South Highway by Julio Cortázar. Short summary

5 seconds

A huge traffic jam has formed before entering Paris. Drivers and passengers have been unable to get home for days. To survive, people unite and help each other.

1 minute

There is a huge traffic jam before entering Paris. People have been standing and unable to move for days. All kinds of people are sitting in the cars: a young engineer, an elderly couple, newlyweds, parents with a child, righteous nuns. At first, the motorists exchange a few sentences. But the traffic jam does not dissipate, and people begin to have problems. Many begin to feel hungry and thirsty, some go insane.

People do not receive any help from the authorities, residents of nearby villages refuse to sell food and water, and the weather leaves much to be desired. To survive, people begin to unite — to create food supplies, to help each other. United by one misfortune, strangers become important to each other. In the makeshift camp even a new love is born.

But at one point, the traffic jam dissolves and traffic resumes. Each hero goes about his own business, forgetting about his recent comrades in misfortune.