Details

ISBN-10: 0811219097
ISBN-13: 9780811219099
Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publish Date: 02/26/2019
Dimensions: 6.80" L, 4.90" W, 0.50" H

Birthday

Translator: Chris Andrews

Paperback

Price: $13.95

Overview

Before you know it you are no longer young, and by the way, while you were thinking about other things, the world was changing–and then, just as suddenly you realize that you are fifty years old. Aira had anticipated his fiftieth–a time when he would not so much recall years past as look forward to what lies ahead–but the birthday came and went without much ado. It was only months later, while having a somewhat banal conversation with his wife about the phases of the moon, that he realized how little he really knows about his life. In Birthday Aira searches for the events that were significant to him during his first fifty years. Between anecdotes, and memories, the author ponders the origins of his personal truths, and meditates on literature meant as much for the writer as for the reader, on ignorance, knowledge, and death. Finally, Birthday is a little sad, in a serene, crystal-clear kind of way, which makes it even more irresistible.

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Reviews
The book begins with an anecdote about a conversation the author had with his wife, in which it's revealed that he doesn't understand what causes the phases of the moon. This revelation of ignorance quickly cascades into a series of reflections on not-knowing, and on the reciprocal relationship between the swiftness of time, which ensures that we can't know everything, and our discontinuous experience of time, which make knowledge feel as disjointed as memory.–Steven Zultanski "Frieze"
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Details

ISBN-10: 0811219097
ISBN-13: 9780811219099
Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publish Date: 02/26/2019
Dimensions: 6.80" L, 4.90" W, 0.50" H
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