Shantytown - Softcover

Aira, César

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0811219119 ISBN 13: 9780811219112

Publisher: New Directions, 2013

Synopsis

At last, a noir novel from the Argentine master of suspense and surprises

Maxi, a middle-class, directionless ox of a young man who helps the trash pickers of Buenos Aires’s shantytown, attracts the attention of a corrupt, trigger-happy policeman who will use anyone ― including two innocent teenage girls ― to break a drug ring that he believes is operating within the slum. A strange new drug, a brightly lit carousel of a slum, the kindness of strangers, gunplay... no matter how serious the subject matter, and despite Aira’s “fascination with urban violence and the sinister underside of Latin American politics” (The Millions), Shantytown, like all of Aira’s mesmerizing work, is filled with wonder and mad invention.

About this title

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 was most recently the creator of 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.

Review:

Aira's literary significance, like that of many other science fiction writers, comes from how he pushes us to question the porous line between fact and fantasy, to see it not only as malleable in history, but also blurred in the everyday. The engrossing power of his work, though, comes from how he carries out these feats: with the inexhaustible energy and pleasure of a child chasing after imaginary enemies in the park.

Aira's work is usually much more fantastic, so it s an interesting exercise to see the author playing with mystery conventions in a more realistic, if cinematic, style. A very literary crime story with South American attitude that is lean, spare and resonant.

Depending on how you read it, this is either a taut noir crime novel or a searing portrait of Buenos Aires' poverty-stricken people. Either way, it's compelling stuff.

Dense, unpredictable confections delivered in a plain, stealthily lyrical style capable of accommodating his fondness for mixing metaphysics, realism, pulp fiction, and Dadaist incongruities. --Michael Greenberg"

Aira is one of the most provocative and idiosyncratic novelists working in Spanish today, and should not be missed. --Natasha Wimmer"

About this edition

• Publisher: New Directions
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0811219119
• ISBN 13: 9780811219112
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128