![]() ![]() "2666" is almost 900 pages long, and Bolano could have accomplished his goals in maybe 400-500 pages. He said it lacks all the traditional pleasures of the novel. Harvey said, "Don't start with 2666." I did. The result is neither horror nor sympathy. Harvey wrote of "2666." Harvey says, "The book is a desert of negative space across which the panting reader will search in vain for the traditional pleasures of the novel. He writes, "Avoid '2666' for as long as possible, and for heaven's sake, don't start with it." I laughed upon reading that sentence, because at that point, I was 10% percent into my first encounter with Bolano - "2666." I kept at it, but per Harvey's advice, I picked up "Nazi Literature" and also "Last Evenings on Earth." I will eventually read "Savage Detectives" and "By Night in Chile" as he suggests, but later. However, for me, Harvey redeems himself at the end of his article on Bolano. ![]() That book is nothing more than a way into glum tedium. ![]() I only read it (parts of it) because he recommended it as a way into the Bolano oeuvre. I had trouble trusting Harvey's review because he lists "Nazi Literature in the Americas" as one of his top for suggestions for "navigating the Bolano labyrinth." "Nazi Literature" is, he writes, "every bit as fun as it sounds." That's true. ![]() Giles Harvey writes an article in the New Yorker online () giving an overview of the workd of Chilean author Roberto Bolano. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |