Compelling. Fiercely compelling.

As if Roberto Bolaño dares a reader to put down his novelita after reading the first brief chapter.

"Now I am a mother and a married woman, but not long ago I led a life of crime." Bianca goes on to tell her story of the time in her life when she was a teenager living in the wake of both her parents killed in an automobile crash.

Bianca and her brother continue to live in the same family apartment in Rome supporting themselves on a combination of orphan pension and crap jobs but then her brother invites two guys he met at the gym into their home. A plot is hatched so all four can escape grinding poverty.

What a gripping tale. But wait. Let's not forget this novelita is written by none other than Roberto Bolaño, author with imagination on fire, master of constructing tales with multiple meanings.

Let's return to A Little Lumpen Novelita and take a closer look. Here are a number of facets from this literary jewel that may unlock hidden mysteries if we choose to examine them more closely:

One of the few political reference in the book is when Bianca hears kids shout “Fascism or barbarism!” from cars. Recognizing in a Marxist context the word “lumpen” refers to lower class people uninterested in revolutionary advancement, what might be the political undercurrents of the author’s use of “lumpen” in his title?

Searching for employment, Bianca looks through the newspaper. “The listings, whether they spelled it out or not, were mostly for escorts, but I’m no prostitute. I used to lead a life of crime, but I was never a prostitute.” However, she does have sex as part of the group’s grand plan to get rich quick. At each point in her tale, I kept asking myself: To what extent is Bianca suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder? How is she shielding herself from the harshness of what is taking place around her and to her?

In the aftermath of her parent's death, Bianca has a new psychic ability: for her, light is forever shining. "Some nights I looked out the window and the night was as bright as day. Sometimes I thought that I was losing my mind, that it couldn't be normal, such brightness, but deep down I knew I would never lose my mind." Coupled with the stress she endures, there is the looming prospect, a la Edgar Allan Poe, we are witnessing an account of madness.

The two men currently living in their apartment look so much a they are frequently mistaken for brothers – one is a Bolognan and the other a Libyan. During the night one of the men enters Bianca’s room. Bianca’s tells us they made love. She thinks it was the Bolognan.

She thinks? Very, very strange for a teenage woman to lose her virginity to a man she’s been living with for weeks and not know who he is. Which leads one to the question: What is really going on here? Bianca tells us directly TV and videos play an important role in this story. Does such a revelation serve as a tip-off that Bianca is creating her own script to infuse her life with more depth, drama and intensity? Employing her imagination in this way is understandable when we acknowledge the drabness of her work-eat-watch TV routine.

Taking a step back we can also ask: Where does everyday reality end and fantasy begin? Are the Bolognan and the Libyan real people or are they made up characters playing a role in Bianca’s script? Or, perhaps these two men are real but the elaborate episode involving a former Mr. Universe is where Bianca’s mental movie begins. This is but one way in which Roberto Bolaño displays his mastery as storyteller: to leaven and color his tale with numerous meanings and myriad interpretations. I encourage you to read this phenomenal short novel to explore for yourself.

Lastly, I'd to serve up a final reflection for consideration. The book's epigraph is from Antonio Artaud:

"All writing is garbage.

People who come out of nowhere to try and put into words any part of what goes on in their minds are pigs.

All writers are pigs. Especially writers today."

Consummate storyteller Bianca is obviously erudite and articulate, capable of great finesse in turning a memorable phrase. If she wrote out her adolescent saga in sixteen chapters, might not this epigraph also belong to her? Viewed thusly, we are reading a personalized chronicle written by a wife and mother who passes harsh judgement on what she has written - very harsh judgement, for such writing has turned her into a pig.


Roberto Bolaño, 1953 - 2003

“I dreamed about the desert. I was walking in the desert, dying of thirst, and on my shoulder there was a white parrot, a parrot that kept saying: “I can’t fly, I’m sorry, please forgive me, but I can’t fly.” He was saying this because at some point in the dream I had asked him to fly. He weighed too much (ten pounds at least, he was a big parrot) to be carried for so long, but the parrot wouldn’t budge, and I could hardly walk, I was shaking, my knees hurt, my legs, my thighs, my stomach, my neck, it was having cancer, but also coming – coming endlessly and exhaustingly – or swallowing my eyes, my own eyes, swallowing them and at the same time trying not to bite down on them, and every so often the white parrot tried to help, saying: “Courage, Bianca,” but mostly it kept its beak shut, and I knew that when I dropped on the hot sand and I was dying of thirst it would fly, fly away from this part of the desert to another part of the desert, fly away from my expiring flesh in search of other, less expiring flesh, fly away from my dead body forever, forever.” - Roberto Bolaño, A Little Lumpen Novelita137 s Jim Fonseca1,118 7,449

