Plot Summary: “The Other Heaven,” a short story by Julio Cortázar, tells the life of a man divided between his reality in 1940s Buenos Aires and a fantastic world set in late-nineteenth-century Paris. While in Buenos Aires he leads a routine life as a stockbroker, trapped in a conventional relationship with his fiancée Irma, in his imagination he travels to a bohemian and decadent Paris where he maintains an affair with Josiane, a prostitute, under the constant threat of a murderer named Laurent. Through this contrast between the real and the imaginary, the protagonist seeks to escape monotony but discovers that both worlds are filled with frustration and danger.
Warning
The following summary and analysis is only a semblance and one of the many possible readings of the text. It is not intended to replace the experience of reading the story.
Detailed Summary of “The Other Heaven”
Julio Cortázar’s “The Other Heaven” tells the story of a man caught between two realities: Buenos Aires in the 1940s and a recurring fantasy set in late-nineteenth-century Paris. The protagonist, a stockbroker leading a monotonous life, lives with his mother in Buenos Aires and maintains a relationship with Irma, a woman who seems to embody the conventional life and social expectations of his milieu. Yet his existence in Buenos Aires leaves him dissatisfied, and he constantly seeks to escape it.
This desire for escape manifests itself in his strolls through the Pasaje Güemes, a place charged with memories of his youth. In those moments, the protagonist is transported to Paris—to a parallel world of covered arcades, dark streets, and cafés filled with mystery. This Paris of the late nineteenth century becomes the setting of his secret life, where he keeps a relationship with Josiane, a prostitute who works and lives in a garret in the Galerie Vivienne. Through these shifts between two cities and two eras, the protagonist lives two lives: one marked by routine and security in Buenos Aires, and another characterized by danger and the excitement of a Paris steeped in a decadent atmosphere.
In Paris, he finds himself surrounded by an unsettling environment due to the constant threat of a killer named Laurent, who strangles women in the same neighborhoods he frequents with Josiane. As the terror spreads, Josiane lives in constant fear, and their relationship unfolds under the shadow of this menace. Despite the tension and danger surrounding Paris, the protagonist feels drawn to the freedom and passion this world offers in contrast to the predictability of his life in Buenos Aires.
Yet his life in Buenos Aires keeps calling him back. The pressure of his job at the Stock Exchange, his family obligations, and his impending marriage to Irma constantly pull him toward reality. Although Irma is affectionate and generous, his relationship with her lacks the excitement he finds in his Parisian life with Josiane. The protagonist, trapped between these two worlds, never feels fully satisfied in either.
As time passes, the situation in Paris becomes increasingly dangerous, as Laurent continues killing and his presence becomes unbearable to the neighborhood’s inhabitants. Terrified that she may become the next victim, Josiane seeks comfort in the protagonist, but even their relationship begins to lose the charm it once had. The protagonist’s obsession with Laurent grows, and in a café he mistakes a young South American man for the murderer himself—an idea that quickly dissolves but reveals the growing paranoia consuming him.
The story’s climax arrives when Laurent is finally captured and executed. The news of his death brings apparent relief to the neighborhood’s residents, and for a brief time, the protagonist experiences a sense of freedom and release. Yet this feeling does not last. Despite Laurent’s fall, the protagonist does not find the satisfaction he had imagined. His relationship with Josiane begins to fade, and the magic of the Parisian world loses its allure. He returns to Buenos Aires, burdened by a growing sense of failure and his inability to reconcile desire with reality.
By the end of the story, the protagonist is married to Irma and lives a conventional life, though still haunted by nostalgia for what was once his escape to Paris. In the present, he appears resigned to his fate, yet the longing for his “other heaven” persists. Even after Laurent’s death and the collapse of his fantasies, the protagonist continues to dream of returning to the covered galleries—to that space where the real and the imaginary intertwine—though he now seems to know that this world was never truly his.
“The Other Heaven” closes with the image of a man who has, at least outwardly, renounced his pursuit of escape but remains imprisoned by his memories and the illusion that, someday, he might return to that Paris which symbolizes the freedom he never attained.
