cardulelia carduelis

“Patri wondered if she wasn't herself (and this was the secret of all her thought) a woman in disguise, brilliantly disguised.. as a woman.”
― César Aira, Ghosts

“Since Patri was given to building castles in the air, certain chimerical spectacles could lead her to the utterly misguided belief that reality is everywhere.”
― César Aira, Ghosts

“The same thing happens in literature: in the composition of some works, the author becomes a whole society, by means of a kind of symbolic condensation, writing with the real or virtual collaboration of all the culture's specialists, while others works are made by an individual, working alone like the nomadic woman, in which case society is signified by the arrangement of the writer's books in relation to the books of others, their periodic appearance, and so on.”
― César Aira, Ghosts

“Elisa [...] could perceive the subtlest shades of an intention. So she added a comment, to compensate for the unfortunate tone of her request - or, at least, to unhinge it and let it swing loose beyond, where the real words are, which have no meaning or force to compel.”
― César Aira, Ghosts