tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post3335083960579393946..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Still, my story won’t be as coherent as I’d like.Amateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-65251792288277117872019-06-28T15:06:00.850-05:002019-06-28T15:06:00.850-05:00I wonder if Unknown is a bot. I cannot tell.
If ...I wonder if Unknown is a bot. I cannot tell.<br /><br />If not, or also if, you got caught by irony, and verb tenses. Bolaño's works are also pretty thoroughly saturated with irony. He's a tricky writer. He has given me and many other readers a lot to think about.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-49241696360530966872019-06-27T09:56:01.731-05:002019-06-27T09:56:01.731-05:00I came to this page by googling "bolaño is a ...I came to this page by googling "bolaño is a fraud" because I just had to know if I was alone in this. Couldn't finish The Savage Detectives, there's just so very little to think about on any page, and so many pages. THANK YOU for saying it for me.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10798620200153649606noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-30796465585027685602012-02-21T20:12:23.597-06:002012-02-21T20:12:23.597-06:00You don't actually think Bolaño is a fraud, ri...You don't actually think Bolaño is a fraud, right? There is some strong evidence that he is a significant and good writer: many good readers find to be a good writer.<br /><br />Your disdain is actually disdain for Bolaño's readers. Like you think they're suckers.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-33008855307215890542012-02-21T19:49:19.849-06:002012-02-21T19:49:19.849-06:00Oops. Never mind. :)Oops. Never mind. :)Bellezza https://www.blogger.com/profile/18073864187188953633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-50927591416139162862012-02-20T12:31:36.011-06:002012-02-20T12:31:36.011-06:00Uh oh. That first paragraph was just a joke! One...Uh oh. That first paragraph was just a joke! One of those dang ironic inversions.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-22448032609615434342012-02-20T12:10:47.109-06:002012-02-20T12:10:47.109-06:00Phew! I'm not alone in my disdain. Over-inflat...Phew! I'm not alone in my disdain. Over-inflated to say the least. Glad you punctured his balloon in your own inimitable style.Bellezza https://www.blogger.com/profile/18073864187188953633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-49974198294769940842012-02-01T19:07:24.854-06:002012-02-01T19:07:24.854-06:00He could have called him Arturo Bellendo.He could have called him Arturo Bellendo.obookihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03885121629202810216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-30635636816531461082012-01-31T10:10:06.256-06:002012-01-31T10:10:06.256-06:00The Thurber, yes, but a long, long time ago. Now t...The Thurber, yes, but a long, long time ago. Now there's a classic.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-24553138330792953982012-01-31T09:09:05.433-06:002012-01-31T09:09:05.433-06:00Threaded comments are well-known as an abomination...Threaded comments are well-known as an abomination of the internet! For exactly that reason!nicolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17532641082944082516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-57081445914200031172012-01-31T09:04:08.964-06:002012-01-31T09:04:08.964-06:00"Oh my God! Amadeo is the real killer! He mea..."Oh my God! Amadeo is the real killer! He means Caborca-the-knife, not the magazine!"<br /><br />That is genuinely funny. Have you read James Thurber's "The Macbeth Murder Mystery," by any chance?seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-47108138600434896342012-01-31T08:55:27.815-06:002012-01-31T08:55:27.815-06:00Hmm. Maybe there is a downside to this heteronym ...Hmm. Maybe there is a downside to this heteronym business.<br /><br />I should be clear about the way in which García Madero annoyed me. He annoyed me because he began the book, and wrote like, a stock character. I am neutral on his youth, immaturity, braggadocio and so on. My annoyance was on artistic grounds.<br /><br />I prefer the stronger control or focus of <i>By Night in Chile</i> as well, but I am violating a couple of cherished a couple of Bolañese aesthetic principles in doing so. He values elegance and the illusion of perfection a lot less than I do.<br /><br />As for the inside baseball, I am so hot on <i>Nazi Literature in the Americas</i> that all I can say is: come inside, folks!<br /><br />nicole - you see why I oppose and do not understand people's use of threaded comments or whatever they are called, where the streams of thought are segregated and presumably safely ignored by new participants.