Finished part 1 and it was great, but can anyone tell me whyNorton chooses Morini?
It doesn't make any sense to me, sure they're both sort of similar personality wise but there was never any indication that they were involved together, and then boom, after spending one night (not even a romantically engaged one) they're a couple? It doesn't follow.
>>7721569
Morini didn't fuck things up. You were meant to feel bad for him throughout the latter parts, so this was a happier ending for him
>>7721623
Yeah sure we as readers feel bad for him because we know he's sicker than he makes out to be, but Norton didn't necessarily know that, and to her he was just the same old Morini, that she was in no way romantically involved with. I'm not opposed to it, but it just seems so abrupt, almost non-sequitur.
he's an actually nice decent person who isn't a self-involved prick and she realises he's the one she cares about underneath it all
it made perfect sense to me
>>7721569
the fact that you dont understand it means youre probably one of those "nice guys" who wonder why girls never choose him
tl;dr you're a self absorbed narcissistic prick
>>7721569
i love this cover
>>7721867
Morini was the nice one though?
>>7721569
It's because she's a whore like all people in that book.
She'll move on to a more active cock a week later.
>>7721569
She doesn't want to pick either of the other two, that leaves Morini.
I don't think there's an exact explanation there be found, really - the heart wants what it wants.
I just ordered this book. Did I get memed?
>>7725193
Yes.
I bought into the meme myself and read it recently. I was very disappointed.
I'm used to /lit/ understating books, not overstating them. This one does not deserve the hype at all.
Quick read despite the length, though, since it's easy.
>>7721569
>Past the hills, he guessed, was the dessert.
Anyone else have this? p.305 in my version. After he describes the foosball players.
>>7725193
No, it's good shite. I would have started with The Savage Detectives though
>>7725240
Great meme! It contributed so much to thread! I'm sure you've never read anything translated ever, because you know 10 different languages! I wish I could be smart and cool enough to post that meme, anon!
>the 11 year old that got raped vaginally and anally
For me, 2666, and much of Bolano's other work, is there to intimate a sense of a concealed doom. The key word is "convergence," where the various parts of 2666 all converge, whether overtly or indirectly, towards Santa Teresa. The events of the novel, and what came before, and even elements of Bolano's other works, all hurtle together with irreversible force towards an ultimate conclusion, to be resolved in the enigmatic year 2666. However, (and I understand this might be the part that gets iffy), it is not our providence to understand in a logical or coherent way what that conclusion is.
Nor is it the providence of Bolano himself. Bolano stated that the entire work is narrated by Belano, his literary alter ego. And it is the cast of the novel (and by extension the world) who is speaking through Belano, who speaks through Bolano. What we get in our hands is the distilled essence of Belano's vision, something that hints at an apocalyptic vision but does not narrate or explain.
(There is also another case of people speaking through others through narrative with the Soviet authors, whose manuscript interrupts the Archimboldi narrative. Story within a story within a story, woo!)
You can look towards globalization and the influence of Nazis/WWII for some more mundane themes, and the idea that Santa Teresa/Mexico is a microcosm of the world and human history/future (both geographically and temporally) is certainly valid. Personally, I read it as a representation of, or perhaps more accurately as signs indicating, "chaos." There is a fundamental, dare I say visceral, sense that something is wrong with the world being described in Bolano's work(s). At times apparent and wide-ranging (the horrors of WWI, the grotesque murders) and at other times personal and obtuse (the chaotic personal lives of the critics, Fate's descent into the chaos of Mexico from sheer coincidence).
I am reminded of the Second Coming:
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight:
[...]
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
The difference is that instead of the age of Christ coming to an end in the year 2000, it is the age of [whatever Bolano saw] spiraling towards chaos in the year 2666. You have the similar sense that a revelation/cataclysm shift/change is at hand, and you get a vast, ancestral image from the collective unconsciousness manifesting itself in the events of the novel as well as the thoughts of the authors/writers, real and fictional, that inhabit his world.
