Books: Unease in the Night

END OF THE GAME by Julio Cortázar. 277 pages. Pantheon. $5.95.

A young man in Paris gradually turns into a salamander. An elegant young girl crosses a bridge in Budapest and becomes an aged crone in the process. A motorcyclist, after skidding into a curb, finds himself lashed to an Aztec altar as a priest approaches with a knife. The nastiest member of an Argentine family walks into the wrong room and is eaten by a tiger.

All of these surreal situations are en countered in this collection of truly scary short stories by Argentina's Julio Cortazar (Hopscotch), who lives and works in Paris. One of the stories, Blow-Up, provided the plot for Antonioni's hit movie. Another describes the sordid death of a musician who strongly resembles the late Charlie ("Bird") Parker. Perhaps the most affecting of all is the title story, which explores the daydreams and posturings of three lonely sisters in an Argentine suburb.

However much Cortazar may remind readers of Poe, Maupassant, and Camus, his cool style and gothic viewpoint make him a unique storyteller. He can induce the kind of chilling unease that strikes like a sound in the night. What is it—a burglar, beast or spectral thing? If it occurs in a Cortazar story, it is likely to be something nameless and decidedly lethal.