Roberto Bolaño, Last Evenings on Earth
Translated from the Spanish by Chris Andrews
New Directions, 2006
Fashion isn’t always wrong.
Geniuses don’t always have to wait a century or two to be
recognized. Sometimes they are
appreciated just shortly after their deaths. . . The surge of interest in Roberto Bolaño has
resulted in translations of his work hurrying into print and fame in
English. I have only one argument with
these proceedings – this book, Last
Evenings on Earth, has been unjustly neglected.
The lion’s share of attention has gone, understandably, to Bolaño’s
doorstop masterpieces – The Savage
Detectives and 2666, as well as
the oddly perfect novella Amulet. The short story, that short and unpopular
cousin, has been disregarded again.
These brilliant and peculiar stories could serve well to
help re-energize the form -- many recent examples of which appear to have grown
into a weirdly complicated and oddly dull machines, as ambitious as they are
unsatisfying.
If you enjoy Bolaño, you must read this book and, if you
have not yet been introduced, this is an excellent place to start. Bolano’s humor, violence, strangeness,
suspense, and tenderness are all present here in abundance.
Everyone will have their own set of favorites. For me, the best stories were “The Grub”,
“Anne Moore’s Life”, “Mauricio (The Eye) Silva” and “Sensini”. The characters are so vivid you might confuse them, in your memory, years from now, for old doomed friends of
yours.
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