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Conversation: Roberto Bolano's '2666'

Posted by Jeffrey Brown , January 23, 2009

'2666' by Roberto Bolano For most of the English-speaking world and certainly for this reader, Roberto Bolano was unknown only a few years ago. Since then, he's become a literary phenomenon--his novels read, reviewed, discussed, widely praised. Bolano was born in Chile in 1953. He grew up there, in Mexico City and died in Spain at the age of 50 a few years ago.

One of his first books to gain international attention was "The Savage Detectives," which came out in English in 2007. His most recent, "2666," was released in English in 2008 and topped many of the year's "best-of" lists.

Natasha Wimmer translated both of those expansive novels. I spoke to her recently about the books and her role as translator:

Comments

Posted:
01/23/09 at
10:47 PM

Pat Vozab : I read about this author--maybe it was in The New York Times--and thought he seemed very interesting. Which of the shorter novels of his that you read prior to "The Savage Detectives" do you recommend? Thank you.
Posted:
06/21/09 at
03:00 PM

Claude : I too would like a recommendation to one of his shorter works. I want to see how 2666 speaks to his entire catalog. I found a good discussion of the book at pandalous. It's here http://www.pandalous.com/nodes/2666_a_novel

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