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Five
A new collection of five novels by the unstoppably prolific Argentine eminence César Aira
A newspaper vendor in Buenos Aires dreams that his favorite soccer team,Racing, wins the championship, and soon the cheerful humdrum of his work-a-day life is tangled in a plot involving impoverished young mothers, millions of embezzled pesos, a sofa-bed factory store, “intestinal architecture,” and (of course) cyber-nuns hell-bent on artificial procreation.
A young princess lives in a fairy-tale castle in the tropics. She is rich, with a vast property and a host of servants at her beck and call. Yet work she for she is a translator of pulp novels for piratical Latin American publishers, and quantity is the order of the day. Deadlines, however, aren’t the only looming threat. General Winter and his sadistic sidekick, the Little Christmas Tree, have gathered a force to invade Princess Springtime’s kingdom and steal the season for themselves.
Before going to sleep, a man plays a practical, private he takes one of his wife’s hormone pills. She never counts them, so she’ll never know, and neither will anyone but he will. As he chuckles himself to sleep over his masterful prank, his perceptions begin to expand, and soon it’s far from clear where the joke ends, and reality begins . . .
At last, a hearty and delicious five-course feast by the incredible novelist César Aira, hailed as “the Duchamp of Latin America” (Natasha Wimmer) and“an exquisite miniaturist” (The Wall Street Journal). Five brings together the novels A Memory, The Dream, Musical Brushstrokes, and Princess Springtime, as well as a short story, “The Hormone Pill.” From thriller to distraction-catnip to conceptual memoir, the many facets of Aira’s multifarious genius are on full display, and in every one, Aira dazzles as he turns expectations inside-out and gleefully explodes genre conventions. Five is a must-have for fans and a fine introduction to the as-yet uninitiated.
A newspaper vendor in Buenos Aires dreams that his favorite soccer team,Racing, wins the championship, and soon the cheerful humdrum of his work-a-day life is tangled in a plot involving impoverished young mothers, millions of embezzled pesos, a sofa-bed factory store, “intestinal architecture,” and (of course) cyber-nuns hell-bent on artificial procreation.
A young princess lives in a fairy-tale castle in the tropics. She is rich, with a vast property and a host of servants at her beck and call. Yet work she for she is a translator of pulp novels for piratical Latin American publishers, and quantity is the order of the day. Deadlines, however, aren’t the only looming threat. General Winter and his sadistic sidekick, the Little Christmas Tree, have gathered a force to invade Princess Springtime’s kingdom and steal the season for themselves.
Before going to sleep, a man plays a practical, private he takes one of his wife’s hormone pills. She never counts them, so she’ll never know, and neither will anyone but he will. As he chuckles himself to sleep over his masterful prank, his perceptions begin to expand, and soon it’s far from clear where the joke ends, and reality begins . . .
At last, a hearty and delicious five-course feast by the incredible novelist César Aira, hailed as “the Duchamp of Latin America” (Natasha Wimmer) and“an exquisite miniaturist” (The Wall Street Journal). Five brings together the novels A Memory, The Dream, Musical Brushstrokes, and Princess Springtime, as well as a short story, “The Hormone Pill.” From thriller to distraction-catnip to conceptual memoir, the many facets of Aira’s multifarious genius are on full display, and in every one, Aira dazzles as he turns expectations inside-out and gleefully explodes genre conventions. Five is a must-have for fans and a fine introduction to the as-yet uninitiated.
384 pages, Paperback
Published July 28, 2026
About the author
César Aira
271 books1,200 followersCésar Aira was born in Coronel Pringles, Argentina in 1949, and has lived in Buenos Aires since 1967. He taught at the University of Buenos Aires (about Copi and Rimbaud) and at the University of Rosario (Constructivism and Mallarmé), and has translated and edited books from France, England, Italy, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, and Venezuela. Perhaps one of the most prolific writers in Argentina, and certainly one of the most talked about in Latin America, Aira has published more than eighty books to date in Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, and Spain, which have been translated for France, Great Britain, Italy, Brazil, Portugal, Greece, Austria, Romania, Russia, and now the United States. One novel, La prueba, has been made into a feature film, and How I Became a Nun was chosen as one of Argentina’s ten best books. Besides essays and novels Aira writes regularly for the Spanish newspaper El País. In 1996 he received a Guggenheim scholarship, in 2002 he was short listed for the Rómulo Gallegos prize, and has been shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 19, 2026
Here are five of Aira’s stories from the last 30 years that have previously not been translated into English. New Directions have taken on the task, with the job as well done as ever, by Chris Andrews, a regular translator of Aira’s work.
