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Saturday, November 12th, 2011
Todo el realismo visceral era una carta de amor, el pavoneo demencial de un pájaro idiota a la luz de la luna, algo bastante vulgar y sin importancia.— Laura Jáuregui
January 1976
The text of part 2 of Savage Detectives is seizing me, is pulling me along, is making it difficult to put the book down. And I'm remembering what pulled me in last time around -- GarcÃa Madero's diaries are lovely, impressionistic reading to be sure; but they are mainly about him. In these interviews every voice is clear, distinct, fully realized."Interviews" is definitely how I'm understanding these clips of text -- they are not explicitly presented as such, but they read like they are compiled from tape recordings of interviews done by someone making a documentary about visceral realism -- Natasha Wimmer's "faceless interviewer whose presence is only hinted at by the tone of the many characters who testify to their involvement with Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima." Who is this documentarian? And what do the dates on the entries signify? They must be the date on which the interview took place. The identity of the person who spent 20 years on building this archive of interviews became, for me, the central mystery of the book, the first time I read it -- a mystery I was not ultimately able to solve. (It can't be GarcÃa Madero or Belano, as the first interviews are recorded in January 1976, while those two are driving around Sonora.) Speaking of mysteries and clues, one of the fun pieces of reading this book, for me, is tracking down information about the infrarealists, the poets whose lives and identities form the basis for many of the book's characters. (And also the stridentists, approximately the visual-art arm of the infrarealist movement.) I'm going to use this entry, below the fold, as a notepad for links about the infrarealists, updating it as I find good new information.
- Página/12 has a good summary of what real poet serves as background for what character in the book. Felipe Ossandón wrote an article for El Mercurio on Bolaño's early literary skirmishes which contains similar information. Another article is Quién es quién en Los detectives salvajes, at Lanzallamas.org.
- infrarrealismo.com is the central point for information and links about the infrarealists. It is maintained by Ramón Mendez, who is the background for the character of Pancho RodrÃguez.
- Juan Esteban Harrington (a Chilean poet) is widely considered to be the background for GarcÃa Madero, although he himself denies it, saying "GarcÃa Madero was all of us." Harrington wrote a brief manifesto for infrarealism. Ossandón's article linked above features some delicious reminiscences by Harrington.
- Piel Divina is the only poet who had the same handle in real life and in the book -- he is Jorge Hernández, a few of whose poems can be read in translation at Calque. Youtube has a recent video of Piel Divina reading poetry.
- The author whose traces Ulises and Arturo are setting out north searching for, is Cesárea Tinajero, the mother of real visceralismo, who Wikipædia tells me is based on Concha Urquiza, the mother of el realismo infra. Many of her poems are online at A media voz, also some early unpublished pieces in Margarita León's paper Concha Urquiza: poemas de adolescencia.
- At Caravana de recuerdos, Richard finds two articles by Bolaño about the Estridentistas.
↻...done
posted afternoon of November 12th, 2011: Respond
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Friday, November 11th, 2011
Escuché voces, me llamaban, a mi lado pasó el coche de Quim, vi la silueta de Alberto en el Camaro y de un salto estaba junto al coche en donde iban mis amigos. ... En esa sombra, enmarcada por la ventana estrictamente rectangular del Impala, se concentraba toda la tristeza del mundo.
There is a vivid quality to GarcÃa Madero's diary entries in these last couple of days that was not as much present, I think, in the earlier entries. At the beginning of the December 30th entry he says, "Today I returned to the Fonts' place. Today I let Rosario down." And indeed his character changes kind of sharply here -- he becomes more confident, more assertive. He is freaked out by having sex with Lupe in a way that his previous experiences don't seem to have affected him, not quite sure how to fit these two bits together but they seem related.And we are off to part two, covering 1976-1996, on a bit of a cliff-hanger!
