The Spirit of Science Fiction

September 1, 2018

Recently unearthed, this early work by the Latin American star is a precursor to The Savage Detectives, making it perfect for fans of that masterpiece while serving as a good introduction for Bolaño newbies. In Mexico City, young Jan and Remo are equally obsessed with poetry and sf. But while Jan remains in their rooftop apartment writing fan letters to sf greats, Remo hangs out in seen-better-days cafés and bathhouses with other rebellious young writers.

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December 1, 2018
Two young writers attempt to crack Mexico City's literary culture with whatever it takes, including earnest letters to science-fiction icons.This brief, curious, posthumous novel by Bolaño (1953-2003; 2666, etc.), written circa 1984, can be read as a kind of rehearsal for his 2007 breakthrough, The Savage Detectives. Like that novel, this one features a pair of writers, Jan and Remo, who are determined to comprehend the literary culture they're so passionate about. Jan, an alter ego for Bolaño himself, is more introverted, translating poems and writing fan letters to the likes of Robert Silverberg, Ursula K. Le Guin, James Tiptree Jr., and others. Remo, by contrast, engages with a writing workshop, though he seems to spend less time writing then he does pursuing relationships and investigating the curious explosion of literary magazines in the city from 32 titles to 661. Whether they resolve the mysteries of either literary production or women is beside the point, though; the novel is designed more as a series of set pieces from the pair's lives than a clear narrative, which leaves room for plenty of riffs about writers hungry to make names for themselves. ("In London, teenagers play for a few months at being pop stars," one scholar tells Remo. "Here, as you might expect, we seek out the cheapest and most pathetic drug or hobby: poetry, poetry magazines; that's just the way it is.") The main storyline is interspersed with dialogue from an interview with an unnamed award-winning writer, rambling on tomes about potato farming and science-fiction plots. It's unclear if Bolaño didn't finish this novel or deemed it unfit for publication, but either way it's an unshaped apprentice work, hinting at his particular brilliance--emotional expansiveness, dry humor, passion for the intersection of words and life--but only sketching it out.An abstracted and loose minor work that only glancingly addresses the author's favorite themes.

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December 15, 2018
Two aspiring Latin American writers wander the literary landscape of Mexico City in pursuit of adventure and artistic recognition. Sound familiar? Written in 1984 but unpublished until now, after being unearthed from Bola�o's posthumous archive, this is a spiritual precursor to his breakthrough novel, The Savage Detectives (2007). Jan Schrella and Remo Mor�n serve as prototypes for the later characters Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima, and this tale includes nods to other figures who surface in Bola�o's later work, like vagabond poet Estrellita and the Unknown University, the namesake for the title of Bola�o's final poetry collection. With a story line so thin it only narrowly constitutes a plot, Bola�o relies on the quirks and capers of his characters to propel the novel forward, like Remo's purchase of a motorcycle nicknamed Aztec Princess, or Jan's compulsion to create functionally astounding furniture from the used books in their apartment. Less a finished product itself than a blueprint for Bola�o's subsequent work, this title is recommended for devout fans of the author who can't get enough of his expansive oeuvre.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)