I am a passionate fan of Aira so was excited to see this published, five for the price of one it seemed.. well, not quite, as they are of very different lengths. The Dream is a full length novel, as I judge it anyway, at about 180 pages. The Hormone Pill is a short story, at just 8 pages. The others are I suppose, that word I don’t like, novellettes, at around 60 pages. Other than The Dream, a publisher can’t really justify selling the others as stand-alones, but still, it’s good value.
The strongest two stories will depend on what the reader likes about Aira’s writing, as he has great variety. The two that stood out for me, were The Dream and Princess Springtime, both have which have a significant amount of humour to them.
Margarita: A Memory 4/5
This is the restrained Aira. An unnamed narrator, scholarly and unworldly, recalls a summer spent with his extended family in the country before going to university in Buenos Aires. He meets his cousin, Margarita, for the first time, and she plays a big role in his maturity, though Aira resists heading in any direction that a typical coming-of-age story would.
The Dream 5/5
Mario works with his father at a newspaper kiosk in Buenos Aires, absorbed in the familiar routines of deliveries, and chats with regular customers such as the nuns at a nearby school. Then, as can happen in Aira’s books, the story erupts. Mario tries to rescue a young woman from a woman’s shelter and uncovers a conspiracy involving the nuns, who are secretly running a sinister operation involving robots and potentially even aliens. Everything that has happened before pales into insignificance, and though little Aira does surprises me these days, this actually did.
The Hormone Pill is just a short story. 3/5
Musical Brushstrokes 5/5
The narrator reminisces about the town’s only painter, a widower who, typical of Aira’s work, no longer paints. He designs and builds a pavilion where ghosts visit him; amongst them, his wife, a dwarf, and an itinerant philosopher. It’s the sort of thing Aira does really well, a musing on trying to create art when the desire to do so has been consumed by grief. It’s a simple story, and could easily have been longer than its sixty pages, as he depicts the patience of a man trying to reproduce the thing he cannot do.
Princess Springtime 5/5
A princess lives in a castle off the coast of Panama and translates cheaply produced pulp novels. (What a tremendous premise..)
All is calm in her life until soldiers invade, including one General Winter, and his lieutenant, Little Christmas Tree, wearing a uniform with blinking lights. The embalmed corpse of Vladimir Horowitz plays piano in a downstairs room of her residence. Absurdity abounds. In this sort of mood Aira loses focus on the plot and the piece becomes really just a series of vignettes, based around the madcap set of characters and the crazy world he has created.
It’s interesting that such a collection can include an author writing two such different stories as the last two.
These stories may have escaped translation and the publisher first time round, some date to 1995, but thankfully New Directions have given them a suitable ‘airing’ (pun intended..) here..
I am a passionate fan of Aira so was excited to see this published, five for the price of one it seemed.. well, not quite, as they are of very different lengths. The Dream is a full length novel, as I judge it anyway, at about 180 pages. The Hormone Pill is a short story, at just 8 pages. The others are I suppose, that word I don’t like, novellettes, at around 60 pages. Other than The Dream, a publisher can’t really justify selling the others as stand-alones, but still, it’s good value.
The strongest two stories will depend on what the reader likes about Aira’s writing, as he has great variety. The two that stood out for me, were The Dream and Princess Springtime, both have which have a significant amount of humour to them.
Margarita: A Memory 4/5
This is the restrained Aira. An unnamed narrator, scholarly and unworldly, recalls a summer spent with his extended family in the country before going to university in Buenos Aires. He meets his cousin, Margarita, for the first time, and she plays a big role in his maturity, though Aira resists heading in any direction that a typical coming-of-age story would.
The Dream 5/5
Mario works with his father at a newspaper kiosk in Buenos Aires, absorbed in the familiar routines of deliveries, and chats with regular customers such as the nuns at a nearby school. Then, as can happen in Aira’s books, the story erupts. Mario tries to rescue a young woman from a woman’s shelter and uncovers a conspiracy involving the nuns, who are secretly running a sinister operation involving robots and potentially even aliens. Everything that has happened before pales into insignificance, and though little Aira does surprises me these days, this actually did.
