This new book by New Directions places side-by-side two separate and very different little novels by acclaimed (but still relatively obscure) Argentine surrealist author César Aira. This packaging decision was artistic as much as logistical, I think: there are, as the blurb points out, definite thematic continuities between The Little Buddhist Monk and The Proof, including corporate influence on culture, misogyny in various forms, and the interplay between the two.
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