Julio Cortázar, born Julio Florencio Cortázar American Spanish: [ˈxuljo koɾˈtasaɾ] (listen); (26 August 1914 – 12 February 1984) was an Argentine novelist, short story writer, and essayist. 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.