[ggorlen]

I recently read Aira's Fulgentius and found it to be an engaging, tongue-in-cheek meditation (for lack of a better term) on art, history, conquest and nature.

I consider Varamo (comedic) and Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter (tragic) to be standouts among the half-dozen Aira books I've read in English. I imagine a good deal is lost in translation.

There's a certain absurd, freewheeling alchemy to his works, but as tends to be the case with improvisation, they're somewhat hit or miss and require a bit of indulgence on the part of the reader. Luckily, they're mostly novella-length and don't wear out their welcome, so I don't mind giving him my time.

According to the article, he writes in places like McDonald's, which is comical and unsurprising. Likewise that he's an admirer of Raymond Roussel.

I didn't expect that he'd be a Morton Feldman fan, though. His books aren't as methodical, claustrophobic and somber as Feldman's works, but maybe share a similar sense of reflectiveness and focus on small, ephemeral moments.

[blacksmith_tb]

I'll second Fulgentius, it was a fun read. I remember working my way through one of his earlier works in English translation and being less engaged by it.