Para acabar con los números redondos

(France, Passage du Nord-Ouest, 2004)

In Order to End Up with Round Numbers Enrique Vila-Matas is perturbed by the unjustified and absurd prestige of round numbers, he doesn’t understand why the hell the number 100, for example, is more prestigious than 101. And this has compelled him to unite 52 texts in this original book, which celebrates the birthdays of many other writers, always commemorating them on days in which the birthday doesn’t coincide with a round number. For example, the book begins with the gloomy celebration of Antonin Artaud’s 99th birthday followed by the 87th birthday of Césare Pavese, Joseph Roth’s 101st, John Donne’s 422nd, Graham Greene’s 91st, the 74th birthday of Augusto Monterroso, Katherine Mansfield’s 107th, and so on until we arrive at the 52 least orthodox celebrations of writers’ births.