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-9026156404667423252012-01-31T02:18:48.428-06:002012-01-31T02:18:48.428-06:00Yeah, Garcia Madero irritated me too, almost as mu...Yeah, Garcia Madero irritated me too, almost as much as the four shallow academics from the first part of 2666. It's funny how both his big books start with fairly offputting scene-setting. Perhaps Bolano poking fun at the pretenses of his younger self in various ways.<br /><br />Still, I think Detectives is pretty darn uneven overall and far from his best work. For every excellent section like the campus siege, there's a bit of insider baseball that didn't grab me. By Night in Chile is probably the strongest piece of work I've read by him, along with some of the stories in Last Evenings on Earth and the fourth section of 2666 (the murders).David Auerbachhttp://www.waggish.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-83701151759622405952012-01-30T22:35:17.948-06:002012-01-30T22:35:17.948-06:00Tom—Hahaha, truly you have. And you certainly have...Tom—Hahaha, truly you have. And you certainly have the happeningest comment section of any blog <em>I</em> read tonight.<br /><br />Richard—lolz...you know, with everyone pointing out how unpleasantly immature García Madero is (and rightly so, such as with Tom's above quotes from the diary), I keep finding it surprising that he didn't annoy me...at all. I found him sort of endearing I guess—at least, he made me laugh, not unlike your heteronym!nicolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17532641082944082516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-35037080754719945812012-01-30T22:25:14.533-06:002012-01-30T22:25:14.533-06:00Tom, thanks for the reassurance, but please pay no...Tom, thanks for the reassurance, but please pay no mind to my only semi-polite heteronym who was answering Obooki like the 17-year old Poeta García Madero!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-42895943348797907342012-01-30T22:17:16.393-06:002012-01-30T22:17:16.393-06:00What, what. No, people in comments should talk to...What, what. No, people in comments should talk to each other. Otherwise it's like a class where we dutifully answer the teacher's questions but refuse to argue with or extend an idea of one of the other students.<br /><br />I was actually never a student in one of those classes, because I gleefully argued with my classmates, but I have taught them.<br /><br />Boy, now I have made the internet sound like fun, haven't I?Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-28187821692623403772012-01-30T22:01:45.256-06:002012-01-30T22:01:45.256-06:00I think the usual speculation, Obooki, is that Art...I think the usual speculation, Obooki, is that Arturo is for Arthur Rimbaud and Belano is for some Chilean novelist you don't appreciate. Makes sense to me--but you weren't asking me, were you?Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-81458347169503518472012-01-30T21:54:06.470-06:002012-01-30T21:54:06.470-06:00Good, I see having read your reply too hastily, I ...Good, I see having read your reply too hastily, I managed to disprove my own point. Most satisfying.<br /><br />I've often wondered (well, rarely) whether there was a connection between Arturo Belano and John Fante's Arturo Bandini.obookihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03885121629202810216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-89993371634076391562012-01-30T20:31:17.068-06:002012-01-30T20:31:17.068-06:00Kinbote actually suggests - or demands - that the ...Kinbote actually suggests - or demands - that the reader buy multiple copies of his book so he can chop them up and lay the necessary sections side by side. Many authors read that part of <i>Pale Fire</i> and nodded along - this chap's not so crazy after all.<br /><br />Séamus - "bothered" is the exact wrong word.<br /><br />The false García Madero has promise, as does the blatantly lying García Madero - some of his sex acts lead to me to some degree of doubt - but given the special status he achieves at the end of the book, I think it is fruitful to keep him around.<br /><br />Having said that - the no García Madero, but only Bustamante idea is fantastic. My one complaint about it is that it is too purely stolen from <i>Pale Fire</i>, with Bustamante playing the role of Botkin. One more <i>Pale Fire</i> idea - the diary is dictated, or the interviews are conducted, or both, by the ghost of Laura Damián. Or, no, it's the ghost of Laura who -----<br /><br />The Quim Font telephone conversation is a perfect place to end this nonsense, because it encapsulates how Bolaño creates these possibilities and simultaneously knocks them out. Here is a seemingly crucial piece of information, the only source of which is one of the novel's many madmen, and one with clear ulterior motives (bring my car back!). You can keep it, you can throw it out, you can somehow try to do both. No stable interpretation is possible.