trashstaaar's review
challenging
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I have to admit I was going to rate this book a bit lower than I did, as I feel like it was a bit hit or miss for me, going from smart, witty satire to mundane, wikipedia esque entries that I found myself skipping through (though there is a chance I was simply missing the humour in some parts, as I’m not that well versed in the politics and history of the Americas to get all the nuances). But, the more I think about the whole concept of the book, the whole idea is honestly so brilliant. Even though I didn’t love the stylistic aspects at times, I still have to give props to the character and world building.
Also, the very last entry to the book is some of, if not the most gripping story I’ve read so far. I’ll definitely be doing a deeper dive into Bolaño’s oeuvre to see if I can experience something similar fleshed out into a full book.
Also, the very last entry to the book is some of, if not the most gripping story I’ve read so far. I’ll definitely be doing a deeper dive into Bolaño’s oeuvre to see if I can experience something similar fleshed out into a full book.
mrswhatsit8's review
5.0
Extraordinary, a novel that shouldn't for a second work but does because of Bolaño's enormous talent, biting humor, and expansive imagination. Reading this encyclopedia of far-right writers who never were elicits some of the pleasures of a great sci-fi novel, where you are plunged into a fully lived-in reality and must work out the details, and is always compelling (Bolaño can evoke whole epic tragedies in phrases, worlds in clauses). But the strongest feeling when reading it is that of being stalked by a shadow, an ominous force that raises the hairs on your neck but you can never quite see. Bolaño never loses hold of the dangerous cruelties of the Nazi culture-making he depicts even as he unveils its absurdities and human personalities, and the rotting underneath is never over explained but viscerally felt. I'm sure greater knowledge of mid-20th century American fascism and literature would have made the experience even richer, but worth a read for everyone, and provides illumination to some of the mechanisms of Nazi cultural production taking place today.
tasmanian_bibliophile's review
5.0
‘ literature, which is a surreptitious form of violence, ..’
At first glance, this book does not appear to be a novel. Instead, it looks like a collection of richly detailed obituaries and bibliographic notes. These could be real people – and that is Bolaño’s point entirely. What we read here as fiction could well be representative of literature in an alternate world. While some of the characters depicted are outlandish, others are unsettlingly plausible. Those of us with limited knowledge of 20th century literature in the Americas could well accept fiction as truth, at least for a while.
Fortunately, if you follow the biographical details of the authors carefully, it becomes clear that what could be fact is definitely fiction. While this is a relief, by that stage in the book the possibility of fact has emerged and I found myself wondering about the power of fiction and the role of literature in politics.
The most unsettling of the entries is ‘The Infamous Ramírez Hoffman’. This is a far longer entry and refers as well to a character named Bolaño who is asked to identify Ramírez Hoffman, a Chilean poet who had been employed by Pinochet’s death squads. Here, for a moment at least, the line between fact and fiction is blurred. By introducing himself as a character, Roberto Bolaño grounds this novel in a way which is a confronting reminder of a political reality. And so, neatly, the circle is closed.
Roberto Bolaño (1953-2003) was a Chilean poet and novelist. This is the first of his books I have read. It was first published in Spanish in 1996 and in English in 2008. I will be seeking out his other novels.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
At first glance, this book does not appear to be a novel. Instead, it looks like a collection of richly detailed obituaries and bibliographic notes. These could be real people – and that is Bolaño’s point entirely. What we read here as fiction could well be representative of literature in an alternate world. While some of the characters depicted are outlandish, others are unsettlingly plausible. Those of us with limited knowledge of 20th century literature in the Americas could well accept fiction as truth, at least for a while.
Fortunately, if you follow the biographical details of the authors carefully, it becomes clear that what could be fact is definitely fiction. While this is a relief, by that stage in the book the possibility of fact has emerged and I found myself wondering about the power of fiction and the role of literature in politics.
The most unsettling of the entries is ‘The Infamous Ramírez Hoffman’. This is a far longer entry and refers as well to a character named Bolaño who is asked to identify Ramírez Hoffman, a Chilean poet who had been employed by Pinochet’s death squads. Here, for a moment at least, the line between fact and fiction is blurred. By introducing himself as a character, Roberto Bolaño grounds this novel in a way which is a confronting reminder of a political reality. And so, neatly, the circle is closed.
Roberto Bolaño (1953-2003) was a Chilean poet and novelist. This is the first of his books I have read. It was first published in Spanish in 1996 and in English in 2008. I will be seeking out his other novels.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
marinetta's review against another edition
1.0
Μετά από την μέση και 3,5 χρόνια πάλης να το τελειώσω αποφάσισα ότι δεν θα το τελειώσω ποτέ. Καλύτερα να βρει κάποιον που θα το αγαπήσει
blueyorkie's review against another edition
4.0
How does the question of evil arise? By retracing the life and works of around thirty fictional authors of the 20th century fascinated by fascism or Nazism, this anthology of the infamous but delectable in its form finds a unique way to ask this question.
