Birthday

Synopsis

Written as César Aira approached his fiftieth birthday, Birthday is a brief, brilliant meditation on memory, time, literature, and the strange realization that life has quietly unfolded while attention was elsewhere. Through a series of short, interconnected reflections, Aira moves between autobiography and philosophy, considering the experiences that shaped him alongside larger questions of knowledge, ignorance, creativity, and mortality. Characteristically playful and deceptively simple, Birthday offers an intimate introduction to one of contemporary literature's most original minds.

About the Author

César Aira is one of Argentina's most celebrated contemporary writers and the author of more than one hundred books. Renowned for his inventive, genre-defying fiction, he was awarded the 2021 Formentor Prize and shortlisted for the 2015 International Booker Prize. Birthday is translated by Chris Andrews, Aira's longtime English-language translator.

Publisher
New Directions

Publication Date
February 26, 2019

Format
Paperback

Pages
88

Subjects
Literary Fiction · Translated Fiction · Argentine Literature · Essays · Memoir · Philosophy

ISBN
9780811219099