The Divorce Paperback – June 1, 2021 by César Aira (Author), Chris Andrews (Translator), Patti Smith (Foreword)
$11.95

Divorce

Brand: New Directions
Current Stock:
UPC: 9780811230933
Gift Wrapping: Gift Wrapping Available
Authors: Cesar Aira
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  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ New Directions (June 1, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 96 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0811230937
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0811230933

With a preface by the irrepressible Patti Smith, The Divorce is a delightful book of several short amazing stories of chance meetings, bizarre circumstances, and even stranger visions of alternate realities written as only César Aira can

The Divorce tells about a man who takes a vacation from Providence, R.I. in early December to avoid conflicts with his newly divorced wife and small daughter. He travels to Buenos Aires and there, one afternoon, he encounters a series of the most magical coincidences. While sitting at an outdoor café, absorbed in conversation with a talented video artist, a young man with a bicycle is thoroughly drenched by a downpour of water seemingly from rain caught the night before in the overhead awning. The video artist knows the cyclist, who knew a mad hermetic sculptor, whose family used to take the Hindu God Krishna for walks in the neighborhood. More meetings, more whimsical and clever stories continue to weave reality with the absurd until the final, brilliant, wonderful, cataclysmic ending.

Review

"[A] fleeting glance at the deeply strange multitudes living in Aira’s mind palace...marked by not only his characteristically expressive language, but also his willingness to go just about anywhere with a narrative."
― Kirkus

"This prismatic, exquisitely rendered work is from a master at the height of his powers."
― Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Sui generis is really the only way to accurately describe César Aira. He’s by turns a realist, a magical realist and a surrealist ― and therefore not really any of them. Anything can happen in an Aira novel, and almost everything does."
― Tyler Malone, Los Angeles Times

"We come full circle, to the 'delicate machine' that put everything in motion. In someone else’s hands, this might feel like a trick, but in Aira’s it is magical."
― Sheila Glaser, New York Times Book Review

About the Author

Nominated for a Neustadt award and the Man Booker International Prize, César Aira was born in Coronel Pringles, Argentina, in 1949. He has published at least one hundred books and recently created a limited edition, “Valise,” for the Museum of Modern Art, NYC.

The poet Chris Andrews teaches at the University of Western Sydney, Australia, where he is a member of the Writing and Society Research Centre. He has translated books by Roberto Bolano and César Aira for New Directions. He has won the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize for his poetry and the Valle-Inclan Prize for his translations.

Patti Smith is a poet, performer, visual artist, and author of the National Book Award-winning memoir Just Kids. She has twelve albums, has had numerous gallery shows, and continues to give concerts of her music and poetry. Her books include Early Work, The Coral Sea,Witt, Babel, Auguries of Innocence, Woolgathering, Land 250, Trois, and many others. She lives in New York.