This book is very short, a novella or maybe just a long short story – less than 100 pages. So I’ll be careful about giving away too much. The GR blurb tells us what the book is about, including the opening lines which I was going to quote, so I’ll use that:

"Now I am a mother and a married woman, but not long ago I led a life of crime": so Bianca begins her tale of growing up the hard way in Rome. Orphaned overnight as a teenager - "our parents died in a car crash on their first vacation without us" - she drops out of school, gets a crappy job, and drifts into bad company. Her little brother brings home two petty criminals who need a place to stay. As the four of them share the family apartment and plot a strange crime, Bianca learns how low she can fall.”



These buddies, two guys who work at the gym with him, come to live with the brother and sister as ‘friends.’ The sister, more socially astute than her brother, tells us “They weren’t his friends, though my brother chose to think they were.”

The young woman gets involved with both men. She says they look a and she doesn’t even tell us their names; she calls them the Libyan and the Bolognan. She lets them come into her room at night, but she doesn’t let them speak because she doesn’t want to know which one it is. Needless to say, they lead her astray with a bizarre scheme. The story is about seizing control of one’s fate.

It's Bolano, so there is good writing. Here's a sample passage that I d. “But when I got home they were always there, the house spotless, because they made it their job to cheerfully do everything that I used to do. Cheerfully, I say, and gladly, though I knew perfectly well that it was a fake cheer, as fake as mine, that their apparent good will hid feelings of emptiness, of sadness and grief in the face of the void.”

I also d these lines that open the book from the French writer and poet, Antonin Artaud:

“All writing is garbage.
People who come out of nowhere to try and put into words any part of what goes on in their minds are pigs.
All writers are pigs. Especially writers today.”



Bolano was born in Chile but lived mainly in Mexico and later, Spain. He died, aged 50, in 2003. Shortly before his death, his fame skyrocketed with his first major best-seller, The Savage Detectives. I have read and enjoyed that book as well as The Skating Rink and By Night in Chile.

Top photo of apartments in Rome from sites.google.com
The author from theguardian.uk.co

[Edited 11/12/23]mexican-authors novella orphans ...more92 s Candi648 4,900

“Now I’m a mother and a married woman, but not long ago I led a life of crime. My brother and I had been orphaned. Somehow that justified everything. We didn’t have anyone. And it all happened overnight.”

That enticing opener drew me into this novella right away. I can’t say that I’ve been considering reading Bolaño for a long time, but in the past couple of years, I’ve most definitely had my eye on some of his work. When I came across A Little Lumpen Novelita, not only did the title intrigue me, but the short length encouraged me. Before committing to something 2666, which weighs in at nearly 1,000 pages, it made a lot more sense for me to sample a bit of his writing first. And what is it about his titles that are so tempting?! I could be convinced to read them for no other reason … By Night in Chile, Last Evenings on Earth, The Savage Detectives, Monsieur Pain, The Romantic Dogs. Nothing a fantastic title to attract this reader’s attention! Of course, there is the masterful writing that is required to get me actually involved in the story itself. And I could see that here straightaway.

“I saw the shadowy negative of romantic situations. I saw the negative of passionate moments whose point of reference was always a TV series or the whispering of girls now forgotten. Sometimes I saw the negative of a whole life: a bigger house, a different neighborhood, children, a better job, time passing, old age, a grandchild, death in the public hospital or covered with a sheet in my parents’ bed, a bed that I would have d to hear creak, an ocean liner as it goes down, but that instead was silent as a tomb.”

Actually, there’s something of a dream quality to this one: the constant mentioning of light and dark, night and day, as well as the loss of vision of one of the characters. Sex is always performed in the dark – the main character remaining ignorant as to which of her brother’s two friends she might happen to be screwing on any particular night. This is then followed up with her prostituting herself to a blind man. After finishing this, I realized that I saw the entire sequence of events played out in black and white. There wasn’t even a flash of color in my mind while envisioning what Bolaño put into words. I think there’s a lot of brilliance to be uncovered in this short piece with the light and dark representing something quite deeper, of course.

“Now I know that there’s no such thing as closeness. One person’s eyes are always shut. The first person sees and the second doesn’t. Or the second person sees and the first doesn’t. Only a mother can be close, but that was unknown territory back then. A blank space. There was only the illusion of closeness.”

