Is this guy a two book wonder? Is there anything else worth reading from him that isn't 2666 or Savage Detectives?
>>7523450
Estrella distante.
>>7523450
Nazi Literature is good
Last Evenings On Earth is a very good collection of short stories
by night in chile is excellent and completely different from his famous stuff
third reich has amazing writing though the actual conception and content is a bit lacking. first novel though so cut him slack there.
nazi lit is interesting but it might feel like a lite version of a cross between savage detectives and 2666
he's not a one book wonder
Is he easy to read in spanish? I'm not very strong in it.
>>7523450
Amuleto
>>7523601
He's not as difficult as, say, Alejo Carpentier or Cervantes would be to a non-native speaker, but his prose can get very cryptic and tedious, although I think that doesn't have to do with the language per se as much as his style.
>>7523450
His short stories and his novelas are top tier aswell.
I really liked By Night in Chile, Putas Asesinas, Sensini and Una Novelita Lumpen. I did not like The Nazi Literature in America but that's because I'm not really into Borges. I am yet to read his poetry tho
Read the woes of the true policeman recently and although it had good moments it wasnt anywhere near the level of Savage Detectives or 2666
what's the deal with him and nazism?
sort of the pynchon of the south? looking at how fascism continues after the war in different ways?
>>7525973
As far as I know, he was just a huge WWII buff
how did bolano get memed. who's responsible for this?
How's 2666?
>>7527342
Alive and well.
>>7527337
Dunno, but if that means more discussion of his work and more people reading him, I welcome the maymays
>>7527342
I don't like it so far. I'm about 400 pages in ("The Part About the Killings") and it reads like if Pynchon were retarded and Chilean.
>>7527353
i don't see how you can be any more retarded than pynchontbh
>>7527342
It's very good, but not very accesible if that's the first novel of him you plan to read. I'd start with The Savage Detectives instead.
>>7523450
>a two book wonder
That doesn't work at all. Stop saying that.
>>7527342
fucking masterpiece
>>7527342
fantastic
>>7524989
Ugh, Woes was a pain to read, "Hey look! Half-formed ideas and characters from books you've already read! But Worse!"
>>7529910
i plan on reading it at some point, i think it would be interesting from a writing perspective. to see how his ideas changed and such. the process he went through in his writing, i guess
>>7529915
For sure, it's an interesting analysis to see the evolution of his ideas and their evolution but... it's so messy, and it was jarring to read about characters with the same/similar names but are very different, along with ideas and concepts he would go on to use for his books. You have to read Woes in a very detached, analytical matter. Hmm... an annotated Bolano would be a very interesting thing to have someday
>>7527364
I'm finding savage detectives to be less accesible desu, with the constant character switching I end up forgetting some and having to go back to re-read their entries.
>>7530498
From a formal (maybe structural is a better word) point of view, the second part of Detectives is probably the most interesting thing Bolaño ever wrote. I don't think keeping up with the dozens of characters is really important, their testimonies are only a medium or an excuse for narrating the biographies of Belano and Lima, who are the true protagonists of the book.
