El Santo

Publisher Marketing: "La nueva aventura literaria de Cesar Aira nos traslada a la Edad Media a traves de la odisea y el aprendizaje de un hacedor de milagros en su camino hacia el corazon de Africa. En los ultimos siglos de la Edad Media vivia un viejo monje con fama de santo, que debido a sus pequenos y multiples milagros, habia logrado el reconocimiento y la devocion de los feligreses de todo el mundo cristiano. El santo, despues de cuarenta anos de oracion, decide volver a Italia, su tierra natal, para disfrutar de sus ultimos dias. Las autoridades de la region y el abad, ante el miedo de perder a este singular personaje, deciden contratar al mejor de los asesinos para que le de muerte durante la noche y asi conservar en tierras catalanas la sagrada reliquia de su cuerpo. Este es el inicio de un zigzagueante y accidentado viaje que le lleva a sobrevivir a la mas violenta de las tormentas." English Description The new literary adventure by Cesar Aira transports us to the Middle Ages, through the odyssey and training of a miracle maker on his way toward the heart of Africa. In the last centuries of the Middle Ages, in a small city on the Catalonian coast, lives an old monk, reputed to be a saint. Due to his small yet numerous miracles, he has gained the recognition and devotion of parishioners from around the Christian world. The convent where he lives has become a prosperous economic center thanks to the endless pilgrimages of crippled, diseased, desperate, and abandoned people who arrive from all manner of places. When he senses his death is near, he decides to return to Italy, his birthplace, to enjoy his last days. Faced with losing the primary source of income for the region, the local authorities and the abbot decideto hire the best assassins to ensure his death during the night, thus keeping the sacred relic of his body in Catalonia." Contributor Bio:  Aira, Cesar Cesar Aira was born in Coronel Pringles, Argentina, in 1949. Wildly popular in Latin America, he has published more than seventy books of short fictions and essays.