Vueltas dentro del canon: notas sobre el sistema Aira

Abstract

In recent years, César Aira's narrative has obtained increasing levels of approval. His work has been celebrated as a whole in permanent growth thanks to the virtues of his imagination. According to this opinion, it would not even be convenient to attend to his less interesting novels because they are part of his system (Kohan 2021). But these weak points can also be seen as inherent limits to his own literary project. To discuss this, it is necessary to go beyond the accusations centered on his “banality” or the myth of “bad writing”. We propose instead a reflection on Aira's style, the link between his texts and the literary tradition (Borges, the 19th century), his positions towards the avant-garde or his general concept of fiction.