So yeah, I’m ready for something meatier from Bolaño now. Bring it on!
contemporary-literary european-literature novella76 s Maria Bikaki828 441

???????? ???? ??? ?? ????????? ?????? ??? ????????? ??? ?????? ??? ???? ?? ??????? ????? ?? ??????? ?????? ????? ??? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ??? ????? ???? ?? ???? ??? ??? ??????? ??????. ????????? ????? ??? ??? ?????????? ???????? ??? ????. ? ????? ???? ??????? ??? ???????? ?????? ?? ???? ??? ????????? ??? ???? ?? ????? ??? ??????? ?????????? ??? ?? ?????????? ??? ?? ??? ???????? ?? ??????????. ?????????? ?’ ??? ???????. ??? ?????????? ??? ?????? ?????? ???? ?????????? ???????????? ??????? ???????????.
???????? ???????? ??? ????????? ??? ?????? ?????? ?? ?? ??????? ??? ?? 2066 ?? ????? ??? ???????????? 3 ?????.
read_in_202068 s Emma113 52.2k

3.5chilean-lit literary-fiction-modern-classics short-stories56 s Jibran225 676

The real only stands for a different kind of unreality, a less random, more fleshed out unreality.
An Italian girl, Bianca, and her unnamed brother, two recently orphaned teenagers left alone in the world, struggle through the disaster of their parents' deaths in a car accident to make a new path for themselves.

The narrative is shaped by an undercurrent of sad foreboding in Bianca's voice, but it comes with a vein of an adolescent's insouciance towards the gravity of her situation, which ironically gives her the courage to push on with life.

The whole thing feels an innocent fantasy which Bianca projects on to her surroundings. There is good reason to believe that the two mysterious 'friends' of her brother's, who are only known as a man from Bologna and another from Libya, might be a figment of her overwrought imagination, a product of her luminous, recurrent dreams she tells about.

Because they appeared mysteriously and conducted themselves in a way incompatible with people their kind. How come two jobless vagrants clean and wash, cook meals for all, and keep everything tidy in the house for free? That was Bianca fantasizing about order. wise both men alternately go to Bianca's room at night to have sex with her, and it is to one of them she loses virginity. That's her fantasy for a life partner after she'd broken up with her boyfriend. The two "friends" finally come up with the idea of breaking bad and enlist the siblings to rob a blind and rich ex-bodybuilder. That was Bianca's idea of parents (or fate) helping them from the dead?

It is fantasy because the book starts with, Now I'm a mother and a married woman, but not long ago I led a life of crime. But there was no crime, none that Bianca committed: there were only plans that were never followed up on.

I can't say anything with certainty. It's surreal. Maybe it really is surreal! But without reading into the symbolism, the story just doesn't take off. It feels underdeveloped and premature. Reviewers have complained that the writer builds the story and the characters for a hundred pages without bringing it to a conclusion. I think it was deliberate. Bianca says early in the story:

Life, despite what I expected, continued unchanged.

And so it did.

A Little Lumpen Novelita is Bolaño's swansong. It works, but only just. hispanic51 s Kyriaki433 237

???? ???? ????? ?? ??????? ?????? ??? ?? ?? ????? ?? ???? ??? ??????? ??? ?????? ?? ?????? ?????, ?? ?? ??????????? ???? ????, ?? ??? ???? ?? ?????? ?? ?????? ???. ?? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ?? ??????? ??? ???? ?????? ??? ?????. ????? ?? ????? ?????? ??? Bolaño ??? ??????? ??? ? ??????? ????? ??? ?? ??????? ???? ???? ????, ?????? ????, ????? ?? ??????? ???? ???? ??? ??? ??? ????? ? ?????? ??? ????????????? ??? ?? ????. ??? ????? ? ?????, ? ??? ???, ? ?????????? ???, ? ??????? ???, ?? ????? ??? ??? ??? ???? ?????.........???????? ??? ??? ????? ?? ?? ???????, ??? ?? ???? ????? ???????. ??? ????? ???? ??? ??????? ?? ???????????? ?? ???? ???? ???.just-one-book34 s Angie 260 49

??? ?? ?????? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ??????? ??? ??????. ??? ???????, ??????, ?????????? ??? ?????? ??????? ??????????? ??? ?????????? ?? ??? ?????. ????? ??? ????? ?? ??? ????? ??? Bolaño ??? ?????? ?????????? ??? ??? ?????????? ??? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ???????? ?? ???? ???. ?? "??????? ???????????????" ????? ?? ????????? ???? ??? ??????? ? ?????????? ???? ???????. ????????? ?? ??????? ??????????? ?????? ???! 27 s Sofia292 111

??? ???? ??????? ?? ?????? ??? ????? ? ?????? ?????. ? ???????? ????? ?? ?? ???????.26 s Eternauta248 13

?? ????????? ?????? ??? ??????? ?? ??????? ?? ??? ? Roberto Bolaño.
??? ??????? ??????? ???? ????????? ??????? ???????? ??? ??? ????????? ??? ?????, ?? ?????? ????????, ????????? ??? ?? ?????????? ???????, ??? ??? ????? ??? ?????? - ??? ????? ???? ????? ?????? - ?????.
????? ??? ??????? ??? ???????? ???? ???? ???? ???, ??? ?? ???????????? ??? ?????? ??? ?????? ??? ??????. ???? ?? ??????????? ???? ????? ???? ????...?????? ??????????? ?? ??????? ??? ?????? ????? ???????????? ???????? ???? ??? ??? ????????? ??????.
????????????.25 s Makis Dionis506 142

Una Bolanita novelita.
??? ???? ??? ???????? ?? ???????? ?? ??, ? Bolano ????????? ???????? ??????, ?? ????????? ?? ????? ????.
???????? ??? ????? ??? ??????????? ? ??? ?????? ????chile-aguardiente25 s Jonfaith1,944 1,564

They weren’t his friends, though my brother chose to think they were.

Much the apocryphal "last recordings" of Eric Dolphy which continued to arrive for years, the Bolaño caravan into English continues long after his death. There have been a number of jewels in recent years so I suppose a dud was inevitable. I am quick to qualify, the book is only inert as being an undercooked fancy. An Italian woman recounts her adolescence when after her parents died she and her brother were left to their own devices. Did a weird community develop a la The Cement Garden? No, she worked at a salon while her brother hangs out with disagreeables at a gym. What follows is the slimmest of ideas. It can barely sustain the introduction of pivotal character two-thirds of the way through the novella. The effect is jarring. There is but a single aesthetic flourish around p.92 where the Master becomes apparent. That said, I didn't feel any hope in this text, not a philosophical hope but a literary one where somehow the plot could find its legs.

I remain ready to be convinced otherwise, but this wasn't the best way to spend a rainy afternoon.

bolano23 s Hakan212 168

bolano muhte?em bir romanc?. dü?ünce ile yaz? ya da gerçeklik ile yaz? aras?ndaki fark? neredeyse yok eden muhte?em bir yazar.

neredeyse çocukça bir basitlikte yazar. basit cümleler art arda s?ralan?r, birikir. bu birikimden sanki bir ???k f??k?r?r. ya da basit cümlelerin sonunda, o cümlelere benzemeyen ba?ka bir cümle ?im?ek gibi çakar. cümlelerin ????? bazen her ?eyi ayd?nlat?r, bazen de bir tür körlü?e sebep olur. cümleler, paragraflar, hikaye, tüm metin hem aç?k seçik gözünüzün önündedir, hem de kafa kar??t?r?c?d?r. hem benimsersiniz, hem yad?rgars?n?z bolano'yu. hem memnun eder bolano hem rahats?z eder. hem inand?r?r hem ?üpheden ?üpheye sürükler.

vah?i hafiyeler ve 2666'da gördü?ümüz bu yaz?nsal nitelikleri yap?s? farkl? olsa da lümpen roman'da da görmek mümkün. zira lümpen roman bir olgunluk eseri. büyük, kalabal?k, da??n?k romanlar?ndan bir öz ta??yor içinde. h?zla okuyup çabucak bitirecekken duraklatan, bittikten sonra tekrar okuma iste?i uyand?ran, tekrar okunsa da tükenmeyece?ini hissettiren ?ey bu öz.

lümpen roman suça, suçlulu?a, suçluluk duygusuna odaklan?yor. bolano'nun büyük romanlar?ndaki kahramanlara benzeyen kahramanlar, o romanlardaki gibi zorlu s?namalardan geçiyorlar. de?i?iyorlar, dönü?üyorlar, yüzle?iyorlar, sorguluyorlar. hikayenin bir yan? ba?tan itibaren okura uzak, so?uk ve tuhaf ilerlerken sona do?ru okuru sarmaya, ku?atmaya ba?l?yor. okur sanki birdenbire kendini s?nav?n içinde buluyor. hem lümpen roman'daki karakterlerin s?nav? bu hem de okurun kendi hikayesinin. bolano romanlar?ndaki "öz" de bundan ba?ka bir ?ey de?il. sorgulamak, yüzle?mek, hesapla?mak.22 s George K.2,531 344

