Roberto Bolaño's Fiction
An Expanding Universe
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- $24.99
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
Since the publication of The Savage Detectives in 2007, the work of Roberto Bolaño (1953–2003) has achieved an acclaim rarely enjoyed by literature in translation. Chris Andrews, a leading translator of Bolaño's work into English, explores the singular achievements of the author's oeuvre, engaging with its distinct style and key thematic concerns, incorporating his novels and stories into the larger history of Latin American and global literary fiction.
Andrews provides new readings and interpretations of Bolaño's novels, including 2666, The Savage Detectives, and By Night in Chile, while at the same time examining the ideas and narrative strategies that unify his work. He begins with a consideration of the reception of Bolaño's fiction in English translation, examining the reasons behind its popularity. Subsequent chapters explore aspects of Bolaño's fictional universe and the political, ethical, and aesthetic values that shape it. Bolaño emerges as the inventor of a prodigiously effective "fiction-making system," a subtle handler of suspense, a chronicler of aimlessness, a celebrator of courage, an anatomist of evil, and a proponent of youthful openness. Written in a clear and engaging style, Roberto Bolano's Fiction offers an invaluable understanding of one of the most important authors of the last thirty years.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this superb volume of criticism, poet Andrews, the English translator of 10 of Bolano's books, deftly analyzes the complex themes and narrative layers of Bolano's fictional universe. Although not primarily a study of reception nor a biography, Andrews excels at explaining the anomalous causes of Bolano's rapid rise to fame in North America. He pinpoints Nazi Literature in the Americas as Bolano's "incubator" for future characters and stories. The personal writing system that Bolano used to produce much of his fiction is shown to be a simple yet rigorous method of "expansion, circulating characters, metarepresentation, and overinterpretation." Andrews arranges his critique thematically, with chapters on "Aimlessness," "Duels and Brawls," "Evil Agencies," and "A Sense of What Matters." In addition, he explains how the influence of Borges's "humor and courage" affected Bolano's beliefs about courage as it relates to the persistence of poetry and literature. As expected from a translator, Andrews displays an intimate familiarity with the novels and stories, and includes many close readings, lengthy quotations, and side-by-side comparisons to illustrate the ways Bolano expanded his plots and characters. He even includes an appendix that maps the fictional murders in 2666 onto the real femicides in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to show that Bolano did not exaggerate the scale of this atrocity. An indispensable guide to navigating the rich world of Bolano's fiction.
