Thursday, October 18, 2007

A Load of Bolano



Someone sent me a link to this article in the New Yorker about Roberto Bolano.

The Savage Detectives is one of the best books I have read so far this year...

Two comments by Mr Bolano particularly caught my attention:

"BolaƱo’s fury toward the literary mainstream—deeply felt and bordering on puerile" - remind you of anyone?

And he called Isabel Allende a “scribbler” whose “attempts at literature range from kitsch to the pathetic.”

3 comments:

  1. Tell Roberto Bolano to remove his head from his arse, from me, member of the literary mainstream, and already sick of apologising for it.

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  2. Always comment first, then read the article. He's dead, isn't he? In that case I reckon he can leave his arse where he likes. Still, enough already.

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  3. The latest New Yorker's worth a look too, by the way:

    Short story from Platonov;

    an unusual article in favour of recent abridgements of over-long classics (e.g. Moby Dick pruned is the book it would be had a good/modern editor got to it) - not something I'd necessarily agree with but interesting angle;

    an article about a new Charles Schulz (Peanuts) bio;

    something about hollywood (e.g. Clark Gable was a prostitute frequenting do-badding nightmare but under the old studio system these things kept secret, compared with present infatuation with seeing Brad Pitt grocery shopping)...

    Anyway, always worth a read if you have the time.

    Rich

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