New York. 1972. McGraw Hill. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Slightly Worn

New York. 1972. McGraw Hill. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Slightly Worn Dustjacket. 0070737428. Translated from the Spanish by Gregory Woodruff and Donald A. Yates. 196 pages. hardcover. Jacket design by Roy Kuhlman. keywords: Latin America Argentina Literature Translated World Literature. DESCRIPTION-As Professor David W. Foster of Arizona State University commented on Diary of the War of the Pig in Books Abroad: ‘Undoubtedly the first Latin American novel to treat significantly the new social theme of aging, Bioy Casares' work is a superb example of the expressive potential of modern fiction. The novel explores, through the expressionistic hyperbole of a science-fiction war of extermination of the elderly (hence, the title), man's ultimate humble and humbling confrontation with himself. One's first impression is that the backdrop of mysterious incidents, set in a consciously insistent evocation of an arrabal of northern Buenos Aires, concerns political disturbances, such as that during the closing days of the Peron regime. However, when events come into focus as they affect a closely-knit cafe group of elderly men, the reader realizes that Bioy Casares has interwoven a ‘real' setting and a fanciful circumstance in order to depict with touching irony one individual's total awareness of his fleeting and tenuous existence. This existence threatens to crumble under the weight of his dazed consciousness, if not from the cruel blows of the murderous gangs of youth. ' Adolfo Bioy Casares' name is frequently linked to that of his close friend Jorge Luis Borges, with whom he has co-written several books, among them Extraordinary Tales, which was published by Herder and Herder in 1971. This outstanding writer is now gaining the critical recognition and popular acclaim due his numerous novels and short stories. In 1969 he received Argentina's first award for imaginative prose literature, and Alain Robbe-Grillet has acknowledged the profound influence which Bioy Casares' writing has had on his work. inventory #1419.