Completists' Club discussion

WORKS IN ENGLISH

• Conversations (2014, trans. Katherine Silver) / Las conversaciones (2007)

• Three Novels: Ghosts, An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, The Literary Conference (2013, trans. Chris Andrews and Katherine Silver)

• Shantytown (2013, trans. Chris Andrews) / La villa (2001)

• The Miracle Cures of Dr. Aira (2012, trans. Katherine Silver) / Las curas milagrosas del Doctor Aira (1998)

• Varamo (2012, trans. Chris Andrews) / Varamo (2002)

• The Seamstress and the Wind (2011, trans. Rosalie Knecht) / La costurera y el viento (1994)

• The Literary Conference (2010, trans. Katherine Silver) / El congreso de literatura (1999)

• Ghosts (2008, trans. Chris Andrews) / Los fantasmas (1990)

• How I Became a Nun (2007, trans. Chris Andrews) / Cómo me hice monja (1993)

• An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter (2006, trans. Chris Andrews; preface by Roberto Bolaño) / Un episodio en la vida del pintor viajero (2000)

• The Hare (1997, trans. Nick Caistor) / La liebre (1991)

• Argentina: The Great Estancias (1995, eds. Juan Pablo Queiroz & Tomás de Elia; text by César Aira; photographs by Tomás de Elia & Cristina Cassinelli de Corral)

I read An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter. Then a couple weeks later I found myself reading The Voice Imitator by Thomas Bernhard, which is a bunch of micro-short stories. After reading one of them, I realized it was almost the exact same story as the one told in Aira's novella. Did Aira get his idea for the novel from Bernhard's story, or are the events of Rugendas's life well enough known (if they are in fact the events of his life, and not made up) that multiple writers would write fiction based on them?

That's a great coincidence, assuming that both are fictionalized accounts of Rugendas's life.

That's a great coincidence, assuming that both are fictionalized accounts of an episode in Rugendas's life.

I read Aira's The Musical Brain & Other Stories microfiction collection (put out by New Directions), and rated the stories a solid 5 stars. He takes almost autobiographical elements (like using his childhood hometown as setting) and spins stories out into claustrophobic inner compression or even antireal sci-fi. Well worth the time.