BTBA 2011 First Look-Aira's The Literary Conference
Best Translated Book Award 2011
Cesar Aira~Argentina
Take metaphor, for example: everything is a metaphor in the hyperkinetic microscope of my psyche, everything is instead of something else...But you cannot extract yourself unscathed from the whole: the whole creates a system of pressures that distorts the metaphors, moving their parts around between metaphors, thereby establishing a continuum.
This novella is precocious and clever, the apex of literary sarcasm, at one point he even goes into his an analysis of his own play(being performed at an airport hangar by local students), Genesis:
The play dates back to my Darwinian period, but it foreshadows my subsequent work with clones. Within the entire body of my work, it is an exception: I have an aversion to what is now called "intertextuality," and I never make literary allusions in my novels or plays. I forced myself to invent everything; when the only choice is to recycle something that already exists, I prefer to take recourse in reality. But I allowed myself this exception because Genesis is a special case, even if only for its title. If inventiveness or the transmutation of reality, is part of a broader mechanism of literary genetics, Genesis could well be considered the master plan, at least among us Westerners.And as the surrealism gets stronger, the story becomes more eventful and ludicrous. Yes, this is a lot of fun. Aira strikes all the right notes at the right times ad this is what makes him so masterful. But when I consider this in the larger scope of his work and among the works nominated for this prize in particular, I am reminded of how Graham Greene categorized his works, as entertainments or novels. I feel that as far as literary entertainment goes, The Literary Conference is a valiant effort. But as a novel(la), it doesn't measure with the weight or nuance of his previous work, in particular, Ghosts. But to get a sense of the sophisticated manipulations of a man who understands all too well the history of literature, its current climate and his own work, you can do no better than to pick up this book. Also, what is equally impressive about this work is Katherine Silver's translation. She maintains integrity to his style and nothing is lost in the translation. It reads seamlessly which is a testament to Silver's understanding of his work. Or as Aira's Cesar says:
By translating correctly, sentence by sentence, the entire page, the translation will turn out well, they will continue to be as happily ignorant as they were at the beginning, and they will get paid for their work. After all, they are paid to know the language, not the subject matter.I am sure Silver got a huge laugh at this snarky passage, knowing full well Aira's subject matter.
The Literary Conference
By Cesar Aira
Translated by Katherine Silver
New Directions
Paperback, 90 pp.
$9.95
ISBN: 9780811218788
Posted by Monica at 1/31/2011 8:27 AM 
Categories: Argentina, Best Translated Book Award 2011
Tags: BTBA 2011 Cesar Aira The Literary Conference New Directions Argentina
Categories: Argentina, Best Translated Book Award 2011
Tags: BTBA 2011 Cesar Aira The Literary Conference New Directions Argentina
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