Aura (Fuentes)

"Aura" is a novel by Carlos Fuentes, first published in 1962 in Mexico. The first English translation by Lysander Kemp, was published in 1965 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Felipe Montero, the protagonist, is a young historian, and he accepts a live-in position editing the memoirs of General Llorente, which the elderly widow (Consuelo) wants published before her own death. Intoxicated by the airless atmosphere of the house, Felipe begins dreaming of having sex and escaping with Consuelo's young beautiful niece, Aura. As he reads the General's writings, he makes some discoveries surrounding Consuelo's infertility, her fantasy of having a child, and her obsession with youth only to realize that Aura is actually a projection of the 109-year-old widow. One night, while he embraces her, Aura turns into the old woman. Felipe then takes on the role of the General, coupled with Consuelo, to give birth to 'Aura', who epitomizes youth and the illusion of life.

In this complex novel, the author challenges the general notion of time through an innovative narrative technique. He employs second-person narration in the present and future tenses, thus removing the boundaries between present, past and future. The writing style creates a suffocating and dreamlike atmosphere, and mixes the fantastic with the tangible, making it difficult to distinguish between the two.