>>7725283
Come on friend, think of Lolita's Spanish version. Translations from romance languages to germanic ones and vice-versa lose a lot in translation and the prose is a world of difference.
Now, it's okay if you don't speak the other language, just don't get mad, it's bad for your health.
>>7725860
i read spanish pretty fluently and i find spanish-english translations to be quite accurate
>>7725834
Mmm. Good pasta!
>>7725860
Native spanish speaker so I haven't read him in translation.
That said, I don't think Bolaño's prose is all that important IMO. His strongest points are the themes, the structure and unique narrative of his books, and you should get all of that in a good translation.
I get it's always better to read the original, but it's not like you are reading Cervantes or Galdós in English, now that I agree would be pretty pointless.
>>7725193
It's amazing.
I finished it 3 weeks ago, and I can't stop thinking about the vast and rich world contained in it. Astonishing. I don't re-read books until a couple of years passed after my first lecture. But I'll do my first exception.
>>7725959
is this pasta? i don't get it it seems pretty reasonable to me?
>>7725776
The one that got me was that teacher who liked writing poetry and just killed herself.
>>7725860
Nabokov's main selling point is his prose, he is a stylist firs and foremost. Bolaño is more about the actual themes and substance. His prose isn't really that complex nor is it meant to be.
>>7726546
Cervantes actually writes in a pretty straightforward manner. It might seem pretty and weird to you because it's centuries old but it doesn't really lose much in translation, other than the stuff that only natives of spanish speaking countries would get, but that's the case with every single translation so it's a moot point. He is Shakespeare's hispanic equivalent because he pretty much created the modern literary for spanish like Shakespeare did with english, not because of his style or prose.
>>7727174
He certainly posted it before. Last time someone called him on it too.
Nearly at the end. It's been fantastic so far. The part about the crimes has a lot more plot & characters than I was led to believe. I mentioned this in another thread, but my main criticism is Bolano is really bad at writing in different voices. There are so many characters telling stories within stories & the all have the same voice, rhythm & vocabulary. He could have made more of an effort on that front, I see it as a missed opportunity. The all pervasive sense of dread our pasta friend eloquently detailed is extremely effective. The book certainly transports you through varied worlds & vistas. I particularly enjoyed the various characters dreams, which were evocative. Was there meant to be some meaning to the two mirrors in a room motif that reoccurs a few times?
>>7725193
it's a decent book. nothing special.
>>7728223
>Bolano is really bad at writing in different voices. There are so many characters telling stories within stories & the all have the same voice, rhythm & vocabulary
Let me guess, you read a translation.
Bolaño is actually pretty good at using the different ways that spanish is spoken in a lot of countries.
![20120819-152744[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Pk8hJwT.jpg "20120819-152744[1].jpg")
What did he mean by this?
>>7728311
its a police car.
>>7728308
Of course, I have absolutely no plan to learn Spanish. Bolano wants me to read him, he'd better be prepared to get his ass translated.
Interesting - regional dialects etc would certainly go a long way to improve this. However, perhaps what the translation reveals that this is only a surface affectation. The type & level of details reported by narrators from different backgrounds, social status & nationality are all the same.
I always find the 'let me tell you a really, really long story with loads of digressions during a fairly casual conversation, without you interrupting me, even to ask questions' to be a problematic device which unnecessarily draws attention to the artificiality of the author's construct. Unless you're telling me this is how Spanish speakers spend their days, in which case I understand why they never get the dry walling done.
>>7728299
Wow, quite an insightful insight there insightful anon. You got edge. I wish I was as unaffected as you. Keep it super casual brother.
http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/bolanor/2666.htm
>>7728311
strobe lights
>>7725193
You did.
The Savage Detectives is a fantastic read. I read it first and it set my expectations sky high for 2666. I came away from 2666 thinking the praise was mostly because Bolano died before it came out.
