In this paper, the author examines the relationship between fiction, translation, and history in the work of Argentine writer Julio Cortázar. The author specifically focuses on his novel #Libro de Manuel (A Manual for Manuel) and discusses its treatment of translation as a strategy for memory preservation and subversion. The concept of translation as testimony elaborated by Cortázar in this novel is explored with special reference to his own political stance and literary career. In order to recontextualize Cortázar’s reflections on translation processes, the author first briefly canvasses some of his other works that thematize translation and translators.