''The Literary Conference'' is a

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...

by the

Argentinean Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

writer

César Aira César Aira (Argentine Spanish: ; born 23 February 1949 in Coronel Pringles, Buenos Aires Province) is an Argentine writer and translator, and an exponent of contemporary Argentine literature. Aira has published over a hundred short books of st ...

. The book follows the adventures of ''Aira'' as he attends a literary conference while attempting to take over the world by growing an army of

Carlos Fuentes Carlos Fuentes Macías (; ; November 11, 1928 – May 15, 2012) was a Mexican novelist and essayist. Among his works are ''The Death of Artemio Cruz'' (1962), '' Aura'' (1962), '' Terra Nostra'' (1975), '' The Old Gringo'' (1985) and '' Christop ...

clones. Aira also pines for a beautiful woman from his past and must contend with

unintended consequences In the social sciences, unintended consequences (sometimes unanticipated consequences or unforeseen consequences, more colloquially called knock-on effects) are outcomes of a purposeful action that are not intended or foreseen. The term was po ...

of his cloning experiments that lead to catastrophe. Critics have lauded ''The Literary Conference'' for its startling blend of science fiction, baroque surrealism, metaphysical incongruities, and hoary genre conventions borrowed from old B movies. The original Spanish-language edition of the book was published by Tusquets in Argentina in 1997 under the title ''"El congreso de Literatura"''. In 2006, an English translation by Katherine Silver was published by New Directions.

References

Argentine science fiction novels 1997 Argentine novels Spanish-language novels Novellas by César Aira {{1990s-sf-novel-stub