CÉSAR 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 100 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 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 addition to winning the 2021 Formentor Prize,
he has received a Guggenheim scholarship, and was shortlisted for
the Rómulo Gallegos prize and the Booker International Prize.
Katherine Silver's award-winning translations include works by
María Sonia Cristoff, Daniel Sada, César Aira, Julio Cortázar, Juan
Carlos Onetti, and Julio Ramón Ribeyro. The author of Echo Under
Story, she volunteers as an interpreter for asylum seekers.
"I can think of no other writer as concerned with formal and
thematic questions of pace (not of time, but of the various speeds
at which we feel time pacing): not only are the individual books
quick-moving, but he’s published over a hundred of them, with no
signs of slowing down."
*Steven Zultanski - Frieze*
"César Aira is an experimental Argentinian author whose short
fiction is often funny and always mind-boggling. His new novella,
Artforum, is an excellent entrypoint into his wild body of
work."
*GQ*
" A marvelous little collection about compulsion, obsession,
and the extraordinary joy that a simple pleasure can
bring. "
*Kirkus Review*
"Aira is unencumbered. He does what he does, and what we receive is
giddy, unquestionably self-indulgent, and yet absolutely
perfect...For a novella like Artforum, one doesn't need to reach
deep into the toolkit of literary theory. Aira creates his own
epistemology. It's marvelous to witness."
*Kamil Ahsan - NPR*
"As Aira illuminates the dead ends in his drive to collect the
magazine, he offers rich insight into the appreciation of art and
the desire to possess. This entertaining jaunt through the writer’s
creative development satisfies with brevity and grace. "
*Publishers Weekly*
"Artforum, the newest work by César Aira to be published in the
U.S., is one of the most fascinating experiences in modern
literature. A novel that synthesizes surrealism, pseudo-memoir,
philosophy, and theater into the compact space of eighty-two pages,
it somehow still retains the fluttery and playful tone that makes
this book so enjoyable to read."
*Rain Taxi*
"His novels are more meaningful when taken together, each a shard
of the same symbolic object. Artforum is a minor work that creates
a minor cosmos, and in so doing feels — like the rest of Aira, and
the best of art — major."
*Tyler Malone - The Los Angeles Times*
"Aira’s cubist eye sees from every angle."
*Patti Smith - The New York Times Book Review*
"[W]hile the volume may be slim, it is a surprisingly rich work.
For those who have not read him, it is also an excellent place to
start a relationship."
*Reinaldo Laddaga - 4Columns*
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