>>7728651
Happened to me aswell. Have you read Nocturno de Chile yet? It's a quick and really enjoyable read.
>>7728311
Its telling you to stop reading damn books like a fuckin NEET and go get some fresh air and live for yourself for a change instead of following fictional peoples lives
>>7728739
Not yet. Where does it rank?
>>7728772
The themes are more similar to those in The Savage Detectives, but the scope is not as ambitious IMO. It's probably one of the few pieces where Bolaño touches politics aswell. Top 3 Bolaño for me, and I've read most of his works. I never cared much for his short stories (with a few notable exceptions) but most of his novellas are great. I'm specially fond of 'Una Novelita Lumpen'
>>7728810
I'll pick up a copy and add it to the ol' back log.
>>7728212
i'm gonna start posting it in every 2666 thread then
this can be a fresh new metameme
>>7728553
>Wow, quite an insightful insight there insightful anon. You got edge. I wish I was as unaffected as you. Keep it super casual brother.
Sounds like I upset you.
>>7727174
Being reasonable is the future of pasta. Get with the times Anon.
>>7729051
Yup I cut myself on all that bland.
>>7725154
Precisely. And most "nice guys" as previously referenced aren't Morini's because they never know when to hold back. Morini probably had some kind of emotions for Norton from the start, but recognized that acting on them would be sort of inappropriate and tarnishing. The other two dudes didn't give a shit, and this is probably well evidenced by the fact that even when they were both sleeping with her, they were still caught up in this weird masturbatory indulgence. They would like talk about it and joke. Norton never really mattered to them.
>>7729191
what did he mean by this
>>7725240
Well i'm portuguese so im pretty sure reading the translation to portuguese aint making me miss much
>>7728810
I love Bolano's short stories, I'm reading Last Evenings on Earth now. It's great man. Anne Moore's Life is a fantastic story.
>>7729386
I really enjoyed Sensini from that collection. IDK, there's undeniably some good stuff, but I don't think short stories were his forte.
Putas Asesinas is also a great short story of his, but I don't know if you got it translated to English yet.
>>7729682
Hmm, to each their own I suppose. I find that his short work is about equal with his longer work. What I have a hard time really enjoying is his poetry, and I would imagine it's because I can't read Spanish.
While I think the translation issue is mostly a meme, translated poetry is poetry by the translator rather than the untranslated author.
>>7730024
His prose is way better IMO. I get that his verses are supposed to be prosaic and I can defintely get into that, but I feel like there's people doing the same thing on a much better level. I'd just read Nicanor Parra instead desu (Bolaño greatly admired him btw).
And yeah sometimes reading translated poetry can be like trying to taste food with your feet. There's just no way to translate imagery, rhythm and verse altogether into a completely different language.
Wimmer translation is shit-tier.
who is the most based character of 266 and why isFate.
>>7731944
fate gave off a white knight sjw vibe. always commenting on the race/skin color of people was annoying
>>7725193
I have to say that a year after reading it, it doesnt effect me in the least. Underwhelming in retrospect, although I did enjoy the final chapter and the murders great deal, and the professors part was relatively funny.
>>7731992
not white knight, he just found love.People that found love escaped santa tereza.
>>7725834
Yeah, but why didn't he just write about what happened in 2666 rather than set a backstory to it?
>>7732021
im on page 500. is this a spoiler for me?
>>7732215
yeah, as true love has to be.
Is published order the best way of reading the five books compiled in 2666? Has anyone tried another order?
>>7732215
Por los ocho conductos.
>>7732327
I haven't tried another order but I had no complaints about the published order and think its one of the best books of the 21st century so far
>>7725193
it is a meme, but a damn good one.
>>7728223
there wee various characters that sounded different, if a bit phylosophical. some barely even spoke and did more with their actions. You probably read the first chapter and stopped there.
>scholars talk and behave like scholars
no shit.
>>7732205
why should he? fucking think for yourself. not everything has to be spelled out for you damn plebs.