The Hormone Pill is just a short story. 3/5
Musical Brushstrokes 5/5
The narrator reminisces about the town’s only painter, a widower who, typical of Aira’s work, no longer paints. He designs and builds a pavilion where ghosts visit him; amongst them, his wife, a dwarf, and an itinerant philosopher. It’s the sort of thing Aira does really well, a musing on trying to create art when the desire to do so has been consumed by grief. It’s a simple story, and could easily have been longer than its sixty pages, as he depicts the patience of a man trying to reproduce the thing he cannot do.
Princess Springtime 5/5
A princess lives in a castle off the coast of Panama and translates cheaply produced pulp novels. (What a tremendous premise..)
All is calm in her life until soldiers invade, including one General Winter, and his lieutenant, Little Christmas Tree, wearing a uniform with blinking lights. The embalmed corpse of Vladimir Horowitz plays piano in a downstairs room of her residence. Absurdity abounds. In this sort of mood Aira loses focus on the plot and the piece becomes really just a series of vignettes, based around the madcap set of characters and the crazy world he has created.
It’s interesting that such a collection can include an author writing two such different stories as the last two.
These stories may have escaped translation and the publisher first time round, some date to 1995, but thankfully New Directions have given them a suitable ‘airing’ (pun intended..) here..
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
A collection of César Aira's novels which occasionally communicate with one another, and a good selection it is.
Extemporaneous review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5GNy...
Written review: https://shorturl.at/TLLzh
I recommend what's written.
Extemporaneous review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5GNy...
Written review: https://shorturl.at/TLLzh
I recommend what's written.
August 19, 2026
Finally, an omnibus of never before translated Aira novellas (although there are those that are long enough to be termed novels in their own right) that would entertain Aira fans worldwide as well as act as a satisfying entry point for the uninitiated for an author who, despite the adulation he has received in the literary community, is cruelly underrated. The stories range from the quasi-fantastic realm to the intrepidity of a modern bildungsroman at certain points. Aira- being a noted minimalist in the length of his fiction- is at his digressive best here, and those points of departure are more than usual for him in this wonderful collection. Certainly, one of his lengthiest stories (amongst the ones I have read) The Dream is included here, and at some points it felt as if it were stretched a bit too far, even though the plot of the story was quite far-fetched from the start. A special note needs to be mentioned about Aira's characters here- they are revealed in a rather indirect way as the stories seem to be lacking in much dialogue- and, being invented in that sort of manner, the story takes the notion of some sort of allegorical 'fable'.
Here's how Jeff & Ann VanderMeer describe each story in the collection in their lucid introduction:
'Margarita: A Memory' (2012) is....a rich coming-of-age story viewed through the eyes of a character who is himself just getting his sea legs, so to speak. Aira has said that all his characters are versions of himself, and in this case that self is a young Argentine man about to embark on a new life in the late 1950s......The narrator of “Margarita” is just an ordinary person, and yet the story of his summer romance has a vast, epic quality. Time comes several times to sudden stops, punctuating a seemingly endless series of miraculous emotional transformations, as the real and the unreal blend together around this young man who, surrounded by a large cast of characters in a vibrant world, ironically thinks of himself as a loner.
Tales like “The Hormone Pill,”(2002) a very short story, and the longer novella 'The Dream'(1998) flee forward from Margarita, using tiny moments to build epics which go careening off into worlds beyond our understanding.
'The Dream' in particular—with its restless seeking across a single morning at a newsstand—seems to find cosmic, universal struggles in what we tend to think of as unremarkable and inconsequential (the things we do, and the thoughts we think as we go about our days). This wonderful tale has both a telescopic and kaleidoscopic effect and what seems at first like a side plot involving a nearby convent, an unwed mother, and white-collar crime, soon becomes central to a narrative web so bizarre it could only have been produced by Aira’s particular process.
The final two tales in this volume, 'Musical Brushstrokes'(2019) and 'Princess Springtime'(2003), pivot to showcase just how whimsical and playful Aira can be, even as his work grapples with the great themes—Love, Death, the Mysteries of Existence. In Musical Brushstrokes, a solitary artist’s project of painting a mural allows a mind-bending perspective that, widening, builds on the approach in The Dream; Princess Springtime—a madcap, whimsical, many-leveled comment on translation, literature, and publishing—unfolds its metaconstruction like a piece of impossible origami, and what unfolds is immensely satisfying. In both novellas, philosophical concepts are conveyed in ways that never feel imposed or didactic: it’s as if Aira, with a wave of his hand, transforms a ponderous whale into a whale-shaped school of lithe tiny fish.