"Nazi Literature in America" is a fascinating and dizzying book, of the profusion of details in the invention, a biography of the authors and their classification by categories. The details provided on correspondence, notes, dedications, supports, the lists of criticisms and insults with which the authors showered, the information on the structure of the poems, the speculations on the authors' intentions, the links between the fictitious authors, etc.
"Among the qualifiers used by his critics are the following: paleonazi, crazy, a standard-bearer of the bourgeoisie, puppet of capitalism, agent of the CIA, bad poets with cretinizing intentions, plagiarist of Euguren, plagiarist of Salazar Bondy, plagiarist of St -John Perse [...], a henchman of the cesspools, junk prophet, rapist of the Spanish language, versifier with satanic intentions, a product of provincial education, people who show wealth to get attention, hallucinated mestizo, etc."
That's a dizzying book by its double-bottom, when it tells anecdotes invented in lives that are just as much, or when Bolaño evokes manuscripts that never existed, burned by their author for lack of publisher.
"About his life in Havana after his release from prison, an infinite number of anecdotes are told, mostly invented. It is said that he was a police informer, that he wrote speeches and harangues for a famous politician of the regime, that he founded a secret sect of fascist poets and assassins, that he visited all the writers, painters, musicians by asking them to intercede for him with the authorities. "
This work is fascinating finally by the irony and the leniency with which the authors are treated here ("its infinite enthusiasm compensates its accidental lack of verbal rigour"), never to lose sight of the fact that "real" literature is itself, the vehicle of barbarism.
"Nazi Literature in America" is a fascinating and dizzying book, of the profusion of details in the invention, a biography of the authors and their classification by categories. The details provided on correspondence, notes, dedications, supports, the lists of criticisms and insults with which the authors showered, the information on the structure of the poems, the speculations on the authors' intentions, the links between the fictitious authors, etc.
"Among the qualifiers used by his critics are the following: paleonazi, crazy, a standard-bearer of the bourgeoisie, puppet of capitalism, agent of the CIA, bad poets with cretinizing intentions, plagiarist of Euguren, plagiarist of Salazar Bondy, plagiarist of St -John Perse [...], a henchman of the cesspools, junk prophet, rapist of the Spanish language, versifier with satanic intentions, a product of provincial education, people who show wealth to get attention, hallucinated mestizo, etc."
That's a dizzying book by its double-bottom, when it tells anecdotes invented in lives that are just as much, or when Bolaño evokes manuscripts that never existed, burned by their author for lack of publisher.
"About his life in Havana after his release from prison, an infinite number of anecdotes are told, mostly invented. It is said that he was a police informer, that he wrote speeches and harangues for a famous politician of the regime, that he founded a secret sect of fascist poets and assassins, that he visited all the writers, painters, musicians by asking them to intercede for him with the authorities. "
This work is fascinating finally by the irony and the leniency with which the authors are treated here ("its infinite enthusiasm compensates its accidental lack of verbal rigour"), never to lose sight of the fact that "real" literature is itself, the vehicle of barbarism.
kingtoad's review
dark
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
mirsandia's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sam_banchowski's review
3.0
What can one say about a book that is solely a catalogue detailing the biographies of American men and women of letters who happen to have varying shades of sympathy for Nazi ideologies? Oh, did I mention all of the authors are the fictional offspring of Bolaño's fertile imagination?
To further confuse matters, Bolaño manages to include references to some well-known American authors, although the veracity of these anecdotes is intentionally dubious. Also interesting is the return of the Romanian general from 2666; Eugenio Entrescu.
All this makes me suspect that this book is Bolaño fleshing out the universe in which all of his books are set. A universe that is essentially like our own, and yet is an allegory of our universe.
I'd recommend this to fans of Bolaño only. The last writer considered in this book (one of the more interesting biographies) is considered in expanded form in the novella "Amulet".
To further confuse matters, Bolaño manages to include references to some well-known American authors, although the veracity of these anecdotes is intentionally dubious. Also interesting is the return of the Romanian general from 2666; Eugenio Entrescu.
All this makes me suspect that this book is Bolaño fleshing out the universe in which all of his books are set. A universe that is essentially like our own, and yet is an allegory of our universe.
I'd recommend this to fans of Bolaño only. The last writer considered in this book (one of the more interesting biographies) is considered in expanded form in the novella "Amulet".
apollonium's review against another edition
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0