Literary Analysis of “The Other Heaven” by Julio Cortázar
Characters in the Story
The protagonist-narrator is a figure divided between two worlds. In Buenos Aires, he is a stockbroker who embodies the archetype of a well-bred son, subject to social and familial expectations. His job at the Stock Exchange, his engagement to Irma, and his relationship with his mother situate him within a conventional life that suffocates him. Yet beneath this façade of respectability lies another side of his personality, one that emerges in the Parisian arcades, where he becomes a flâneur seeking the freedom denied to him by his daily existence. This duality is never resolved through confrontation but coexists within him as two parallel realities, until social pressure finally prevails.
Josiane emerges as the central female figure of the Parisian world. As a prostitute in the Galerie Vivienne, she represents everything absent from the orderly world of Buenos Aires: sexual freedom, the transgression of social norms, and the bohemian life. Her relationship with the protagonist transcends the merely carnal to become a genuine friendship marked by complicity and affection. Through her, the narrator gains access to a world of authenticity that contrasts sharply with the artificiality of his everyday life.
Irma, the protagonist’s fiancée, functions as Josiane’s direct counterpart. She embodies the world of social conventions, bourgeois respectability, and family expectations. Cortázar describes her as a “spider-bride,” suggesting her role in the web of social obligations that will ultimately trap the protagonist. Her presence in the story is more symbolic than active, yet her influence on the narrator’s life is decisive.
The protagonist’s mother is a secondary character who represents home and familial duty. She lives with her son in Buenos Aires and, although she does not appear frequently in the story, she remains a significant figure in his life—a constant reminder of the responsibilities and expectations he must fulfill. Through her, the familial and social pressure that pushes the protagonist toward the conventional path is reinforced, a pressure that partly fuels his desire to escape to Paris. The mother symbolizes his anchoring in reality, tradition, and social norms—forces he tries, but ultimately fails, to elude.
The South American is an enigmatic character who appears sporadically throughout the narrative. Josiane and her friends mention him in conversations and rumors, and although his identity is never fully developed, he serves as a reflection of the protagonist: a foreigner inhabiting the Parisian arcades, caught in a world that does not entirely belong to him. His presence adds a touch of mystery but also reinforces the sense of disconnection and alienation the protagonist feels within his alternate Parisian life. Like the protagonist, the South American seems to live on the margins, suspended between the lives of local residents and the ghosts haunting the galleries.
Laurent, the serial killer, although never directly appearing in the story, is a constant presence that generates the grand terror in the neighborhood of the arcades. His invisible threat contributes to the atmosphere of tension and mystery permeating the Parisian world, and his eventual unmasking as Paul the Marseillais significantly coincides with the beginning of the end of that alternate world.
The secondary characters of the Parisian world—the café owner, Kikí, la Rousse, Albert—form a chorus that lends life and verisimilitude to the setting of the arcades. Their conversations, relationships, and small daily dramas create the social fabric within which the protagonist finds his alternative existence.
Where Does the Story Take Place?
The narrative unfolds across two different cities and two interwoven time periods, linked through the covered arcades: Buenos Aires in the 1940s and Paris in the late nineteenth century. These covered galleries function as transitional spaces between the two worlds, allowing the protagonist to move between them in a fluid and mysterious manner.
In Buenos Aires, the Pasaje Güemes serves as the neuralgic point connecting both worlds. Since his adolescence, this place has represented for the protagonist a territory of freedom and transgression, with its “dirty skylights” and its “artificial night.” The passage is described as a microcosm that ignores “the stupidity of the day and the sun outside,” establishing itself as a refuge from everyday life. The city of Buenos Aires appears stifling, marked by heat, political demonstrations, the routine of the Stock Exchange, and family life represented by the maternal home with its courtyard and plants.
The Paris of the story is centered in the financial district and its covered galleries, particularly the Galerie Vivienne, which becomes the main stage for the protagonist’s adventures. This space is characterized by its distinctive architecture: glass ceilings, decorative stuccoes, allegorical figures, and garlands—an environment the narrator describes as “another heaven.” The Parisian arcades form a labyrinth of interconnected passages: the Galerie Colbert, Passage des Panoramas, Passage des Princes, Galerie Sainte-Foy, and Passages du Caire, among others.
