El santo / The Saint

About El santo / The Saint

Esta aventura literaria de César Aira nos traslada a la Edad Media a través de la odisea y el aprendizaje de un hacedor de milagros en su camino hacia el corazón de África. En los últimos siglos de la Edad Media vivía un viejo monje con fama de santo, que debido a sus pequeños y múltiples milagros, había logrado el reconocimiento y la devoción de los feligreses de todo el mundo cristiano.
El santo, después de cuarenta años de oración, decide volver a Italia, su tierra natal, para disfrutar de sus últimos días. Las autoridades de la región y el abad, ante el miedo de perder a este singular personaje, deciden contratar al mejor de los asesinos para que le dé muerte durante la noche y así conservar en tierras catalanas la sagrada reliquia de su cuerpo. Éste es el inicio de un zigzagueante y accidentado viaje que le lleva a sobrevivir a la más violenta de las tormentas.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

The new literary adventure by César Aira transports us to the Middle Ages, through the odyssey and training of a miracle maker on his way toward the heart of Africa.

In the last centuries of the Middle Ages, in a small city on the Catalonian coast, lives an old monk, reputed to be a saint. Due to his small yet numerous miracles, he has gained the recognition and devotion of parishioners from around the Christian world. The convent where he lives has become a prosperous economic center thanks to the endless pilgrimages of crippled, diseased, desperate, and abandoned people who arrive from all manner of places.

When he senses his death is near, he decides to return to Italy, his birthplace, to enjoy his last days. Faced with losing the primary source of income for the region, the local authorities and the abbot decide to hire the best assassins to ensure his death during the night, thus keeping the sacred relic of his body in Catalonia.

César Aira was born in Coronel Pringles, Argentina, in 1949. Since 1967 he has lived in Buenos Aires, dedicated to writing novels, essays, many texts that straddle both genres, and translation. Aira is a radically original, imaginative, intelligent, and delightful narrator. His works have been published profusely in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Spain, and several of his novels have been translated to German, English, French, and other languages. A habitual contributor to several newspapers and other media, he has also served as a professor at the University of Buenos Aires and University of Rosario.