Roberto bolaño famous works

Andrews, Chris. Roberto Bolaño’s Fiction: An Expanding Universe. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014.

DOI: 10.7312/andr16806

Excellent study of the formal features of Bolaño’s work by one of his English-language translators. Begins with an account of Bolaño’s reception in the United States, then proceeds to detail the compositional principles that Bolaño used to construct his fictional universe (narrative “expansion,” “metarepresentation,” etc.). The final chapter shifts from narrative/character analysis to an argument about the “values implicit” in Bolaño’s fiction: minimalism at the level of ethics and anarchism at the level of politics.

Bolognese, Chiara. Pistas de un naufragio: Cartografía de Roberto Bolaño. Santiago, Chile: Editorial Margen, 2009.

First book-length treatment of Bolaño’s work. Basic thematic overview of Bolaño literature with a short biographical introduction. Journalistic in style, reads more like an extended literary essay than a scholarly investigation. Explores Bolaño’s relationship to postmodernism, Latin Americanism, urbanism, travel literature, etc. Retreads much of the ground of earlier criticism (Manzoni, Espinosa, Echevarría, etc.).

Candia, Alexis. El “paraíso infernal” en la narrativa de Roberto Bolaño. Santiago, Chile: Cuarto Propio, 2011.

Thematic study of Bolaño’s novelistic corpus. Claims that Bolaño’s aesthetic derives from the constant interplay between an exploration of human evil and a celebration of the “magical” aspects of human existence (sex, adventure, literary and social play). Intended as a corrective to the work of Manzoni, Espinosa, and González, whose focus on the centrality of evil to the Bolañian corpus has, according to the author, led to a relative lack of attention to the more redemptive dimensions of his work.

González, Daniuska. La escritura bárbara: La narrativa de Roberto Bolaño. Lima, Peru: Fondo Editorial Cultura Peruana, 2010.

Thematically oriented analysis of Bolaño’s work that centers on his treatment of literature’s relationship to evil (el mal). Readings rely heavily on a post-structural theoretical framework (Lyotard, Baudrillard, Kristeva). Each chapter approaches Bolaño’s treatment of literature and evil from a different perspective (absolute evil, radical evil, etc.).

Gutiérrez-Mouat, Ricardo. Understanding Roberto Bolaño. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2016.

Best overview of Bolaño’s life and literature to date. Contains a short biography (culled partially from Bolaño’s semi-autobiographical fiction) and analysis of Bolaño’s major works in chronological order. The book’s historicist approach makes it a good starting point for students and scholars slightly less well versed in Latin American literary history. Its meticulous readings of Bolaño’s poems, novels, and stories also make it a significant contribution to Bolaño studies. Particularly notable for its skillful recapitulation of the existing criticism.

Herralde, Jorge. Para Roberto Bolaño. Barcelona, Spain:: Acantilado, 2005.

Series of brief personal reflections on Bolaño by his longtime publisher/editor at Anagrama, Jorge Herralde. From a critical standpoint, worth reading for its description of Bolaño’s relationship to the publishing industry (particularly in the section “Vida editorial de Roberto Bolaño”) and Herralde’s insider account of how Bolaño became a global literary phenomenon.

Ínigo, Ainoa. El universo literario de Roberto Bolaño. Madrid: Verbum, 2015.

Thematic study of Bolaño’s work, with an emphasis on his conception of writing as a form of social commitment. Informative if somewhat wandering overview of existing criticism in chapter 1, followed by chapters on Estrella distante, Los detectives salvajes, and 2666. Rehashes much of existing criticism.

Maristain, Mónica. Bolaño, a Biography in Conversations. Translated by Kit Maude. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House, 2014.

Only book-length biography of Bolaño available as of 2019. Written by the Mexican journalist best known for having conducted the “last interview” with Bolaño. Most of the material comes from interviews with Bolaño’s friends, family, and literary acquaintances. Fills in some gaps about Bolaño’s life, but as the author herself remarks in the preface, the lack of access to Bolaño’s diaries, letters, and archives leads to somewhat speculative conclusions about his life and works.

Monroe, Jonathan. Framing Roberto Bolaño: Poetry, Fiction, Literary History, Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019.

DOI: 10.1017/9781108633475

Comprehensive reading of Bolaño’s literary corpus that concentrates on his engagement with the history and legacy of the prose poem. Argues that Bolaño’s achievement stems from his novelistic incorporation of the rhythm and style of the prose poem and his thematization of the distinct cultural economies of poetry and fiction in the modern world. Each chapter presents a meticulous close reading of a Bolaño text. Particularly strong on Bolaño’s exploration of different genre/media forms in Los detectives salvajes and 2666.