The nocturnal atmosphere of the Parisian neighborhood is populated by cafés, especially the one on the rue des Jeuneurs, which serves as the gathering point for the characters. The adjacent streets—rue d’Uzès, rue Beauregard, rue d’Aboukir—constitute a territory where daytime commerce mingles with nightlife, where the luxury of shops coexists with the squalor of cheap hotels. Josiane’s garret, located above the Galerie Vivienne, represents an intimate space within this alternate world.
The contrast between the two worlds is heightened by the climatic conditions: while Buenos Aires appears suffocating, with its “soft asphalt” and the heat soaking through the protagonist’s shirt, the Paris of the story is submerged in perpetual winter, with snow and sleet creating an atmosphere that contributes to the mysterious and threatening mood of the grand terror provoked by Laurent.
A particularly significant setting is the Place de la Roquette, where the public execution takes place. This space, described in detail with its nocturnal ambiance and expectant crowd, marks a turning point in the narrative, symbolizing the beginning of the end of the protagonist’s alternate world.
Cortázar’s construction of these settings goes beyond mere physical description: he creates symbolic spaces that represent mental and emotional states. The covered galleries, with their artificial and timeless atmosphere, symbolize a realm of freedom and transgression, whereas the open streets and family spaces represent the world of social conventions and obligations. This spatial duality mirrors the protagonist’s inner split and his search for an escape from everyday reality.
The meticulous rendering of these settings—with their architectural details, smells, and interplay of light and shadow—helps build an atmosphere oscillating between the real and the dreamlike, reinforcing the story’s fundamental ambiguity.
Who Narrates the Story?
The story is told in the first person by its protagonist, who recounts his own life from an autobiographical perspective. This narrator-protagonist possesses a special quality: he can move between two different times and spaces, which grants him a unique and dual point of view. His narrative voice shifts between the present of the narration (Buenos Aires in the 1940s) and the evoked past (Paris at the end of the nineteenth century), creating a constant tension between these two worlds.
The narration is characterized by its reflective and retrospective nature. The narrator tells his story from a present in which he has already lost access to his “other heaven,” which tinges his account with nostalgia and melancholy. This temporal distance allows him to evaluate and comment on past events, adding layers of meaning through later reflections and observations. For example, when he describes his first visits to the Pasaje Güemes during adolescence, he does so with a mixture of irony and tenderness that is only possible from temporal distance.
A notable aspect of this narrator is his ability to convey the ambiguity between the real and the fantastic. He never tries to explain or rationalize his ability to move between two different eras and places; instead, he presents this extraordinary situation as something natural, thereby contributing to the magical realist atmosphere that pervades the story. His voice maintains a tone of naturalness that makes the impossible appear both plausible and everyday.
The narrator is also characterized by his emotional honesty. He does not conceal his contradictions or weaknesses, openly acknowledging his inability to reconcile his two lives and his eventual surrender to social pressures. This sincerity gives the character psychological depth and credibility, allowing the reader to understand and empathize with his internal dilemmas.
The narrative voice handles transitions between the two worlds with mastery, creating fluid shifts that reflect the porous nature of the boundaries between them. The narrator can move from describing a family gathering in Buenos Aires to a scene in the Parisian arcades without any explicit textual markers, thereby mirroring in the story’s structure the dual nature of his experience.
Through this voice, Cortázar creates a story that explores the complexity of human experience, where the real and the fantastic, the ordinary and the extraordinary, are inextricably intertwined. The narrator thus becomes a guide who leads us through these two worlds, allowing us to experience alongside him both the fascination and the tragedy of his double life.
What Themes Does the Story Explore?
Duality and the search for an authentic identity form the central thematic core of the story. Cortázar explores the inner division of the human being through a protagonist who literally lives in two different worlds. This duality is not merely spatial or temporal; it represents the fundamental split between the life that society imposes on us and the life we wish to live. The protagonist oscillates between his bourgeois existence in Buenos Aires—with its family and professional obligations—and his alternative life in nineteenth-century Paris, where he can be who he truly desires to be. This tension between the social self and the authentic self endures throughout the story until its final resolution, when the protagonist ultimately yields to social pressures.
