An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books

It is 1837 and a brilliant German artist sets out to cross the mountains between Chile and Argentina. Perhaps nobody before him has been able to paint the sights that unfold: vast chasms, surreal plants and animals. . . But then something goes appallingly wrong.

This is one of Aira's great works, filled with his baffling ability to veer between grandeur and absurdity. Each page fails to provide clues as to what lies in wait for the reader on the next.