César Aira's Magic

I recently read Aira's Fulgentius and found it to be an engaging, tongue-in-cheek meditation (for lack of a better term) on art, history, conquest and nature.

I consider Varamo (comedic) and Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter (tragic) to be standouts among the half-dozen Aira books I've read in English. I imagine a good deal is lost in translation.

There's a certain absurd, freewheeling alchemy to his works, but as tends to be the case with improvisation, they're somewhat hit or miss and require a bit of indulgence on the part of the reader. Luckily, they're mostly novella-length and don't wear out their welcome, so I don't mind giving him my time.

According to the article, he writes in places like McDonald's, which is comical and unsurprising. Likewise that he's an admirer of Raymond Roussel.

I didn't expect that he'd be a Morton Feldman fan, though. His books aren't as methodical, claustrophobic and somber as Feldman's works, but maybe share a similar sense of reflectiveness and focus on small, ephemeral moments.

> “I already know that every October, until my death, I’m going to have to put up with that,” Aira told me one afternoon in mid-November, when we met in his study in Buenos Aires. Said by any other writer, this would come across as an obtuse humble brag.

Borges said that whenever he was again not chosen for the prize, he felt that the committee had made a good decision.

My favorites by Aira:

- "Episode in the life of a landscape painter" - mentioned in the article

- "How I became a nun" - an introverted six year old claims to be a boy and a girl, mixes up reality and fantasy, and tastes ice cream

- "The little buddhist monk" - a pint-sized korean monk plays tour guide to some french tourists

- "Birthday" - something between autofiction and memoir, written on Aira's 50th birthday

> When I sat with Strafacce in the bar Varela-Varelita, in Palermo

Hey, that's just a street away from me! They've got awesome steak sandwiches.

I moved to BA this December, and honestly, I just didn't expect to find such a vibrant, colourful, european-ish city in Latin America.