An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter

An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter by César Aira (2000) A novel about a real person, the 19th Century German landscape painter, Johann Moritz Rugendas (who I’m not familiar with, and only know he’s a historical figure because I looked him up) who traveled to South America to paint. He’s traveling across this vast region of Argentina on horses and huge carts in an absurdly slow journey, but things get crazy when he’s struck by lightning and nearly killed. He endures, howerer, with the help of some medical procedures, drugs, and his trusty sidekick. I had to consider, of course, that the only difference between it being a novel and a historical account is what the author and historians claim. It’s a bizarre story about the hardship of the journey and it gets quite surreal and hallucinatory—and there’s also a lot of odd humor. There are some philosophical ruminations about painting, as well, and I suppose about art in general. I couldn’t help thinking of Werner Herzog’s approach, in many of his films. All of life is extremely weird, but is often flattened in the telling, whether by a fictional approach, or by historical accounts—but this story brings out the strangeness and wonder.

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