ik “A-wrter’ patria or county, assome- ‘one sid is his language. Tht sounds pretty demagosi, but 1 completely Sgiee with him." Thats fom Roberto Botaso's acceptance epeech for the 1999 Romulo Gallegos Prise, an award given by tie government ‘of Venezusis for the best ‘Spanish Tanguage novel of the year in Lats ‘America or Spain. Bolano won the prize for The Savage Detectives, his Spravling, exuberant account of to nin American poets ever twenty rome years, whic made him aiteray {elebctyand established him as one of the most talented and inventive novel: sts wring in Spanish. Bolaho was ‘utinely asked in imerviews whether hhe considered himself Chilean, having been bors is Santiago in 1053, oF Satish, having lived im Spain the att tvo decades of hie, until his eat in 2003, or Mesican. having ved in Maxico City for tn years in between One tne: he answered, “Tim. Lata ‘Amercan.” Other ists be would say that the Spanish Tanguape was i country. ‘Although Talo know,” he contn- ved in is acceptance speech, ‘hati’ tue that a writer's country [SUIS langage o st only Bis Jnguage..- There can be many counter, oecursto me nvr, but ‘nly one pasport, and obviously {hat pasport the aly of the writing Whish doesn't mea just do that, batt write marvelously ‘well thouph aot even that beats pbody ean do that 100, Then ‘what i writing of quality? Wel, Nhat iC always been to. know Now wo thrust your head into the darkness, Know how to esp into the void, end fo understand that erature is bascly a dangerous calling The inseparable dangers of lie and literature, and the relationship of hte of Bolato' writings and also of is Ite, 38 he defiantly and even improb by cose to live ie By the end of that fe, Bola had writen tree story collections aa ten novels. The lat of these novels, 2646, me not quite fa ‘shed when he died of ver fire in 2003, which id not present maay ‘eaders anders from considering it bis matterwor It is aa often shoe ingly ccunehy und voit wurde force (though the phrase seems hardly ade uate to dosribe the newe's arrative ‘elect, polyphonic range, inventive ses, ad brave) based in part onthe Sl "ursolved.muiders of hundeede {€ womea'in Cad Sutez, inthe Sonora desea of Mexico moar the exas border. (2656s currently being transiated ito English end ice to be published next year by Fatar, Saas She Giroux) “Yet the write with whom Spas language crits have often compared Bolago isthe Argentine Jorge Luis Borges, renowned for hit singular bookisnes, and tor the metaphysical playfulness, erudition, and breity of The Great Bolano BOOKS DISCUSSED IN'THIS REVIEW “The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano, ‘uansated from the Spanish by Natasha Winner, Farrar, State und Giroux, S77 pp, $27.00 Last Evenings on Earth by Roberto Bole, Uearslated from the Spanish by Chris Andes, New Directions, 219 pp. $139 (paper) 1s eatiely ascxval_waltngs, With ‘those comparisons rites have wanted parti to emphasize ir sense of Bo Tasos signiieance, for Borges prob. ably the only Latin American water of ‘thepastceatary whose preaines seem ‘uncontested by anybody, though the ‘ore you read Bola, the aor intr. sting and appropriate the comparison hetween the two writers bexmnes Bolato revered Borges ("could ive under Table reading Horges). He Would have deen haps, Bol told an interviewer, to have fod io ike Borges's—relavely sedentary, de- ‘oted co iterature ands smal eel of like-minded end, "a happy fe” But Bola lvedmost ofhis ela another Kobero Bote Distant Star by Roberto Bola, teansated fom the Spanish by Chris Andeows New Directions, 189 pp. SLASS (paper) 2666 by Roberto Bolas Bareciona: Anagrams, 1.125 pp. (00 e published in English ‘wansltion by Parra, Stas and Girgut next year) ~ nianper, "My Hie he sal “has been Infatly more savage than Borger's" Botano was bora in Santiago, Chile, but spent his childhood ina provincia town south of the capital. Hi father vas truck deiver and borer ls Mother @ schoolteacher én 1988, in Search of a new start, they moved to ‘Meio City along with Roberto and his sister. That was the year govern ‘meat troops occupie the var campus ofthe National Autbnomous Univer, Sir of Mexico (UNAM) and mussicred hundreds of student protestors a the Tlatelolco. Plaza. But. Mexico City seemed oth adolescent Bolato “ike ‘planet apart, the city where every- hing was posible Within a year of siting, he'd decided to be «post and ‘rapped ou of school later Re would blame gaps in his subsegusnt sel education onthe layout of the shelving Imboolators tht prevented hin ros shopisting certain books, 1 1973, aged ninsteen, a sot described Troteeyite Bola sot ot for Chile, where th Socialist Salvador Allende had een elected president Fe mostly traveled by bos, journey comparable tothe one rentnteatally ‘episted inthe recent movie about the young Che Guevara, The Motorcycle Diaries excep Balai traveled throh 2 eoatinent much influenced by Gu ‘ata's now ythologized le and death mE Salvador, Boato stayed wit eoleltst MLN guerra leaders the falledtheaselves poets” who vo Years lace would murder the kts oct and fee spit Roque Dalton in Ls sleep. Bolato arved in Chileno Jong belore September 1, 1973, whon ‘he Chilean miliary, led by General ‘Asparo Pinochet, overtiew Allende, ‘nko dig, probably by sui, daring the coup: Supporters of the Allende government ahd many young innocents tere arestod; thousands were "asap peared Bolato spent eight dass to prison wt, sesgnized by wo guards ‘tho were foomer schoolmates, be was freed He returned to Mexico City and as he put ie “dedested mysci to weting wt cura ofa war vara.” In 1974, the poet Mario Saatago brought & {10up of tends wio'd been expelled from an UNAM poetry workshop — they'd ied to force the resignation o a poot professor unvalit, or unable, toteach Spanish Golder Abe pasty a the sxtonth eeatury and casa! po ‘ic fons to visit his rend Roberzo Bolao, wh lived in an spastmest in the conte of town, (Marto Santiago ‘would bethe model a The Savage De ‘ectves, for Ulises Lima, bet etd of Bolane’s fictional alte ogo, Arturo Belano,) At tht meeting Sclaio ean ‘up mith the idea of forming & pootty ovement “again th ositl cl ture," which Ae. aamed the. Movi inieno Tatarrelista de Poesia, Tae Tnfrarealiss’ obvious heros were the Beats, Dadasts, audi such 8 Rin bau and Lauttéamont (the tuo a solute adolescent poets" std alo more obscure figuron such as thsi "adored Sophie Podolski” a Belgia poet wio'd committed suicide in 1974 “Thoir declared enemy was the poet and intelectual Octavio Pet, in thet yes the ropresenative of Mexico's lial ealture,” the polly pow ‘xl gatokeeper 0 the Meni I rary esuiblishaent, Iniaredliets in terupted Par’ public readings with shouts and once, supposedly, threw wine on is shi Bolato’s Inirarealit manifesto is ‘one of is eslien wringe aval to readers: Titled “Dajenlo Toso, Nu: "te can be saad in Spanish on the Mo- ‘imicntoTatantcalta de Poesia Web Site, wwwntrerealism com wish has been in existence sine 205, ‘The New York ReviewVamente™ (meaning, “Leave Every thing Bebind, Again,” sera poem by Andi Breton), the maniesto fa ree ssocatve,exuberatt verbal torrent "Dancing cud of Misery. Pepito Teas sobbing his love for Lisa Un erpround,. Rimbaud, come homs!™ Rather than preseribing say particular aesthetic prindples of commitments iC urges infrarretsas to leave helt arrow bookish cies see the wor fd nd thir abel poetry i their ows "uncompromising ies. Some ofits ex hoctatons, such as the twice-epeated The poctn ia journey, and the post ie a hero who reveals heroes seem specially suing in ight of Bolato's rnature novels, which would repeat ‘aly dssrbe the fateful journeys of posts Inat least thre o those novel, Distant Star. The Savage Dewetves, anu 2466, the central plot woul in Yoive a Heel search by "detestive™ poets (or literary types) ormysteious be vanished postiwrters, some. of them heroes some ving Teese iyo 1995, otto pub ehaeeetlat Brcacere Se tenes nae a ie maaan Soe obovate) sag at Siren fore tats Ameren Bact Fela dull so Snene es phe a cee a ee nr inten de foe A i] Mook Farhi sete Tn) pent Tesi Slo he ere wal Secret Tce tp, Stipes Basta eae ape, SoaaT ee eae poet ae a ae Saye stl ines aa oe aslo soot Buona Toi tivo cnded Ns soa apenas Sean sar al calpen Guches toes Sapeanaes Soe cae Sagearaette hee prise bape Sa Nene ete ay mens ons See iipadc he petite elon > Sep hen sty ea nwt. On the advice of & ftiend, be found 4 clever, if barely workable, say of doing 80—entering provincial itcray contort 1n 1993 it Short novel La Pst de Heo (The lee Rink) won such a prize. La Pisa de ict iavolves the discovery of « mys: terious miked cocpee which fuss out tebelong toa post ‘A yea! later the short novel Mon: seu Pain, shoe min character lols ier the preat Peruvian post Cosae Vallsjo on his Pass dcalbed, won a prize sponsored by the cy of Toledo. His next novel was La Lizratura Nazi en Amerien. an “encyclopedia”™in the spirit of Borges's Universal His tory of dnjamy—o imaginary uta rightist South’ and North American terters* Jorge Herald, owner editor of the prestigious publishing howe AAnagrama, was intoested im publish ing it but as Bolito was too poor to Nac Literature inthe Americas wil Repaitiedintne US ear 208 July 19,2007 ‘own a telepbone, Herralde was unable to contact him uti the novel had ale eady been sol, fo a ptance, to a ‘thee publisher, which soon lett go fut of print But Anapeama published Rolato’s test novel, Distant Star, 1996, 308 ‘weat onto publish a least one o& bis books every year forthe est of is ie ls, and 4 book ofesays and reviews During thse lat five years Bolas also worked steadily cn the monumen- {al 2666, From 199300 he knew he was avely il suffering fiom several med: Fea conditions including the iver all ‘ment that sed his death in 2003 2s Latin America isthe insane any lum of Europe. Maybe original itwas tought that Latin America would be Europe's hospital, or Europe's praia Hin, But now its the insane sey. 'A savage, i poverihed,voleat insane esyium, ‘where, despite it chacs and cor ruption, if you open your eyes ‘rid, sou san se the shadow of — Roberto Bola, Bola por smn) Accorng tothe marator of “Ma Go (The Eye!) Siva," one of Bolao's Stones collected in Last Evenings on Earth, “iolence, rea volenee, 8 n= avoidable, at lait for thote of who ‘were born in Lala Ameren daring the Fics and were about twenty yeas old at the ine of Salvador” Allende's lath" But the story that The Eye, homosexual photogrper, reveals to the aarrtor, is fellow Chilean exe in Europe, udierous one: om tip to India The Fye rescued two young boys.ones cunach from a brothel aad ras say withthe to another village whete he ligenty tried to rise them Shafter yearanda hall, both died ot Gaon ‘When the story end, with The Eye sobbing awa, i ficult to gasp the ‘Connection seertod by bot The Eye fnd the arator—to “the violence {that will ot let us be. Te foto Latin “Americans born in the Fides,” and to those who fought for Salvador Al lends and those who more f00 seared {o ight." I's a If Bolano ts suing the routine selpity of ex. Yet the storys mood of early inexpresible ‘bd lovely grief leaves you witha i Tule sense ofits euthulss, whieh seems something other than Tera truthfulness, ‘The slory i written In the un adorned voice sypical_ of Bolaso's Shorter feos, rest and Intimate but ao deta! at vole ie per {ely evoked early us the navel Dis ‘unt Siar, when the narrator reflects abou friend, I gues he talked the ‘way weall dow, those of rho are (he talked a ithe were ving inside a cloud,” Chris Andrew, wo \Ganalates the Bolato books that New Directions pablistes, always gives & ‘convincing rendering of tha oie, a bis novel The Savage Detectives, Bolaio etlrs another “instructive 2Bolape wrote out all is responses in imeem wh ane Bets oles mone volume, Bolaio por st misma (Santiago Univerad Diego Portas, 2308), The Clarks of erstown The three-generation story of one of America’s richest, most art-obsessed, influential and fascinating families. ‘THEIR SINGER SEWING MACHINE FORTUNE vad Chr, a Sunday Sool teacher with eres of steel, joined the wld inventor suae Ment Singer andy the tara ofthe th century became the company’s mor stoctoider, THEIR INCOMPARABLE ART COLLECTIONS (See ten, stown together forthe fist tie, this summer atthe Metropoltan Muses) THEIR 40-YEAR FAMILY FEUD STEPHEN CLARK'S INFLUENTIAL AND CONTROVERSIAL LEADERSHIP OF THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART He caused an international storm by dismissing the ‘Museum visionary foundelrectr Aled Bar, ALFRED'S DOUBLE LIFE In Americ, mode pateramilas. Tn Burope,asecret worl ‘STERLING'S LINK TO A BIZARRE ATTEMPTED COUP AGAINST THE PRESIDENCY OF FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. “an American ddyuastys pursuit ‘of big money, igh ‘and fine art. ‘xtlorersllbe intoxated bythe sheer abundance of masterwris. ATES BOK EE “tthas all the makings of a ‘great novel... Bat tis eh, sprang volume isu made wp. Iesthe tue stony ofthe els to (a great forme: HUDF MQURER, “Weber's sensitive, hugely entertaining portrait ofthe Clarks is 2 potent tale of family and ‘wealth, anguish, and the solace of art” soot Clark dynasty? ae WEY WITH 78 ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT AND 16 PAGES IN FULL COLOR BY NICHOLAS FOX WEBER Published by KNOPF 2#®2 www.aaknopf.comstory about his generation: this one, {eld by Artro Belono to fend of ‘Peruvian snd» Cuan," post anda oryele,” who “belived in the 10 ‘ludon aod freedom, like pretiy mich ‘very Latin American weiter bora in th ities” Both enjoyed early rary Ssoccesy, bul "he sume thing happened to them that almost alnayshappess to the best Latin Ametican snters oF the beat of the witers born in the Pues the tnty o yout, tov, and oath was revated to them, ike an ‘pinans.” The Peruvian, while ig, in Pari, fel in with Perevian Maoist, and because He'd aways been a lay fat and iresponsble Maoists” found himself wring “pages of cevolting propoganda’ despite bis youthful fly, he was “sill ood poet, occasionally ery good” When he” returned 10 Peru to live cheaply and write, be Uaitorous dog" by the Shining Path fuer, wile the police considered Nim oe ofthe guerillas’ Leologues. Bithor side might kl im, "To make a Tong story short the Perusian came glues.” The gay Cuban weiter “was dragged through the shit an madness That paces fora revolution.” He Tost hi Job, was bavted from publishing ja ue imprisoned, nad ater years of sulforing made itt the United Sats, Whore he contacted AIDS and died {lic is cosy modeled onthe Cubas Writer Reialdo Arenas) Sometimes ie would stat window of his New ‘York pertmeot and think about what he coud ave done and what, fo the ‘nd, he did is ast days were days of Toncliness, suffering, and rage at wh elias forever” His gensration’s journey to dist Iusionsent provided Bolano with a surprisingly orginal subject atleast, win contemporary Latin American Witt Botatio we are far trom the way that the mos fous generation ‘ot Latin American novelists and poets “Gabris! Gare Marques, Mario ‘Vargas Llos, Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz,andottrs—understood the long standing and dreadful Latin American robles of literature and. poli. During Latin America's violent deo ades of cold war upheaval, those older Seiler oftae ued the pulpts oftheir Tame to shanpion one side or another ‘Yeti thee novels aay with the eX epuon of Neruda, in their poems, thay atemplod a nondidactis ar that "eanaeended” immediate plitcal re alts. The young Garcia Marquez, In $1960 essay aching "Why are all he novels about ls vioenciato ba?” had ‘cowie writers fr tng to di realy about violent sets ad for for- Setting that novel is not found ia the dead. but in the living, sweat ‘ce in heir ing places. In Garcia Marques wings, wrote arya ow in 1971, the “ocal and political theme, although easel to thos ietions appears an oblique mmannee"™ (Tis famous scone of the mmasacre of the banana plantation ‘workers in One Hunured Yearsof So tude pases like s bie hallucination “in Gurcta Marguce: Hisorie de we Desig (Barcelona: Barra, 1971), Maro Vargas Llca's 6 page study ‘tthe Colombian’ wring 36 within the spectacular whirl of that hovel, yet me aever doubt Gara Marquees poles! sympathies with them.) Such a novels, wrote Vargas [osa,doeates war on mundane real ity ad attempts to supplant i "To wiite novels is ap act of rebellion ina reality. Every nove sas {ret deicde 9 symbolic asain of Bolan dd write about political vio- tence directiy, though ia s way thst {coulda hate boen furier from the literature of denunciation” that Gara Marques condemned, He even claimed that olen funtoned in is wotngs in an accidental way, which i how > lene fnetions everwhere ‘istnt Star tlle the sory of Cat Wieder, an assassin ot of “reali but of Joung female poets. Wieder, a some of bis murders, but i's ot en: tialy clear to sat extent they are pat of his oficial duties). Ia the ai force be finds a way to revive his freer ae 4. poet be skywites kis poems over the Aadss. He is hailed Paviularly by supporters of the new Feme, as "the eta’ major poet” for his gnomic vers in the sk. ("Death Is esponsibility... Deaths ove..") [ator Wieder vanishes, and the ara tor, now im Spa, esto follow his susie tal apross decades. ‘An exiled Chilean detoctive eaters the sory, hired by a mysterious bene {ictor, The detective pa the nario, wits his Knowledge of poety, to look for sgas of Wieder in cscureIterary hagacince with aames like Hibernia tnd Mr Pte, Or might Wieder belong to the Parisian see of "baarie wat a Seal an “he youn nfrarena poet Chplies Park, Meso Ci, 177. Roberto Botan sth back tm sea rm igh ero Saag ra ep ef medivere poet hess enrelled in a poetry warkshop aloag with the un Tamed narrator and other students, Including the gifted twin sisters Vero: nica and Angelica Garmendin, When Pioochets eoup osu, the stants Scatter and disappear (some forever), Wiosor tracks the Garmendiar to 8 family country house, where, they spend sng reiting poetry snd ak {nga the narrator etagines it, about the left intellectual and post "Ex nique Linn and ‘iil poetry, and nere it the twine were mote atenive they [Wieder's} eye (cst poetry, Pil give ou iil poetry.” Inthe mide of the righ, Wieder murders the slepiag Satin herbed; minutes later four mon ftiveatthehous ina ear and Wieder Ist them We ae left to imagine om four own precisely what the men doin the House, bat the outoume lear: And the bodies will never be found; bat no, one body, just one, will appeas seats ter in mast rtve the body of Angelen Gar ‘mendi, my adorable, my incom parable Aageica, bu oaly hers, Ssiftoprovethat Caras Wieder is ‘tan and not» go. Wieder works for the Pinochet rogime as am ir fore pilot (be cll forates with Pinochet's death squadson Sthe Boom era writers produced formidnbie novels that described po ltealviience more “directly, but ‘ypiclly these wore historical novels, Sh as Vargas Llosa's ferocious The War ofthe ind of tke Word, which ‘lato admired, or the famous “die ator" novel 1s” who “comenune” with the works ff Stendhal Victor Hugo, ad other ‘reat French witersby detecatng and usturhating on thee books? Ta one ofthe Hicary magaines the nazeator finds an essay proposing that “litera ture should be writen by aonsiterary People--. The corresponding evel om in writing.- would, in sease, abolish Iterative sel” and he te” fees, “something told me this parca. Jar chanpion of barbaric writing was Carlos Wieder ‘Wieder incarnates the slipsism of the madioere or failed artat who ‘engeflly hates bis at and its prac loners. Bolaho had includedaa eri ‘erion of Wiedor's characte in Natl trate ot Ameren. The. Itorary [Navie—fascis and ulta-right sympa. thizers and zeaois, mort Izom SoU America few from North America— portrayed in that book ae a gallery of Felédsladed mediocrtes, snobs, op- Portunists, marist, and criminal, one withthe alent of Calin. ABoat [Nast Literature inthe America, Bo Tao told am inteviewer that is “Fooas ison the world ofthe ula raht, bat tauch ofthe time reality, Tem tale Ing about te left. When Pa tlle {ng about Nazi writer in the Ameri fu, in reality P'mthlking about the ‘more often despicable, of lieraure in general” Bt if literary peopie are so often despiable and mecieure, why should ‘re love literature or cver think ofitas heroic? The Savage Devectves provides Bo- ini anser. The first of is Mens novels, it a8 expansive a8 his wo ‘Galena aovels of iterstore and cil (Distant Star and By Nig in C fate slender, Bolafo's ends often joked that be woulda’ allow aybody to may anything good about Chil, or bad tout Meco. Av his friend Car fen Boullos hus observed, he 12 garded Chile at the inford of bis Youth, aad Mexico as the paradise {thou ister, ims 1s: book, hei fermo came to Metco too). Yet be fever returned to Meso afer leaving iin 1977. "From a great distanee wrote another feead, the Mexican Weiter Juan Villor, *he had com ‘rusted county ofmemory of poe tealexacttude.”" This bs the way. The Savage Detec- sive begins, in the your 1975 November? I've been cordaly invited 1 join the acral reali asoeped, of four. Thero was a0 lation ‘eremony. Ie was better that way. November’ 1m not really sure what visceral Juan Gaels Madero, the vents yearoll saat of the dary tat Bakes up the moves 126page fst Section, ed “Mexicans Latin Mex ico isan orphan wolves with hs idole as aunt and uct, a ‘eat enoled na poetry won a the university. He knows, what 2 ripe ts (a8 alan form of vere Composed of eight lines with clewen Sylabls cach), but the” workshop other does not. (“Tas only Mexican post who Kuows Wings like tt by Rear is Octavio Paz (our seat omy," writer Gara Madero, he ‘what Uies Lime toh memes titer jl the vce elt") Ta dis, Garcia Madero challenges i teacher's knowledge of pootie fra ‘The professor responds, “Doa't gis tne this crap” ta the orignal Spanish, ie sna, "No mie venga con chin oder, Grote Nadero (Alot ral stop fuking around with 3, Baal "dow't be sich fucking snar 24" though chngaris uch» common ind verses Mesa seo that fom would be shocked to ear a potesor Sno it ina laseoom; bbiad the rts compli, you also hea his chai.) ‘The Sage Desectier is not aly Bolato'e “spectral recreation oft Mexioo Cay of his youth, but lao takes uncatny wo of the y's xe. Beran barogus vernacular. mx of {aovallng sad ha ova alte (adolescent, lowe, hipster: Aragay sippy wper dass bohemisas, find 40 02). Throughout the ult: Soied epi of The Sevage Detectives, the git raator Natasha Wim is almost always wp fo the tas, but i ppmitle 10 ake Mosian, Spanish Sound ike Msican English Ciey have chingaderar and we have crap) ‘rom the prologue to Bolaho por x 'As_ intentionally juvenile as the ‘stor realist’ hotile fixation wit Par cao acem, Bolafo-ior whom NNiesnor Parr wat the greatest com temporary pootdid not admire his Poetry, tough he dis that he cone ‘Bere Pars prose superior to Carton The Now York ReviewThe Savage Detectives is Roberto Bolato’s double sel portait of the post asa young maa. The Chilean AP {iro ‘Belaso wo with his tend Ulises Lima lead the visceral realist posts—hasalready hada revelation of ke winiy of youth, love an death" the took will follot im through bis years in Spin, up to 1996, when, al reads serail he disappears into war-fom Alien, apparent in search ttt Rimbaud hike oblsion, or eves eath. But the narrator Gala Madero Fsthe poet inhis moment of adolescent eben apd excitement, who. be Hives that the poets ie, te only ie worth living, wil be ont of limites, dvemureand epptany. He dope out ff school, leaves bome, assembles fn eversrowing ibeary of shoplified Sooks, aid soon there ino turning back rom his journey of eisovery: of etry a poets, of te city (F dit from place to pace ike apiece of t= an"), and, mom ofall of love and {oe for Garcia Madero's awakening Sexual eacees seem inexhaustible, promisingas uch possibility and dan eras thet itl "Attic end ofthe book’ first section, ‘on New Year's Eve, Garcia Madero, ‘Arturo Belano, Ulises Tima, and a tral inp of & prostitute Koown 33 Tape leave Mexico City in a white Tnnpala flee Lupe’s jealous, vio- leat pimp. They are headed to the Sonoran deseit in search of the objest ft Lima aed Belano's obsession: a Tong: forgtien, never more than ob- fue post named Cesdres Tinajer, ‘one of the orginal stridenusts an a tual Mexican pootty movemeat of tie 1920e though Tinajer' character is Setonal™and a rspiration tthe cera reali Tn the novel's fourhundees-page secon! section, tied “The Savage De- tects" thigy-igt characters from {otal olen cities and eight ier fat eauntces, speak a tt a avs ‘le detective who has been. deter ‘minedly hunting Belano and Lima f twenty years. Characters recount the Intersection of thelr ot ves with te ‘sceral realists’ and digress into their ‘own stories. The narrative doetnt procsed ehroaaogialy, but ropest= aly stuns tone long night—"hen hight sis ino aight, though aever al ‘a sudden, the whietooted Mexico City nght"— suring which Belano aad Lima ws Amadeo, an ol, impover ished stridetist poet who seems 10 tote lar rush alive wih lear nemo ries of CesiteaTinsera in her Mexico Giy youll: he possesses a copy of the fity-yearold poetry magazine in hich the publisied hee oaly own osm, Amadeo is umazed and. de Tiehted t have been found by the 10 toys, and tobe able to spend a lone night talking about etry. reliving his ‘yout, and drinking they polsh ott fare bottle, perhaps the [ist left in ‘Mexico ofa messal with Inia ‘name “AL what a shame they doa fake Los Sulcdas meeal amore says Amadco, “what ashame that ‘aes pases, dont you think? what shame hat wedi, and get ld, and ev crying oct ealoneg aay Lathe Savage Detective Bolato shows how time punishes vs for the rebel Tous dream of youth, bringing dieap- ointment, painfully modest sec plshents, broken loves, ilies, even Sly 19,2007 violent death and, simpy, the ead of Youth But for eaders ma longer young, {he novel alo conjures youth im alls Inlarousness and overwrought drama, and remings us ofthe purty of young peoples fith~-above all im poetry. It anal make a reader cave decply About the characters, almost like a parent, wanting happiness for them, Treting when it sludes then, and ft nally forced to aeept dha dey wil live ou ther destinies on thelr own, INo eharcter in @ novel i really éepicable or eveo didizable when ‘brought to life with ski, energy, and ‘nt Bola’ hiaciously drawa upper- ‘las aesthetic snobs ad peda, for fxample, are very rvogsizable Nex feo Clty types. Even the delightflly (old behavior of the character “Oe- tuvie Paz” inthe one epitode dedi- ‘ated to him, ses fondly writen. Ta ‘antrast tothe sed Garcia Madero, ‘many of the characters inthe novel's Iniddle section who recall their em ‘counters with Belazo and Lima are {uicktoscom hem, calling them "cut. hte sorealits and fake Mars Sid, pot too unjustly given what oc (curs in several rahe sexual encoun- ters, “limp eicks" Tear think of an- ‘other male writer in any language who treates very different female charac ters more convincingly or sensitively {han Balato docs, forall his ear ness, Bela and Lima pursue roma tie relationships, for example, with Several Mexico City Jewish women, ‘who, while recognizably Jewish, are tlio'st Mexican as any other of the characters, which should come as no surprise, but may to those English- Tanguage readers who like to issst on surely racial dfiaions of Latin ‘American identi. ‘The vibrancy of Bolufo's women suggests another aspect of his rina ity, at least in the context of Latin ‘American fletion. Whea lo Contiar, {in Hopscota, portayed young Latin ‘Americans in aris one implication ‘eat that Pars was where they bad 10 ‘uo to find personal fesdom aud an Interesting and modern way of Ue. olabo hs fequeatly acknowledged 4 Gebt to Cortizar’s novel, but the ‘Mexico Cty of The Savage Detects, forall its local character nnd danger, ‘bes more in common, at least in the ‘manner thatthe book's comparatively sophisticated and) bobemtian young, aaster init iy with cites ke Now Vork or Pari than with any ta ‘onal Lada American setting, The novel deplsts Mexico Cty during the ‘ery years, ionialy, thatthe rest of the world was dacovering One Ten dred Years of Solitude in wansation, « ook whose global success ad the foasequences, which its author could never have forenen,oferesting folksy ereolypes of Latin American fe and {he association of Latin American lit frutgealtietexaonively with magic realism that as endured for neatly tony years? ‘One resson that Mexico City was parade to Bolafo war that Ht was Felatively romoved from the poleal olense”coavalsiag, much of Latia ‘America in those years. Menico had {te traumatic 1968, and is catare was erally affected, but, as it always ‘Seems to following calames, the cout tay had quickly recovered its peculiar fuilibinm. (When the wholeciv= lied world disappears Mexico will ‘ep existing, when the planet vapor- taco disintegrates, Mexico wll be Meco," sabe characterin Savage Dewcves) Thisis wonderfully deamae tized when a group of Mexican leftist Svriters travel to Stina Nicazegut ‘8 a junket. They might ab well be ‘evoltiogary tous fom an Amer ‘an university—though much heavier ‘inkere than most_grngo radicals Ulises. Lima, an occidental partic am, slips aay fom the hotel that s fhe group's boeay bubble and spends {vo jours, about which we earanoth- fing, wandering war-coavulsed Cental ‘Atria, wl one dar, by then meaty forgotten by everybouy, he reappeas in Mexioo Gy. ‘Ulises Lima's name evokes Bolaio’s lowe of Joye and ao of José Lezara Tima, often ogatdod 2s the Spanish Tanguage’s Joyee, and seems to con- firm Bolato's intentions to create, with The Savage Detectives, aconter porary epic. (When Spain's mostinfa- nla crite, Ingnaio Echevarts,ob- Served tht The Savage Detects was “the Kind of novel Borges could have oasented to walt,” he was surely ro ering, at east pay, co that novels reinvention of assical epi’) But Bo- Taio alo said that he wrote his novel, fo that he and Mario Saatiago could laugh over It together. In 1998, the year the book came out, Santiago was nick bya sora Mesies City and died Delors he could reat Bolado ss wlll an admiing ‘essay on The Adventures of Huckle berry Finn, one of i favorite Books, “ia the ay “Loe mits de Cruthu." Included in the posthumous costo ‘gaucho osujnibte (Barcelona: Ata ‘rama, 2003), Bolano azpued that 20 Srlous writes, not Borge, Bioy, Cor teat, Hullo, Oneit, among. stbes, ‘even that duet of od mocks, Gar fla Marquez and Vargas Llosa,” wrote Tatin Ameviean iterature,"¢ stereo: typical and fraudulent product now ‘Murned out by a tong lize of come ‘nercally promoted Garcia Masques “In bis 1967 Norton leéines at Har ‘ard, Borges sds "think the epi Yl come back to ut. T believe that the poot shal cave again bea maker. feaiy he wil tell a story and he wil feo sing i Aad we wilipot think ot ‘hoe to things as iferea, even as tye do not thik they are diffrent in Homer or in. Virgi.” See Aun Es tends cosy “Borges, Bolao and the Rotura of the Epic” at www Words WithouBordersorg and the srects of Mesio City are Garela Madete’s Missesipp. Many characters take long. walks though the cg hat pve stretches ofthe book iis tempo of endless afternoons and rights of youth whe you cua walk and tall and doe’ realy havo to be anj~ Shere inthe end theteenitory ahead” Into which Garcia Madero escapes is the Sonoran desert, "The novel iy page Sina eeton, gaia narrated by’ Gareis Madero, takes us back tote 1970s, where we last eft him and his poet frends in the severt fling, Lupe’s pimp. In the book's final poger, srs Madera ‘and Lupe have just parted ways with Belaso and Lima. ‘They have found the object of their dewctve search, CCesirea Tinajera, only to inadver tently cause hor death: se gets shot fn-t violent lonej-desertroal cox frontation with the morderows pimp find ls corupt polieman sidekick, Who have been roleauessly pursuing Tpe. So all Bolato's thomes have converged: the poet? seach for the ‘sive iol, of fo te myth of poetry self the interelationship af poet fod etme; the violence that Lata ‘Americans born athe Fiftieseant get, fay fem the tiny of youth, love, tnd death, We already know, by ther, ‘what will happen to Belano and Lisa ‘But what about Lupe and Gavela ‘Madero? None ofthe character inthe books long mde section mentions ff seems. 10 remember seventceD Yyeasrold Juan Garis Madero, Ese is the novel, inthe rowdy lowifecantina Where the ioral realsts hang ou, Drigdsy the waitress who bas givea Gate Madero ae fis sexta expor- ence but who subsequently loses bia to nother warts, the desperatly lov ing Rosario, doves propieey. She tells Garela Madero "that you'se going to die young, Juan, and that you're foing 10 do Rosario wrong.” By tht point inthe novel, the seoond predic tionfasalzeady come true. Butshe has also told Garla Madero tate needs {good wernan who wil stand by Ban, nd a Lupita he seems to have found ‘one. The aovel en auth the couple ‘tanded inthe dever,bich i either mage of nowhere or of infinite paths stetching toward the hoeaoa Tn one of kis interviews, Bolato sade a distinction between celabrsted Sutbore whove works ingpited ints {ors and a writer like Borges, whose Fitios, be said, opened paths of ite fry experimentation for other walters twexplare, The Savage Detectives, 08 diferent sense, opens new paths (00, Some of them pointing asth, toward the US border sad the pinary otag ‘of Bolas next novel, 2656. That se tags the ietional ety Santa Teco, ‘where many young women ae mur Sored and where « mysterious novelist ‘and German World War I veteran ‘eno von Archimbod, might be ing The mullnle sory ines of 2566 fr6 borne. sloag bY narrators Who com alo to cepreseat various of is Terary inluesoes, tom European avant-garde to ential theory to pulp ‘tion, and who converge oa the ity fot Santa Teresa a3 propelled toward some final uniting epiphany. I'seems fppropriate that 2605% adrupt end Teaver ue jast short of whatever that epiphany might have been, resulingin Stother oper-ende ending i paths to rtsace and resume, leaving every. ting bebind again. a ”