Abstract
The aim of this paper is to record and unravel a singular recurrence within César Aira’s work; namely the double appearance of the specter of writer Leopoldo Lugones (1874-1938), supplemented in both occasions by Marquis de Sade. Aira took two completely different approaches to these appearances by the author ofLunario sentimentalandLa guerra gaucha: the first one, in Diccionario de autores latinoamericanos in 1985, was brief, biographical, destructive; the second one, inLugones in 1990, was lengthy, pathetic and amusing, a fictional account of the Argentinian writer on the day of his suicide. Both appearances conclude by referencing the Marquis of Sade in a similar yet different iteration that fuses life and work, experience and fiction in a sarcastic and violent manner.
Keywords:
Lugones; Sade; César Aira;
Diccionario de autores latinoamericanos