Five, selected from over 100 untranslated novels and stories by ‘the Duchamp of Latin America’ (Natasha Wimmer), brings together-each an astonishing work-Margarita: A Memory, The Dream, Musical Brushstrokes, Princess Springtime, and The Hormone Pill. Following a cast of dreamlike characters including cyber nuns, a young princess forced to be a hack translator, a news-paper vendor, and General Winter and his sadistic sidekick, the Little Christmas Tree, Five shows the many facets of Aira’s multifarious mind as he turns expectations inside-out and gleefully explodes genre conventions. Five is a must-have for Aira’s legion of devoted fans around the world and a fine introduction to the as-yet uninitiated.
