Premeditated artistic genius

At the online Argentine literary magazine La Lectora Provisoria, there's an article on novelist César Aira (who has been published in the United States by New Directions). The article deals with his latest books, an extensive novel or novels-within-a-novel called Barbaverde put out by a major publishing house, and a micro-novel titled Picasso published by the Belleza y Felicidad arts collective on only eight pages of photocopied paper. These add to the scores of novels already published by this writer with dozens of publishing houses, an output that perpetually overwhelms anyone trying to take stock of his work. In fact, critics often fail to agree on exactly how many novels he has published. Reflecting on Aira's strange brand of prolific output (his novels are usually short, sometimes absurdly so, but published individually nonetheless), the article's author, a well-known critic who uses the byline Quintín, cites another writer who says Aira's method is in fact a coldly calculated approach to the production of ... genius:

"Not so long ago I was able to hear another Argentine writer (Fogwill), explain that (Aira's) plan was to be found in one of Aira's first and unpublished works, and was based, if I didn't misunderstand it, on the idea that artistic genius, far from being a trait of the spirit, akin to talent, or a verdict of posterity, is actually an absolutely premeditated and long-term creation of the artist's work, which expands until it becomes, thanks to its omnipresence, the center of gravity for aesthetic thought in its time."

In other words "genius" is not a quality inherent to the writer or creator, but a result of a patient strategic deployment of effective artistic ideas until they achieve enough resonance to be everywhere and nowhere simultaneously, in other words, simply the state of aesthetic affairs. Once a creator has saturated his time with ideas and sensibilities, the halo-crown of genius descends upon them, but in fact all the time they were hard-headed artistic strategists, like Clausewitzes of literature. It's an interesting way of turning the usual romantic ideas of inspiration, genius and talent somewhat on their head.