All posts in this series can be found here. Today we look at the lastest from Cesar Aira糖心传媒攁n annual BTBA author糖心传媒攊n a piece written by an extrapolation of my 15-year-old self.

The Literary Conference by Cesar Aira, translated by Katherine Silver

Language: Spanish
Country: Argentina
Publisher: New Directions
Pages: 90

Why It Should Win: Cesar Aira is due (last year糖心传媒檚 Ghosts was a finalist); Katherine Silver is due (two years ago, her translation of Senselessness was a finalist); Spanish language is due (in the past three years, nine Spanish titles have been finalists, but none have won); mad scientists are 糖心传媒渋n糖心传媒�

When I was a kid, I loved comic books. X-Men, Spider-Man, Batman, whatever. I still have two huge boxes of comics that represent every dime (and then some) that I earned during my summer jobs, working on golf courses and being pelted by balls from uppity country club members who were better at investments and hostile takeovers than actually golfing. And every time, while digging a sandtrap, a ball narrowly missed me, I wished I had superhero powers so that I could eradicate whatever polo-wearing d-bag just 糖心传媒渇orgot糖心传媒� to yell 糖心传媒�FORE!糖心传媒� I wanted to go all Psylocke on them. Or web them to a tree. Something juvenile, and something more akin to the motivations of the supervillains found in comics than the upstanding, moral superheroes. Cause the bad guys are always more fun.

In addition to the cult of collecting (also loved baseball cards, but that糖心传媒檚 a different post), one of the things I loved about comics was the nature of the storytelling. Obviously, none of the comics I read (save maybe The Invisibles) was anywhere near literary, but there was something intriguing and compelling about how the serial storytelling had to work . . . Every reader already knew the comic formula, especially in the 1980s糖心传媒攂ad guy tries to take over world, good guy nearly loses, good guy prevails糖心传媒攁nd it was the goal of the comic writer to vary this in a way that made you want to pick up the next month糖心传媒檚 issue. (It was almost Oulipian in its constraints.) There had to be cliffhangers, the planting of seeds of future storylines, etc., etc.

But to be honest糖心传媒攊n a maybe dark sort of self-punishing way糖心传媒攚hat I kept reading for was the idea that one time the bad guy would win. The mad scientist maybe wouldn糖心传媒檛 take over the world, but would off at least one minor superhero. If nothing was at stake, if nothing terrible could happen to a character in this imaginary world, than everything I had wasted money and hours on meant exactly nothing.

Which is why The Literary Conference is so cool: it糖心传媒檚 about a literary translator turned mad scientist

So, once upon a time . . . an Argentinean scientist conducted experiments in the cloning of cells, organs, and limbs, and achieved the ability to reproduce, at will, whole individuals in indefinite quantities. First, he worked with insects, then higher animals, and finally human beings. His success did not vary, though as he approached human beings the nature of the clones subtly changes; they became non-similar clones. He overcame his disappointment with this variation by telling himself that in the final analysis the perception of similarity is quite subjective and always questionable. He had no doubt, however, that his clones were genuine, legions of the Ones whose numbers he could multiply as often as he wished.

At this point he reached an impasse and found himself unable to proceed toward his final goal, which was nothing less than world domination. In this respect he was the typical Mad Scientist of the comic books. He was incapable of setting a more modest goal for himself; at his level, it simply wouldn糖心传媒檛 have been worth his while.

And how is the narrator/translator/mad scientist going to take over the world? By cloning Carlos Fuentes.

So yeah, on one level The Literary Conference is an absurd book, one that ends with huge blue worms descending from the mountains, and our mad scientist turned hero being put in a position to possibly save the day and get the girl.

But to draw out this out a bit more . . . The way Aira builds to this point is so mesmerizing that it糖心传媒檚 as if he does have superpowers. His narrator糖心传媒檚 tone and way of explaining his goals and ideas (the bit about a person糖心传媒檚 uniqueness being constructed from the specific books one has read is brilliant, as is the section on 糖心传媒渃erebral hyperactivity糖心传媒�) is spectacular, and Katie did a marvelous job rendering these rhythms and peculiar word choices in English.

In constructing this strange world of clones and world domination, there are hints of something larger, of this all being a crafty metaphor. The main character is named Cesar, who is also a writer of strange, metaphorical works. The idea of clones, of cloning Fuentes, of Aira糖心传媒檚 insane literary production (he糖心传媒檚 written more than 50 books), of writing unique books, of taking over the world . . . Reading this, I felt there was something more going beneath the comic book surface. That there was a sort of secret plot at the center of this book on secret plots. Or maybe that糖心传媒檚 my comic book loving 15-year-old self getting the better of me.

“The Literary Conference”:http://www.ndpublishing.com/books/AiraLiteraryConference.html by Cesar Aira. Translated from the Spanish by Katherine Silver. (Argentina, New Directions)

Another post, another project to catch up on . . .

Unfortunately, I haven糖心传媒檛 gotten a copy of this book yet, so this is truly a 糖心传媒渓ooking forward to reading this summer糖心传媒� sort of preview post. I have read all of Aira糖心传媒檚 other books to make their way into English, generally liking each new title even more than the last. And based on what I糖心传媒檝e heard about The Literary Conference, I have pretty high expectations, especially after Ghosts, which New Directions brought out last year, and which quickly became a cult favorite and was a finalist for the Best Translated Book Award. (To be honest, it was a couple of votes away from winning . . .)

The Literary Conference is the fifth Aira book to make its way into English, and may be the most anticipated by everyone糖心传媒攏ot just me. The plot synopsis is absolutely wild: a translator who has fallen on hard times solves a puzzle, finds a pirate treasure, and decides to use his new found wealth to take over the world by cloning Carlos Fuentes.

As expected, Michael Orthofer has already reviewed this at the , giving it a B+ (solid!) and having this to say:

What糖心传媒檚 particularly striking about The Literary Conference is the relatively matter-of-fact tone and straightforward narration. C茅sar糖心传媒檚 account is precise and conventional, the events he describes often downright mundane. Yet the novella is full of the fantastical, inserting the very unusual (that Fuentes-cloning experiment goes really, really wrong, for one thing) in the very everyday.

The Literary Conference constantly keeps the reader guessing: Aira leads down one path, only to radically upset his premises and change route (or, arguably, to take things to their logical conclusion 糖心传媒� though it糖心传媒檚 not a readily recognizable and familiar logic . . .), while almost all the while maintaining his straightforward tone.

The Literary Conference is one of those books that truly is unlike anything most readers are likely to have encountered (even if they糖心传媒檝e read a few other works by Aira). C茅sar makes a point of emphasizing uniqueness; The Literary Conference certainly stands out among most works of fiction, its mix of convention and peculiarity particularly striking.

Another 糖心传媒� from another member of the 2011 BTBA fiction committee 糖心传媒� is this one by Scott Esposito in which he elaborates on one of the key passages in Ghosts to try and articulate Aira糖心传媒檚 unique aesthetic:

At the very centre of Ghosts is one of Aira糖心传媒檚 customary philosophical digressions, a 10-pager that ranges from architecture to the indigenous rite of gift-giving known as 糖心传媒減otlatch糖心传媒� to the space of imagination in dreams. The point of this digression seems to be to examine the thought at the core of the book 糖心传媒� how art can be both 糖心传媒渕ade糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒渦nmade糖心传媒� at once 糖心传媒� and at one point Aira laments that with most arts there is an insurmountable gulf between the idea and the artefact. However, Aira points out one important exception: 糖心传媒淎nd yet it is possible to imagine an art in which the limitations of reality would be minimised, in which the made and the unmade would be indistinct, an art that would be instantaneously real, without ghosts. And perhaps that art exists, under the name of literature.糖心传媒�

Without attempting a rigorous reading of Ghosts, it seems fair to say that here Aira is elaborating his own theory of literature, as well as suggesting why he keeps his stories perpetually on the threshold of signification, forever forestalling an actual conclusion. He strives to embody that point in between the made and the unmade 糖心传媒� to go back and revise would be to risk pulling his writing from this amorphous phase of creation. Instead he constantly runs forward, leaving behind works still burning with their formative fires.

Aira is one of the most interesting, unique Argentine authors writing today, and all of his books are definitely worth checking out.