Ghosts
César Aira · b. 1949 · Argentina
Originally Los fantasmas (Spanish) · translated by Chris Andrews
Why it matters
A family of construction-site watchmen live alongside ghosts wandering the unfinished building's bare floors on New Year's Eve. Aira's mundane and impossible occupy the same flat, unhurried plane, written at his characteristic breakneck speed.
At a glance
magical realismphilosophical novel
Difficulty 5/10slow pace139 pagesFlat, deadpan prose treats ghosts and mundane domestic life as equally unremarkable.
Deep dive
Aira spends the whole novel proving that a nude ghost drifting through wet concrete and a family arguing over dinner belong in exactly the same sentence, at exactly the same emotional temperature.
Where to go next
César Aira · 1997The Literary ConferenceLvl 5Fast paced
Jorge Luis Borges · 1944FiccionesLvl 7Slow burn
Adolfo Bioy Casares · 1940The Invention of MorelLvl 5Fast paced
Ricardo Piglia · 1980Artificial RespirationLvl 8Slow burn
Silvina Ocampo · 1959Thus Were Their FacesLvl 5Fast paced
Julio Cortázar · 1959Blow-Up and Other StoriesLvl 6Medium pace