Abstract
The contrast between truth and fabrication, between an authentic existence and a life of pretence constructed by characters to protect themselves from a painful or humiliating reality, forms the basis of two short stories by Cortazar: ‘Cartas de mama’ and ‘La salud de los enfermos’. ‘Cartas’ demonstrates the impossibility of attempting to avoid the moral consequences of past actions through escape into an unreal world in which the past is denied; ‘La salud’ mocks the absurd efforts of a family to prolong the lives of two deceased persons in order to protect an ailing mother from the shock of their deaths. Both stories demonstrate Cortazar's concern for authenticity in human relations. Attempting to suppress the truth or to soften its impact leads to relationships that are either sterile or ludicrous. The importance of the theme of authenticity in Cortazar's art has been pointed out by Garcia Canclini.
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