Freedom and social conventions constitute another fundamental axis of the narrative. The story examines how social structures and familial expectations act as constrictive forces that limit individual freedom. The job at the Stock Exchange, the engagement to Irma, and the watchful presence of his mother represent the social bonds the protagonist attempts to elude through his escapes to the “other heaven.” The Parisian galleries, with their bohemian and transgressive atmosphere, symbolize a space of freedom where social conventions lose their power. Yet the story demonstrates how such freedom is ultimately illusory or temporary, for social forces inevitably prevail.
Time and memory emerge as crucial motifs within the narrative. Cortázar plays with temporality in complex ways—not only through the alternation between two different historical periods but also through the way subjective time is experienced in each world. In the Parisian galleries, time seems suspended, creating an eternal present that contrasts with the linear temporality of life in Buenos Aires. Memory plays a key role in constructing this dual temporality, acting as a bridge between the two worlds and as the repository of a fading happiness.
Desire and transgression also permeate the story. In the Parisian world, the protagonist seeks a form of fulfillment that goes beyond the merely sexual. His relationship with Josiane, though it begins as a physical affair, evolves into a deeper intimacy that contrasts with the superficiality of his relationship with Irma. Transgression extends beyond the sexual realm to encompass a broader rebellion against established social norms.
Violence and death are recurring themes that run through both worlds. In the Parisian setting, Laurent’s threat and the public execution at the guillotine represent explicit violence that contrasts with the subtler violence of social pressure in Buenos Aires. The death of the South American marks a turning point in the narrative, symbolizing the end of the possibility of escape embodied in the “other heaven.”
The conflict between reality and fantasy is another constant thread. The story continually blurs the line between the real and the imaginary, creating an ambiguity that is never fully resolved. The passages connecting the two worlds—whether real or imagined—symbolize the tension between everyday reality and humanity’s deepest dreams and desires.
Loneliness and the search for human connection also shape the story’s emotional undercurrent. Despite being surrounded by people in both worlds, the protagonist experiences profound existential solitude. His yearning for genuine connection leads him to the Parisian arcades, where he finds in Josiane and the café community a form of intimacy he cannot achieve in his everyday life.
Finally, the theme of resignation and loss permeates the entire story. The protagonist’s eventual surrender to social pressures—symbolized by his marriage to Irma—represents the triumph of convention over individual desire. Yet this resignation is not complete: within him persists a faint, lingering hope of someday returning to his “other heaven.”
What Writing Style Does the Author Employ?
Julio Cortázar employs in “The Other Heaven” a style that blends the fantastic with the everyday—one of the most distinctive features of his work. The author’s prose is fluid and immersive, seamlessly interweaving the real and the imaginary without clear transitions, thus creating an atmosphere in which the boundaries between both worlds are blurred. This ambiguity is an essential technique in Cortázar’s narrative, keeping the reader in a constant state of uncertainty about what is real and what is fantasy—an uncertainty that lies at the heart of the story’s structure.
One of the most notable techniques in the story is the use of interior monologue. Since it is told in the first person, the reader enters the protagonist’s mind and follows his thoughts, reflections, and desires closely. This technique not only helps to create an intimate connection with the character but also mirrors his fragmented mental state. The protagonist’s thoughts flow freely, jumping between the present, the past, and his imagined projections. Cortázar uses this technique to break temporal linearity, reinforcing the dreamlike quality of the story and the perception that Buenos Aires and Paris coexist within the protagonist’s mind.
Another key resource is Cortázar’s nonlinear handling of time, a technique he masters with exceptional precision. The narrative alternates between two eras and places without a clear chronological order. The protagonist’s experiences in Buenos Aires and Paris intertwine—sometimes even within a single sentence—giving the reader the impression that time does not follow a logical sequence but is fragmented and superimposed. This treatment of time, together with the blending of reality and fantasy, emphasizes the protagonist’s disorientation and his inability to distinguish between what he lives and what he imagines. Cortázar turns time itself into a flexible element reflecting the character’s inner crisis, for whom memories and fantasies possess as much weight as real events.
