New in the New Directions Pearls series: an extremely rich mad scientist attempts to clone a leading genius in a bid to take over the world.
César is a translator who’s fallen on very hard times due to the global economic downturn; he is also an author, and a mad scientist hell-bent on world domination. On a visit to the beach he intuitively solves an ancient riddle, finds a pirate’s treasure, and becomes a very wealthy man. Even so, César’s bid for world domination comes first and so he attends a literary conference to be near the man whose clone he hopes will lead an army to victory: the world-renowned Mexican author, Carlos Fuentes. A comic science fiction fantasy of the first order, The Literary Conference is the perfect vehicle for César Aira’s take over of literature in the 21st century.
The Literary Conference (New Directions Pearls)
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Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
As any proper mad scientist should, the narrator of prolific (70 books and counting) Argentinian writer Aira's antic novella wants to conquer the world, to effect which he has mastered portable cloning. Because money would help, he solves the mystery of the Macuto Line in Mexico and, claiming the treasure at the line's end in the gulf, proceeds to a literary conference in Venezuela, of which he and Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes are guests. His scheme is to clone a great genius—Fuentes, that would be—and thereby realize his fiendish ambitions, somehow. Of course, things go awry, and huge blue worms descend on the conference's host city. This not-unlikely-for-the-movies scenario is interestingly wrinkled by the fact that the mad scientist and Aira himself are one and the same (that's why the former is feted as the latter by the conference). Because fiction writers are often conflated with their protagonists, and actors with their roles, and writers and actors both may envy their characters' adventures, the story comes by its self-reflexiveness honestly. Hilariously, too. --Ray Olson
Review
“Aira is one of the most provocative and idiosyncratic novelists working in Spanish today and should not be missed.” (Natasha Wimmer - The New York Times )
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By jafrank
Format:Paperback
I couldn't keep track of the number of times my jaw dropped from shocked delight while reading this little...thing. Aira just sort of operates in his own crazily intelligent little universe. It reminds me a little bit of Julio Cortazar, with this really deft precise way of turning sentances through and around themselves. But Cortazar was never a mad scientist who tried to clone Carlos Fuentes, and Aira's writing has this laser like preciseness all it's own, which only makes the whole situation, (already awesomely weird) even weirder. I would gladly read everything else Aira has written on the basis of this wonderful, idiosyncratic little book. I an't recall many 90 page books that are this beguiling and wonderful
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The premise of this short novel is utterly crazy: The translator and part-time mad scientist who finds an ancient treasure, and who uses the money to pay for his nefarious plan for world domination, by cloning an army from Carlos Fuentes' genes.
Of course, no one would anticipate the results of this scheme.
I would note that you have to pay close attention to the language, i.e., read carefully. And it's been said that there are serious philosophical ideas within Aira's novels, though they are at present a teensy bit over my head . . .
Read this book for the shaggy dog plot, and then try reading it again if you like for the fuller philosophical thematics.
I've read that the author prefers to write in coffee shops in his Buenos Aires neighborhood, and that folks start new publishing houses there just to have the chance to publish one of his books. He writes mucho, mucho books, too.
It's so inexpensive and so short that having a taste of the author's huge output is easy and not a huge investment of time.
Maybe then you'll want to read many more of his books. I do, and they are on order now!
Of course, no one would anticipate the results of this scheme.
I would note that you have to pay close attention to the language, i.e., read carefully. And it's been said that there are serious philosophical ideas within Aira's novels, though they are at present a teensy bit over my head . . .
Read this book for the shaggy dog plot, and then try reading it again if you like for the fuller philosophical thematics.
I've read that the author prefers to write in coffee shops in his Buenos Aires neighborhood, and that folks start new publishing houses there just to have the chance to publish one of his books. He writes mucho, mucho books, too.
It's so inexpensive and so short that having a taste of the author's huge output is easy and not a huge investment of time.
Maybe then you'll want to read many more of his books. I do, and they are on order now!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
From the title you would have no idea what this short novel is about; secret treasure, cloning, mad scientists and fantastic possibilities. It dwells among the unwritten rules of impossible things. There were so many passages I wanted to write down, and it was frustrating that the Kindle Android app has no copy and paste abilities. These were sentences and phrases that leap off the page and suddenly change everything:
'Instantly I realized that I also had no shadow and that the sun has disappeared from the sky'
The book has a pattern of lulling you into a passaqe of introspection only to make a wild jump into something completely unexpected, and the way it turned back on itself and rolled everything up was a delight. I don't want to go into details or give anything away. I found the book to be wild and charming and the narrator both impossible (in a way I love) and also quite funny.
'Instantly I realized that I also had no shadow and that the sun has disappeared from the sky'
The book has a pattern of lulling you into a passaqe of introspection only to make a wild jump into something completely unexpected, and the way it turned back on itself and rolled everything up was a delight. I don't want to go into details or give anything away. I found the book to be wild and charming and the narrator both impossible (in a way I love) and also quite funny.
