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Updated: May 10, 2026

Perspectives on Neuroscience
Published on: July 31, 2007
Acido, ergo sum: Holger Hydén--the neuroscientist in Cortázar's Hopscotch
Guillermo Delgado1, Bruno Estañol
1Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition Salvador Zubirán,Mexico City, Mexico. grdelgadog@gmail.com
Abstract:
The fictional Italian author Morelli is throughout the novel "Hopscotch" (1963) Julio Cortázar's alter ego. This character proposes an unoriginal literary hypothesis in chapter 62. There is an allusion to a particular Swedish that 'is working on a chemical theory of thought.' The Swedish neuroscientist under analysis is Holger Hydén (1917-2000), by then professor and chairman of the Department of Histology at the University of Göteborg. Hydén, who was the first to work in neurobiological micromethods, is mentioned by Morelli due to his participation in a symposium held at the end of January 1961, in San Francisco. His pioneering work will never be completely forgotten, because Hydén's neuroscientific legacy lives and will live in Cortázar's "Hopscotch".
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