tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post5266136675843765439..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: César Aira's Method, and mine - a look at VaramoAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-84614879217754893262013-07-31T11:12:29.601-05:002013-07-31T11:12:29.601-05:00A bit of American surrealism with which Shelley mi...A bit of American surrealism with which Shelley might have some sympathy is the prairie fire chapter in <i>Little House on the Prairie</i>.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-49327443990175144252013-07-31T08:14:24.184-05:002013-07-31T08:14:24.184-05:00I would love to see the appearance of facsimile ca...I would love to see the appearance of facsimile cardboard books, editions that replicate the original Argentinean version. My fear is that they would priced as collectibles - $100, limited edition of 250, etc.<br /><br />No, surely not. I do appreciate the way New Directions has <i>not</i> really standardized the appearance of their Aira books.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-76921182543821005832013-07-31T00:49:08.917-05:002013-07-31T00:49:08.917-05:00True to the Method, this literary branding is goin...True to the Method, this literary branding is going somewhere unpredictable. The partnership with New Directions is certainly diluting the spirit of haphazard publishing of the originals. But I can't afford to complain, especially if it's going to bring out The Collected Works (in Translation) of César Aira. They just have to be more inventive in the packaging of books. They all look the same. Where are the literal "cardboard" books? The chapbook-like single story books?Risehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-11909206826532346402013-07-30T20:06:34.640-05:002013-07-30T20:06:34.640-05:00That is just what I am going to write about, but a...That is just what I am going to write about, but at an oblique angle and in obscure light.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-7594974248360150482013-07-30T18:31:08.569-05:002013-07-30T18:31:08.569-05:00What kind of Surrealism have you come across?What kind of Surrealism have you come across?Umbagollahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14556344092820711893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-91532861732093784042013-07-30T17:28:29.846-05:002013-07-30T17:28:29.846-05:00I never got surrealism. I'm willing to acknowl...I never got surrealism. I'm willing to acknowledge its right to exist. But it just makes me weary.Shelleyhttp://dustbowlstory.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-59299134193075127052013-07-30T16:32:24.764-05:002013-07-30T16:32:24.764-05:00I hope some poor soul is translating Aira's ma...I hope some poor soul is translating Aira's madman mentor Osvaldo Lamborghini, too.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-38006999045939798212013-07-30T16:14:11.729-05:002013-07-30T16:14:11.729-05:00I'd like to know that myself. A great many pub...I'd like to know that myself. A great many publishers' decisions regarding what to translate seem like the result of some occult throwing of sticks. <br /><br />About twice as many Aira novels have been translated into French as have been translated into English, with less overlap than one might expect. seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-2509689488058331212013-07-30T15:19:54.363-05:002013-07-30T15:19:54.363-05:00It would be interesting to know what combination o...It would be interesting to know what combination of translator preference, expert advice, and publisher intuition leads to the Englishing of particular titles. Maybe they are chosen randomly, perhaps by consulting the I Ching. That would also be in the right spirit.<br /><br /><i>Ghosts</i> is a good example of a novel with a really interesting mix of weird and ordinary (the domestic arrangements of the family on the roof, and their little party). I understand why it is the favorite of many readers.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-16558491498510101352013-07-30T13:56:10.136-05:002013-07-30T13:56:10.136-05:00Even when Aira uses The Method the distance from w...Even when Aira uses The Method the distance from <i>weird</i> seems to vary a lot. Of a few Aira novels I've read in French, the one I'd most like to see translated into English is <i>Les Larmes</i> (<i>El llanto</i>), which contains a great, histrionic restaurant scene amply seasoned with <i>weird</i>, but then the novel settles into something less frivolous, more serious in tone - and unusually moving. I had not seen that coming, so I suppose The Method worked. seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-10791575640081858082013-07-30T13:48:54.652-05:002013-07-30T13:48:54.652-05:00What would be great is if the Aira translations ca...What would be great is if the Aira translations came out like the original books do in Argentina, on numerous obscure presses. No standardization of format, no idea of where the next book might come from. Maybe one title is only available in a particular bookstore, another just by mail order.<br /><br />I suppose I would find this frustrating, but it would be in the right spirit.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-14942199061648149372013-07-30T13:24:56.687-05:002013-07-30T13:24:56.687-05:00I suspect you're right about New Directions...I suspect you're right about New Directions' non-interest in non-weird Aira. Don't think that's necessarily a good thing (some of my current favorites by him are not weird at all), but I won't give them too hard a time about it since they're doing way more than the rest of their publishing counterparts. Plus some of his weirdest stuff is pretty great, after all.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-16492150335967565852013-07-30T12:41:47.988-05:002013-07-30T12:41:47.988-05:00One thing we will find out, I predict, is that Air...One thing we will find out, I predict, is that Aira does not always use The Method, although he sure does here - I could see the seams, or thought I could, and I assume I was meant to.<br /><br />Even better would be if it turns out The Method is pure obfuscation, an outright lie, and that Aira revises and polishes and rewrites just like everyone else.<br /><br />At this point, I doubt anyone at New Directions is interested in non-weird Aira. Prove me wrong, ND!Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-66356978003718059522013-07-30T12:24:30.125-05:002013-07-30T12:24:30.125-05:00I'm pleased to see that you didn't conside...I'm pleased to see that you didn't consider this "lesser Aira" even though I had to go over to Tony's blog to read that verdict. In any event, will try to get to <em>Varamao</em> one day. In the meantime, I just read this short story of Aira's ("A Brick Wall") from a new short story collection of his (<em>Relatos reunidos</em>, Mondadori, 2013) that kind of blew me away: like Aira's 2007 <em>La Vida Nueva</em> it's a meditation on friendship and writing but with little that is actgually conceptually <em>weird</em> or "surrealist." Straightforward, almost "normal" Aira? Wow, who woulda thunk it? I realize this has little to do with <em>Varamo</em> per se, but I wonder what kind of portrait of Aira will develop once more of his readers actually read closer to his full body of work. That will take a while, of course.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-17836730081870752102013-07-30T10:38:29.933-05:002013-07-30T10:38:29.933-05:00Me, too. The passage leading up to and past the f...Me, too. The passage leading up to and past the fish was outstanding comedy. Not merely strange.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-27500928431188790832013-07-30T08:18:49.031-05:002013-07-30T08:18:49.031-05:00I enjoyed this one, too. He had me with the fish. ...I enjoyed this one, too. He had me with the fish. Lisa C. Haydenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10139281544357167953noreply@blogger.com