The author whose traces Ulises and Arturo are setting out north searching for, is Cesárea Tinajero, the mother of real visceralismo, who Wikipædia tells me is based on Concha Urquiza, the mother of el realismo infra. Many of her poems are online at A media voz, also some early unpublished pieces in Margarita León's paper Concha Urquiza: poemas de adolescencia.
posted evening of November 11th, 2011: 1 response
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Thursday, November 10th, 2011
Hoy no pasó nada. Y si pasó algo es mejor callarlo, pues no lo entendÃ. Getting to the end of part I of Savage Detectives -- I am wondering what to make of it in the context of the book as a whole. Part I seems to me like a Beat novel, like a Kerouac novel with some adjustments made for era and culture... I don't get a sense of a moving plot, more like a developing atmosphere. What are the qualities of this atmosphere? Sexual longing is everywhere; failure to connect with others (even with Rosario, who is making it as easy as I can imagine it being with anyone), insecurity/lack of confidence, hedonism. I'll be interested to see what role the Fonts play in the rest of the book; they are certainly the most enigmatic figures in this first section.
posted evening of November 10th, 2011: Respond
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Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
A question that occurs to me as I read GarcÃa Madero's diaries: Is he slumming? My initial take on his situation is, he's coming from a comfortable family background -- I can't really tell if his uncle is wealthy or just middle class -- but at any rate in a different economic class than the poets he is hanging out with. There are several scenes early in the book where his lack of familiarity with the street is on display. Not really sure how important a role differences of socioeconomic class play in this book but it is worth keeping in mind.
I was thinking about this while I read the December 7th entry, Jacinto Requena telling him about Belano's new wave of purges from the visceral realist movement, and it occurred to me that another way GarcÃa Madero is on the outside looking in, is he's not a published poet -- I get the impression most of the other poets in the movement have been published, and that GarcÃa Madero sees the movement as a way to get his foot in the door. When he asks Requena if Belano said anything about him, I can hear a beat before Requena replies, nobody was talking about you for now.
posted evening of November 9th, 2011: 1 response
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Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
 Making my way through part I of Savage Detectives I am being reminded strongly of a question that bothered me when I was first reading the book. The meat of the book seems to be in part two, which follows the visceral realists in their diaspora from 1977 - 1996; that is sandwiched between the much shorter parts I and III, excerpted from GarcÃa Madero's diary in 1975 and 76. I had trouble relating the two books to each other the first time around -- this time I am trying to keep an eye out for clues...
Another thing I wondered about: Who is the author who (in the fictional world of the book, in 1996) compiled all these bits of writing -- is it GarcÃa Madero? He would have access to the diaries of course. I am forgetting now whether the pieces in Part II are supposed to have been written by GarcÃa Madero or by the various characters. Another thing to look for hints to.
In Bolaño Group Read news, Rise has a new entry at Bifurcaria bifurcata on Rodrigo Fresán, book thief -- Rise links to Fresán's 2007 piece The Savage Detective and his 2010 Notes toward the memoirs of a book thief, both translated by Wimmer.
posted evening of November 8th, 2011: 1 response
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Saturday, November 5th, 2011
 One of the most pleasant aspects of reading Savage Detectives, I am finding to be ease with which I can identify with the narrator and his scene, can picture myself in the crowd of real visceralistas and wannabees -- picture myself perhaps not as GarcÃa Madero, who is after all just a kid*, certainly not as Lima or Belano; but as a minor character, a walk-on. It is an escapist pleasure, I am taken out of myself and out of my immediate world while I am reading (and really, it seems worth pointing out that that is an aspect of the experience of reading almost any Spanish-language text for me).
Without even spending any time/mental energy on the GarcÃa Madera - Rosario sex scene (which believe me, could divert enormous quantities of both), it is worth considering how much like or unlike reading pornography this reading experience is. I'm going to assert that they are unlike in some key ways; but given first that feeling of imagining yourself in a character's boots (and, well, in his whatever) -- how will the distinction be drawn?
*Hm, and all of a sudden I find I am casting blogging friends of mine in some of this book's key roles...
posted evening of November 5th, 2011: 3 responses
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 In Bolaño group read news, Richard has posted a review of Bolaño Infra: 1975-1977 -- Montserrat Madariaga Caro's examination of the poets who would become the cast of characters for Savage Detectives.
posted morning of November 5th, 2011: 2 responses
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Friday, November 4th, 2011
Los poetas mexicanas (supongo que los poetas en general) detestan que se les recuerde de su ignorancia.
