective, and also a number of specific episodes and textual details.