Indeed, it is in the singular blend of the quasi-fantastic and the mundane that Aira reigns supreme as a modern fabulist.
Here's how Jeff & Ann VanderMeer describe each story in the collection in their lucid introduction:
'Margarita: A Memory' (2012) is....a rich coming-of-age story viewed through the eyes of a character who is himself just getting his sea legs, so to speak. Aira has said that all his characters are versions of himself, and in this case that self is a young Argentine man about to embark on a new life in the late 1950s......The narrator of “Margarita” is just an ordinary person, and yet the story of his summer romance has a vast, epic quality. Time comes several times to sudden stops, punctuating a seemingly endless series of miraculous emotional transformations, as the real and the unreal blend together around this young man who, surrounded by a large cast of characters in a vibrant world, ironically thinks of himself as a loner.
Tales like “The Hormone Pill,”(2002) a very short story, and the longer novella 'The Dream'(1998) flee forward from Margarita, using tiny moments to build epics which go careening off into worlds beyond our understanding.
'The Dream' in particular—with its restless seeking across a single morning at a newsstand—seems to find cosmic, universal struggles in what we tend to think of as unremarkable and inconsequential (the things we do, and the thoughts we think as we go about our days). This wonderful tale has both a telescopic and kaleidoscopic effect and what seems at first like a side plot involving a nearby convent, an unwed mother, and white-collar crime, soon becomes central to a narrative web so bizarre it could only have been produced by Aira’s particular process.
The final two tales in this volume, 'Musical Brushstrokes'(2019) and 'Princess Springtime'(2003), pivot to showcase just how whimsical and playful Aira can be, even as his work grapples with the great themes—Love, Death, the Mysteries of Existence. In Musical Brushstrokes, a solitary artist’s project of painting a mural allows a mind-bending perspective that, widening, builds on the approach in The Dream; Princess Springtime—a madcap, whimsical, many-leveled comment on translation, literature, and publishing—unfolds its metaconstruction like a piece of impossible origami, and what unfolds is immensely satisfying. In both novellas, philosophical concepts are conveyed in ways that never feel imposed or didactic: it’s as if Aira, with a wave of his hand, transforms a ponderous whale into a whale-shaped school of lithe tiny fish.
Indeed, it is in the singular blend of the quasi-fantastic and the mundane that Aira reigns supreme as a modern fabulist.
August 25, 2026
Perhaps no other modern author's literary project so resembles performance art as César Aira. His "flight forward" technique, which has him shunting stories open via brute force (I'm told this is a more accurate Spanish translation, anyway) of improvisation, is fascinating if authentic. Vandermeer outlines the technique in the forward so I won't summarize the process again, but one can see the seams, signposts and staples of Aira's thought process as if dressmaking in a rush. One also sees the abandoned ideas that yawn like exhausted coal mines and inconsistencies that are inevitable with this kind of self-imposed ruleset.
Strange as it may seem, I'm not sure that the benchmark for determining if Aira's experiments in narrative are worth the time spent with them should be if he's able to produce coherent, affecting stories. This is somehow more than "just" a story.
For those that believe fiction is an intricate and *deliberate* machine meant to produce a desired effect and that the best authors seem to be feverish tinkerers that polish and dial the knobs of their stories to amplify certain themes and details to make even the most minute details seem heavily considered-- you might be quite frustrated with Aira. If economy of language is a selling point for you, Aira will certainly have you pulling your hair as his writing is often heavily discursive-- looking at his subjects from all angles, described in detail before moving on (his way, I believe, of looking before he leaps). What details become important is determined in hindsight as he either rambles or divebombs towards the conclusion of his story depending on his mood. This means that everything he places has the feeling of being inspired by some grand design or narrative even if a percentage of his ideas seem to be cul de sacs that round off and go nowhere.
Lucky for us that his pen is dipped in gold. It is hard not to lean in closer even as we sense the author himself doesn't know what the story is about to do. If we're to be breadcrumbed by a blind idiot, it seems unthinkable that such tiny morsels could be so rich and suspiciously polished. It cannot be denied that we are being led by an enormous intellect and one-of-a-kind talent.