The opening pages of Savage Detectives made me fall down laughing when I read them last time around (about two  years ago now) -- they are holding up in quality the second time around and in a different language. I could not find my copy of the book (indeed I may never have owned one, perhaps it was a library book), so have bought a Spanish copy and... will see how it goes keeping up with the group read. Even if I don't end up reading the whole book (which seems like it would be a stretch), I am getting some lovely reading experience out of it.
 A nice coincidence, also, for the opening paragraph to have yesterday's date on it. A good omen of sorts -- it must be exactly the right time of year to be starting this book. (Shades of October 3rd, 2005!) And GarcÃa Madero? -- he seems like sort of a brat, but in a lovable way -- I can identify with him.
posted evening of November 4th, 2011: 4 responses
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I thank Rise of in lieu of a field guide for hipping me to the group read of Savage Detectives happening in January. The participants include (but are not limited to, nudge, nudge),
posted evening of November 4th, 2011: Respond
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Thursday, November third, 2011
Midway through a third read of Zupcic's collection Dragi Sol -- I just wanted to post a few sentences about each of the stories, trying to get them straight in my mind...
Most of the stories are about the same family. The central figure is the adult son Vojislav Didic; his father, Zlatica Didic (or Slavko Didic?) emigrated from Croatia to Venezuela in the early 50's and married. Vojislav was born in 1970, and soon afterwards his father left, possibly meaning to return to Yugoslavia. Vojislav has never seen his father except in old photos.
- "Return" -- Zlatica (not named here) is on the beach in Venezuela, wishing he were back home in Netretic. He decides to leave.
- "The Same" -- Vojislav (not named here) is telling the history of his father's time in Yugoslavia and Italy during the second World War, and his emigration. He ends by cursing his father whom he has never known, hoping he is dead.
- "Señor Gray" -- I have not read this story as closely as the others; it's not clear to me whether or how the narrator is connected to the Didic family. Señor Gray and his brother are the priests of an old religion worshipping a god named Dios Kirou; they initiate the young narrator in its illumination.
- "Correspondence: Towards a Novel" -- Vojislav reads and translates his father's correspondence from the 40's and makes a case that it is a tissue of lies constructed to save the memory of his uncle Zlatko, who died during a battle between Yugoslavian and German forces in 1944.
- "Who Killed You, Vinko Spolovtiva?" -- The narrator of this story is named Vinko Spolovtiva and so is his father; but they seem to be the same characters as Vojislav and Zlatica Didic. The father has gotten in touch with his grown son and arranged to meet him in Plaza BolÃvar de Valencia. The son has come armed and planning to shoot his father.
- "Beautiful Life" -- The central character here appears to be Vojislav's grandfather in Netretic (although he refers to his emigrant son as Slavko, not Zlatica -- the other sons he mentions have the names of Vojislav's uncles). He is an old man riding his bicycle around Netretic, thinking about all he has lived through.
- "Returning to EloÃsa" -- an old man, a senescent man, thinking about his dead lover.
- "The Real Death of Vinko Spolovtiva" -- The narrator insists he has not killed his father.
- "Letter to Nowhere" -- Vinko Spolovtiva writes a letter to Señor Caragrande about his name and its history. I need to read this more closely.
- "Mary Monazin" -- The longest story in the collection, I am not going to try to summarize it now. The narrator is Vinko Spolovtiva -- I'm a little curious since the only other place in the book that Mary Monazin is mentioned is in the last paragraph of "The Same" -- this makes me think the narrator of that story is Vinko Spolovtiva -- I'm trying to figure out why there are the two characters Vojislav Didic and Vinko Spolovtiva? Seems like the book would be more cohesive if only one of them was here -- I haven't been able to differentiate between the two of them.
posted evening of November third, 2011: Respond
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