Roberto Bolaño writes a mock encyclopedia of fascist and far-right writers in the Americas, from the 1920s to the present. None of them existed: they are inventions, and each entry has a biography, a list of works, and a record of controversies. The characters include poets, novelists, and publishers, who range from the pathetic to the sinister, and who are tied together by family trees and rivalries. The final chapter shows a hunt for a murderous pilot-poet, the seed of a later novel. The book is a satire of literary culture.
It suits readers who like inventive fiction that plays with form, and fans of Bolaño's longer novels. Anyone interested in Latin American literary life, with its feuds and vanities, will enjoy this dark, witty exercise.
Deep and open-ended; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Deep Diver. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1999
- Publisher
- Editorial Seix Barral
- ISBN
- 9789507312373
- Language
- ES