To try and describe any of the plots within these five stories ("novels" is perhaps slightly misleading-- even if we accept that this is his desired form. You can rest assured you will not feel cheated out of more Aira even if what's contained is more accurately described as one novel, three novellas, and a short story) would be an exercise in pointlessness. In the same way that describing a roller coaster awards none of its thrills, you simply have to experience an Aira story in order to truly get it.
For the inventiveness of his style, his wry sense of humor, keen eye, poetic line, and the pure novelty of his oeuvre-- Aira is one of the very few "cannot miss" authors regardless of taste or willingness to experiment. He has to be read to be believed.
Strange as it may seem, I'm not sure that the benchmark for determining if Aira's experiments in narrative are worth the time spent with them should be if he's able to produce coherent, affecting stories. This is somehow more than "just" a story.
For those that believe fiction is an intricate and *deliberate* machine meant to produce a desired effect and that the best authors seem to be feverish tinkerers that polish and dial the knobs of their stories to amplify certain themes and details to make even the most minute details seem heavily considered-- you might be quite frustrated with Aira. If economy of language is a selling point for you, Aira will certainly have you pulling your hair as his writing is often heavily discursive-- looking at his subjects from all angles, described in detail before moving on (his way, I believe, of looking before he leaps). What details become important is determined in hindsight as he either rambles or divebombs towards the conclusion of his story depending on his mood. This means that everything he places has the feeling of being inspired by some grand design or narrative even if a percentage of his ideas seem to be cul de sacs that round off and go nowhere.
Lucky for us that his pen is dipped in gold. It is hard not to lean in closer even as we sense the author himself doesn't know what the story is about to do. If we're to be breadcrumbed by a blind idiot, it seems unthinkable that such tiny morsels could be so rich and suspiciously polished. It cannot be denied that we are being led by an enormous intellect and one-of-a-kind talent.
To try and describe any of the plots within these five stories ("novels" is perhaps slightly misleading-- even if we accept that this is his desired form. You can rest assured you will not feel cheated out of more Aira even if what's contained is more accurately described as one novel, three novellas, and a short story) would be an exercise in pointlessness. In the same way that describing a roller coaster awards none of its thrills, you simply have to experience an Aira story in order to truly get it.
For the inventiveness of his style, his wry sense of humor, keen eye, poetic line, and the pure novelty of his oeuvre-- Aira is one of the very few "cannot miss" authors regardless of taste or willingness to experiment. He has to be read to be believed.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Completely off-the-charts insane, and at the same time, perfectly rational in a rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth sort of way. Five by Cesar Aira is a book of five essays and short stories which run the gamut from "plausible" to "I've blown a brain gasket, and all my systems are down". The author is an absolute master at making anything that is typically regarded as fantastical or farcical seem part and parcel of a normal day if only you are willing to join him on this very singular journey of his. In a way, I felt like a traitor to my own mind after reading this book. I felt a bit like I was a victim of Stockholm's Syndrome, and the author was my captor. Led down the proverbial primrose path to my demise, but feeling compelled to do so nonetheless. If you read this book, which I encourage you to do, then you'll understand a bit why I am having trouble being more specific. There are stories that are very linear in approach. Then there are tales that are like exploding stars; words and images emanating from a central core outwards. This book contains the latter. If you like your stories to be tidy and contained, then this book is probably not for you. It is interesting to note that the first essay is the most "normal", and the last essay is the least so. I believe this was intentional. You enter through the large front door, but you exit through the tiny mouse hole under the old floor board. You leave wholly different than when you arrived. ** I received this ARC for free from the publisher, but all opinions are my own.
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August 21, 2026A delightful collection of novellas. Aira, who I had never heard of before reading this book, is a master of language. He has an incredible ability to expand small, everyday occurrences and feelings into colossal scale and tell these fantastical but somehow grounded tales of real characters with real emotions in the most absurd of situations
August 8, 2026
Gonna go buy me an ice cream and think about how lucky we are to live in the same world as dear Aira.
August 18, 2026
Princess Springtime is the most insane short story I've ever read. 5 stars
August 19, 2026
I’m often disappointed in Aira, but this is a mostly enjoyable collection, perhaps especially the first and last of the five.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews