The Clouds

In present-day Paris, Pinchón Garay receives a computer disk containing a manuscript—which might be fictional, or could be a memoir—by Doctor Real, a nineteenth-century physician tasked with leading five mental patients on a trip to a recently constructed asylum. This ragtag team, which includes a delusional narcissist and a nymphomaniac nun who tricks the other patients into sleeping with her, ploughs full steam ahead on a tragicomic trip that ends in disaster and fire.

Fascinating as a faux historical novel and written in Saer’s typically gorgeous, Proustian style, The Clouds can be read as a metaphor for exile—a major theme for Saer and Argentine writers in general—or as an examination of madness. (Read an Excerpt)

Translated from the Spanish by Hilary Vaughn Dobel