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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
The Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster of literary fiction; reading it is rather “like having your brain smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick.” I need to go lie down now.
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wat een gaston, die César. Ouwe gek. In mooie vertaling van Adri Boon, een knotsgek metafysisch verhaal.
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
The mad dash that is the last 4th of this short book is thoroughly enjoyable and fun, but I found I wasn’t connecting so much with it up until that point. If anything, the author-turned-mad-scientist wasn’t taken as far as I would’ve liked…
***1/2
Dit is een moeilijke. Ik heb genoten van de premisse van dit boek, maar niet helemaal van de uitwerking, daarvoor zit het te vrijblijvend in elkaar. Ik was een gigantische fan van het introducerende hoofdstuk (Eerste deel: De Draad van Macuto). Briljant geschreven, vol zelfrelativering en met een voorsmaakje van de absurde vanzelfsprekende humor die de rest van het boekje siert. Maar het vervolg verloor zichzelf soms wat in iets te veel moeilijkdoenerij of sofisterij.
Om dit boekje te smaken, moet je in elk geval bereid zijn je te laten meevoeren in de waanzin van de auteur. Eenmaal in de flow, komen de overgangen nooit te gekunsteld over, maar beantwoordt de plot aan de bizarre logica die Aira zorgvuldig opbouwt.
Misschien geen onvoorwaardelijk succes, maar ik was wel in die mate geïntirgeerd, dat ik toch benieuwd ben om meer van deze César Aira te lezen.
Dit is een moeilijke. Ik heb genoten van de premisse van dit boek, maar niet helemaal van de uitwerking, daarvoor zit het te vrijblijvend in elkaar. Ik was een gigantische fan van het introducerende hoofdstuk (Eerste deel: De Draad van Macuto). Briljant geschreven, vol zelfrelativering en met een voorsmaakje van de absurde vanzelfsprekende humor die de rest van het boekje siert. Maar het vervolg verloor zichzelf soms wat in iets te veel moeilijkdoenerij of sofisterij.
Om dit boekje te smaken, moet je in elk geval bereid zijn je te laten meevoeren in de waanzin van de auteur. Eenmaal in de flow, komen de overgangen nooit te gekunsteld over, maar beantwoordt de plot aan de bizarre logica die Aira zorgvuldig opbouwt.
Misschien geen onvoorwaardelijk succes, maar ik was wel in die mate geïntirgeerd, dat ik toch benieuwd ben om meer van deze César Aira te lezen.
I love Cesar Aira's writing. This short little book is allegedly about the author's visit to a literary conference in a beautiful resort, at which he is secretly running a cloning machine. The aim of the machine is to duplicate his favorite author, Carlos Fuentes. But the machine goes horribly awry, producing monsters which threaten the existence of the town.
Read on this level, the book is an amusing little romp -- very funny, like a comic science fiction novel. But on another level, the book is about the danger of translation, where the cloning machine -- designed to translate the DNA of Carlos Fuentes into more perfect copies of Fuentes -- is easily pushed into error, and produces monstrous errors that destroy everything around them.
As an English-speaking reader, at this point, you sit, reading your translation of Aira and wonder -- have I understood him correctly? Or have I been captured by the monster?
Read on this level, the book is an amusing little romp -- very funny, like a comic science fiction novel. But on another level, the book is about the danger of translation, where the cloning machine -- designed to translate the DNA of Carlos Fuentes into more perfect copies of Fuentes -- is easily pushed into error, and produces monstrous errors that destroy everything around them.
As an English-speaking reader, at this point, you sit, reading your translation of Aira and wonder -- have I understood him correctly? Or have I been captured by the monster?
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was a revelation to me after a pretty miserable year of reading. Short never hurts, but this novella was a great introduction to a wholly idiosyncratic, unique writer. In a sequence of events that seems almost to have sprung out of an Aira work, I was wandering Powell's looking for non-US writers and I was approached by a man who asked me if I had ever read any Aira. My answer was no, so he quickly dissected the available works, giving recommendations along the way. Eventually he reveals that he wrote his masters thesis on Aira and gives me a bunch of info on Aira's writing process and style. Very helpful!
One of the most interesting ideas in the book comes up early as the narrator discusses the fact that although he is no genius, he has a unique ability to solve a puzzle that has dogged generations of people. The reason is that he, like all of us, has led a unique life due to the combinatorial complexity of choice and circumstance. No one person has had the exact same experiences as another person, so we are all subjected to individualized education about the world, which makes us uniquely able to solve certain problems. This line of thinking is not exactly a bold new thought for I think we implicitly know and understand it, but it's nice to be reminded of it every once in awhile. I find it easy to think that the smartest among us are best situated to solve all problems, but the reality is that most difficult problems require a specific skill set and we are sometimes uniquely qualified regardless of our intelligence.
One of the most interesting ideas in the book comes up early as the narrator discusses the fact that although he is no genius, he has a unique ability to solve a puzzle that has dogged generations of people. The reason is that he, like all of us, has led a unique life due to the combinatorial complexity of choice and circumstance. No one person has had the exact same experiences as another person, so we are all subjected to individualized education about the world, which makes us uniquely able to solve certain problems. This line of thinking is not exactly a bold new thought for I think we implicitly know and understand it, but it's nice to be reminded of it every once in awhile. I find it easy to think that the smartest among us are best situated to solve all problems, but the reality is that most difficult problems require a specific skill set and we are sometimes uniquely qualified regardless of our intelligence.
challenging
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes