Bolaño Review

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/28/AR2008022803418.html

So far, the best review for Nazi Literature in the Americas that I’ve come across. As many know, I have quite an interest, dare I say obsession, with Roberto Bolaño. This review best articulates the humor and imagination that I worry people miss when reading, and quickly assessing, his work. I can’t always explain why, I just think Bolaño is consistently funny and political, even when humor and politics are seemingly absent. Anyway, his books are usually celebrations of literature, which, of course, attracts me. This is no exception.

Where this review perhaps falters is in comparing Nazi Literature in the Americas to The Savage Detectives. There is a definite comparison, but after seeing Entertainment Weekly—hardly the place for good book reviews—make that comparison, as well as giving Nazi Literature in the Americas a B and applying the tired “post-modern” label, I’m weary of looking at the books as linked and more interested in thinking about them independently. Then again, I think Bolaño would have liked his entire works thought of as conjoined. He really seemed determined to create a universe.