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By: Powell's Staff,
on 12/12/2014
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Few topics are more contentious at Powell's than agreeing on the "best" works of fiction. Our tastes run the gamut from experimental tragicomedies to multi-generational sagas to offbeat coming-of-age tales to surreal character studies... and so on. As such, rather than present selections from one perspective, we thought it wise to get a more representative [...]
By: Powell's Staff,
on 9/20/2013
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At Powell's, our book buyers select all the new books in our vast inventory. If we need a book recommendation, we turn to our team of resident experts. Need a gift idea for a fan of vampire novels? Looking for a guide that will best demonstrate how to knit argyle socks? Need a book for [...]
Unlike most writers, for whom each work of fiction is a realm only unto itself, Roberto Bolaño freely shared characters, settings, storylines, and major themes throughout his novels and short stories. So it is with Woes of the True Policeman, a novel begun by the late Chilean in the 1980s and left unfinished at the [...]
A casual reflection on what makes some classic fiction linger in memory suggests character and place are probably the most compelling reasons. Character often includes a memorable physical appearance, personal traits, and voice. Place in memorable fiction might be a character's interior state of mind: think of Kafka's stories; or, the external, physical world: think of Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County, or Llewellyn's coal mining region of Wales. Also, memorable fiction tends toward having universal themes: love found or requited; bravery or cowardice; faith or lack of it; and so on. The trappings or settings of any time period may also add to the interest of the story: for example, the clothing worn; the profession or trade of the character; the tools or machines of the time.
The framework of elements found in memorable fiction came to mind while reading Roberto Bolano's "Third Reich." The novel is worth reading, but time is needed to tell how memorable it will become for me. Two German couples, including the first-person narrator, Udo, are on holiday in Spain, do a lot of drinking in local bars, become acquainted with two local characters, nicknamed the Wolf and the Lamb, and another withdrawn character, called El Quemado. He tends a fleet of rickety paddle boats on the beach, and sleeps among his boats each night. Grotesque burn scars cover much of his body, and he is a very withdrawn man.
The story framework brings to mind some of the structure of Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises," another story set in Spain, with endless bar hopping and drinking, and portraying relationships of the men and women on holiday. Where Hemingway uses sport fishing as a balancing literary diversion, Bolano uses Udo's passion for a war game, called "Third Reich," a board game based on WWII. The game includes all the fighting units of the combatant armies, with details right down to the names, strengths, and weaknesses of the individual generals who commanded the actual fighting units. Depending on the competing players' abilities, the outcome of a game may be different than the actual, historic outcome. Udo is a renowned expert on the game in his homeland, and he keeps a game board set up in his hotel room while on vacation to help in research needed to write a current article on the game for publication. Udo eventually teaches Quemado the rudiments of the game, and they begin to play an ongoing game for a few hours every day. Unsettled by the presumed drowning of his compatriot Charly and the subsequent departure of their two girlfriends for Germany, Udo's game begins to suffer and the German Army positions wither. Quemado's skill with the Allied Armies fortunes meanwhile improves rapidly, partly aided by the hotel's German expatriate owner spying on the games progress in Udo's room while he is away each day, and advising Quemado each night in his hut on the beach. The story ends on a very somber, life-is-almost-over note for Udo.
A point of interest for a writer reading the story might be whether the inclusion of a somewhat
Granta has released an animated version of an imaginary horror movie mentioned in Roberto Bolano‘s story, “The Colonel’s Son.” The story itself was published in Granta’s Horror issue.
Here’s more about the short: “the narrator recounts a B-grade horror flick he sees on late night TV. A girl gets bitten by a zombie; the boy he loves tries to save her; the father of the boy, in turn, tries to save him. Bloodshed spreads across the city, as one by one witnesses become victims . . . and then killers … Nothingbutamovie.com is an HTML5-based animation inspired by Bolaño’s piece, and has been brought to life by Granta illustrator Owen Freeman and the innovative web designers at Jocabola.”
The designers also worked on Arcade Fire’s interactive music video, “The Wilderness Downtown.” If you want to learn more about HTML5 storytelling tools for writers, check out our Publishing App Expo on December 7-8.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
The Paris Review has unveiled its first digital edition, selling four issues of the literary journal for $30 through Zinio’s digital newsstand.
The summer issue includes stories by Jonathan Lethem, Amie Barrodale, David Gates and Roberto Bolano.
Check it out: “For the first time, readers can buy a digital version of The Paris Review—for easy access anytime, anywhere. TPR digital can be read on your iPad, laptop, or mobile device. It’s cheap, it’s easy, and it’s instant gratification!”
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
What will you be reading this winter? I know what I'm reading already...
Roberto Bolaño's huge novel 2666 is finally coming out in English--all 1,000+ pages of it. It meditates on fictional version of a series of unsolved murders in Mexico, a mystery that has always made me shiver.
Check out Three Percent's excellent post on the novel, with some insider facts about the release: "In a very real way, 2666 may be the “Big Book” of BEA 2008 that I claimed didn’t exist in my last post. Jeff said the response has been overwhelming and that they gave out 400 copies (!) of the galley at the book fair. I know print runs smaller than that . . ."
If you are looking for more, Scott Esposito from Coversational Reading has a sweet interview with the translator of Bolaño's most recently translated novel, The Savage Detectives. That book was easily One of the Top Five Novels I Read Last Year.
By: Jack O'Rourke,
on 7/29/2012
By: Jason Boog,
on 11/21/2011
By: Jason Boog,
on 6/6/2008
By: Helô Kinder,
on 12/28/2007
Cute drawing, very nice!
Dreams and adventures… don’t we all want to go!