Pursuit

As is clear from the title and the frequent speculation about who is "hunting" whom in the short story, Cortázar is very interested in the concept of both ideological and personal pursuit. Bruno's entire career is, in a sense, based on "pursuing" Johnny and Johnny's musical talent. He helps Johnny, in part, in order to make sure that his biography is successful, and he tries to keep Johnny off of drugs, in part, so that Johnny will remain famous for his music and not for his incredibly complex psychology, which Bruno's biography completely omits. As Bruno admits, "we're a bunch of egotists; under the pretext of watching out for Johnny what we're doing is protecting our idea of him." He is trying, as the critic, to confine and limit Johnny in order to pursue what Johnny's music means to him and his readers.

Bruno later suggests...