The use of space is also a central technique in the story. Both the Pasaje Güemes in Buenos Aires and the Galerie Vivienne in Paris are enclosed, labyrinthine settings that function as metaphors for the protagonist’s emotional state. These spaces symbolize his desire to escape reality but also his psychological confinement. Cortázar’s descriptive style transforms these passages into characters in their own right—with their gas lamps, grimy glass ceilings, and shadowed corners. They appear to offer refuge yet prove equally oppressive and entrapping. The choice of such spaces creates a dreamlike atmosphere in which the protagonist can move from one world to another but never with a genuine sense of freedom.
Cortázar also employs ellipsis and the omission of direct explanation, demanding active participation from the reader. The narrator never explicitly clarifies how the protagonist travels between Buenos Aires and Paris, nor whether these journeys are real or imagined. This deliberate ambiguity forces the reader to interpret the story through the subtle clues the author scatters throughout the text, never offering definitive answers. Such elusiveness is characteristic of Cortázar’s writing, as he prefers to raise questions rather than provide solutions. In “The Other Heaven,” this lack of clarity regarding what is real strengthens the idea that the protagonist’s escape is a mental construction—an escape that can never be complete.
The use of sensory language is another fundamental aspect of Cortázar’s style. His detailed descriptions of the passages—their smells, lights, and sounds—create a richly textured atmosphere that immerses the reader in the protagonist’s surroundings. The writing is visual, tactile, and evocative, enabling the reader to experience the spaces as the character does. This sensory richness reinforces the story’s dreamlike tone: the spaces are described vividly yet feel distant, as if belonging to a dream or a fading memory.
Finally, Cortázar uses irony in a subtle but effective way. The protagonist seems aware of the contradictions in his life—his inability to find satisfaction in either Buenos Aires or Paris—and often displays self-directed irony. This irony is not mocking but melancholic, giving the story an introspective tone. The protagonist reflects on his life, his longing for escape, and his frustrations, and through this ironic awareness, Cortázar deepens the character’s complexity: he cannot take himself entirely seriously, yet he cannot ignore the gravity of his discontent either.
Conclusions and General Commentary on “The Other Heaven” by Julio Cortázar
“The Other Heaven” is a story that, in its complexity, reveals Julio Cortázar’s mastery in exploring the deepest corners of the human psyche and the inner conflicts his characters face. Through the story of a protagonist divided between two worlds—one real and the other fantastic—Cortázar confronts us with the universal tension between the desire for escape and the inevitability of reality. The fragmented structure and the ambiguous treatment of time and space reinforce the sense that, although we may try to flee our circumstances, we always carry our restlessness and frustrations with us, no matter where or how we attempt to escape.
What makes this story remarkable is the way Cortázar avoids easy answers or clear explanations. The narrative does not seek to resolve the protagonist’s dilemma but rather to present it as a reflection of the human condition: always searching for something beyond the tangible, yet perpetually facing the frustration that such an “other heaven” remains out of reach. The contrast between Buenos Aires and Paris is not merely geographical or temporal but also emotional and existential. Cortázar constructs two settings that, although opposite, are equally oppressive for the protagonist, demonstrating that total escape is impossible because inner dissatisfaction does not depend solely on one’s surroundings.
The relationship between the protagonist and the two female characters, Irma and Josiane, adds another dimension to his conflict. While Irma represents the stability that promises but never delivers fulfillment, Josiane embodies desire and freedom—qualities that, in the end, are also undermined by fear and uncertainty. These female figures are not merely secondary characters but symbols of the two possible paths available to the protagonist, both incomplete and constraining.
From a stylistic standpoint, Cortázar employs his characteristic fusion of the fantastic and the everyday to craft a story that invites continual interpretation and reflection. The ambiguity with which he handles the transitions between Buenos Aires and Paris, along with the lack of a definitive resolution, reinforces the story’s suggestive power. It is precisely this ambiguity that makes the tale so rich, resisting a single interpretation and offering multiple layers of meaning.
“The Other Heaven” is not merely a story about a man torn between two worlds; it is a meditation on the human longing to transcend the limits of reality, the inertia of daily life, and the difficulty of finding a true escape from inner dissatisfaction. Through a style that intertwines sensory evocation with philosophical introspection, Cortázar invites us to explore the protagonist’s inner labyrinths—and, by extension, our own.