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-1351194036857424042012-01-30T19:50:35.180-06:002012-01-30T19:50:35.180-06:00The retrofitting-expansion thing is logical, consi...The retrofitting-expansion thing is logical, considering RB's writing method (if he practiced what he preached to short story writers): it's best to write 3 to 5 stories at a time, and if possible, 9 to 15 stories at a time. <br />More savage speculations: Amadeo's interviewers may be an older set. If they were the visceral realists he would have called them "boys" as with Ulises and Arturo. The Quim Font betrayal is in Jan. 13 entry. He's probably pulling their legs. The poor thing missed Lupe and the Impala. The 30-something García Madero interviewing the "expert on visceral realism" had a nice ironic ring to it.Risehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-70225900176267306932012-01-30T18:05:59.425-06:002012-01-30T18:05:59.425-06:00Have to say I'm not too bothered about who int...Have to say I'm not too bothered about who interviews who but felt that Alberto probably had information from his connections in the police that allowed him to 'run into' Belano, Lima et al. Did Quim Font not say (I'm too lazy to check) that he had given Alberto some directions?Séamus Dugganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00574186409184247059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-38251142456130398812012-01-30T18:04:24.426-06:002012-01-30T18:04:24.426-06:00On the identity of the various interviewers, didn&...On the identity of the various interviewers, didn't Quim Font spill the beans on where the white impala people were headed? Alberto could have learned that info from him and not from Amadeo. Also--and not that I necessarily believe in this theory, which isn't particularly satisfying--but there's no real reason García Madero's diary entries couldn't have been written by somebody else under an alias. Like either Belano or Lima, the January 1976interviewers of Amadeo, the grad student who wants to write about the visceral realists, or that 17-year Chilean that the grad student struggles to recall by name. All sorts of choices, too many in fact!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-80661356343850583162012-01-30T17:57:31.761-06:002012-01-30T17:57:31.761-06:00Who is it, Vivian Darkbloom, or Charles Kinbote, o...Who is it, Vivian Darkbloom, or Charles Kinbote, or someone like that, who advises us to cut the book up and read it in a more helpful order? Not this book, of course, but I feel like I should.nicolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17532641082944082516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-81192616971397580792012-01-30T17:42:52.730-06:002012-01-30T17:42:52.730-06:00"hard to imagine" - ludicrous, even! It..."hard to imagine" - ludicrous, even! It's just loaded with irony. <br /><br />See beginning of Ch. 3, where Belano, Pequena, Barrios, and filthy-mouthed B. Patterson are described as interviewing Arce. Lots of people going around interviewing each other. I will bet if you made a list of characters and checked them all off against the facts (e.g., rule out Barrios and Pequena because of his chapter), who would end up with no one. Ha ha ha ha!Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-76307611952586020912012-01-30T17:36:20.522-06:002012-01-30T17:36:20.522-06:00Yeah, I don't know why I am so unchill on the ...Yeah, I don't know why I am so unchill on the Alberto-as-interviewer thing, but I still am. I always assumed that the issue of them not crossing paths again for 17 or 18 days was due to the size of Sonora and the path of escape (not exactly direct). Don't a bunch of people know at least in some vague way that the gang is headed up there? I mean, Alberto&thug searching for Cesárea would, of course, make for some very nice "savage detectives," but I find it really hard to imagine them listening to <em>so much</em> from Salvatierra. So much that doesn't matter at all for their purposes.nicolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17532641082944082516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-69024513676386075292012-01-30T16:42:37.046-06:002012-01-30T16:42:37.046-06:00The retrofitting and expansion goes both ways. Th...The retrofitting and expansion goes both ways. The guy who sees numbers, that's a story from the slush pile (I am guessing) that is trimmed and shaped to fit the novel. Auxilio Lacouture's chapter is expanded into the novel <i>Amulet</i>. That one is not a guess.<br /><br />The timetable: Alberto loses Belano & Lima immediately. They start poking around at Belano & Lima's circle and follow the trail to Amadeo (this step is a stretch - but why does anyone at all know about Amadeo?), who inadvertently puts Alberto on the right path, to Sonora.<br /><br />That part is a problem. But the timetable is OK. Alberto is not spotted in Sonora until Jan. 20. So: 17 or 18 days to do detective work in Mexico City & then drive to Nogales.<br /><br />The biggest issue is that Sonora is a huge place and the characters should never cross paths at all, but that's Bolaño's problem, not mine. Maybe Alberto is also tracking Tinajero, knowing that's where his quarry will be.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.com