??? ?????????? ??? ???????? ??????? ?????? ??? ???????? ???????? ??? ?????????? ??? ?????? ???????? ?? ?????????? ??? ??? ??????? ???, ???? ? ????? ??? ????? ?? ?? ???? ??? ??????? ????? ????????? ?????? ?? ????? ? ???????????? ??????? -?? ????????? ???? ??? ?????? ???? ???????-, ??? ????? ??????? ???? ???-????? ?????. ?, ?? ??????? ??? ??? ??? ???? ?????? ????? ????? ?? ???????????. ??????, ????????? ??? ??? ?????????? ???? ???????????? ??? ???????????? ???????, ?????????? ?????????? ???????? ??? ???????? ???????????, ?? ???????? ??? ?? ?????????? ?????. ?? ?????? ???????? ??? ???????? ????? ? ??? ???????????? ???????, ??? ????? ?? ??????????? ?????? ?????????? ??? ????? ?? ???????? ??? ????????? ???? ????? ????? ??? ????????? ??????. ?????????, ? ?????? ???????? ???????? ?? ?? ??????? ??? ?? ???? ??? ??????????? ????? ??? ???????? ??? ?? ?? ????? ??? ?? ?? ????? ?????????. ?????? ? ????? ????? ??????????, ?????? ?? ??? ?????? ????? ??? ?????????. ?? ???? ??????? ????? ??? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ??????? ??? ???? ?????? ??? ????????. 21st-century22 s Deniz Balc?Author 2 books688

Söz konusu Bolano oldu?unda nesnel bir yakla??ma sahip olmam imkans?z, zira yazar benim için iki elin parmak say?s?n? geçmeyen, en büyük gördü?üm ustalar?n ba??nda yer al?yor.

?ilili yazar?n 'Lümpen Roman'da kendine mekan seçti?i yer ?talya. Seda Ersavc? taraf?ndan çevrilen bu novella Bolano'nun hayatta iken, kendi iradesiyle yay?mlad??? son kitap olma özelli?ini ta??yor. Siyasi zulümlerin gölgesinde ?ekillenen, güçlü ve etkileyici büyük romanlara sahip olan Bolano burada çok daha butik bir öykü kaleme alm??.

Bolano, 'Lümpen Roman'da Bianca isimli ba? karakter üzerinden 'suç' olgusu üzerine felsefi bir öykü sunmu?. Yanl??tan do?ru ç?kar m?? Suç nihayete ermemi? olsa bile niyetiyle insana tabi hale gelmez mi? ?nsan?n ahlaken, hukuken, vicdanen do?ru olmayana e?ilmesine sebep olan ?eyler, asl?nda o insan?n karanl???n? ortaya ç?karan etkenler de?il midir ve bu tersine sa?lan?p, kötüden iyiye yol çizilebilir mi? Katharsis bu anlamda tekamül sürecinin bir sonucu olabilir mi yoksa hep devam eden çizgisel bir ?ey midir?

Ahlaki bir bak?? aç?s?na sahip yazarlar bana hep biraz dikteci gelmi?tir. Ancak Bolano'da durum çok farkl?. O bir tan?k gibi, sadelikle öyküyü anlat?rken; okurun kendi kendine dü?ünmesini sa?l?yor. Bu yan?yla beni çok etkiliyor. Derin derin ruhsal çözümlemeler yap?p karakterlerin iç dünyas?n? önümüze sermiyor. ?çinde ya?an?lan ana denk dü?en ve okurun kendi tecrübeleriyle kararlanbilece?i edebi bir doküman sunuyor. Nas?l ki 2666'da bölümlerin alt?nda sessizce ilerleyen ve nihayetinde mana kazanan his, roman boyunca geli?ip güçlenirken; burada da karakterin hisleri kar??s?nda okurun kendi aynas?na bakmas? durumu dallan?p budaklan?yor.

Ne kadar 2666'?n ilk bölümü olan çevirmenlerle ilgili k?s?mda kap?ld???m sadelik hissi burada da beni cezbetse de; Bolano'nun konuyu daha etrafl?ca ve uzun bir ?ekilde ele almas?n? isterdim. Bu yüzden puan?m? dört olarak belirledim.

Seda Ersavc? çevirisinin gücüyle, tertemiz bir ?ekilde tan?k olabildi?im yazar?n cümle kurma becerisi ilham verici, onu da not dü?mek isterim.

Bolano'ya ba?lamak için uygun bir tercih mi, bence de?il. Zira ilk kez kar??la?t???m bir Bolano var bu romanda. Ama yine de Bolano var, o bile yeter!

Türkçede daha önce Metis ve Pegasus taraf?ndan bas?lm??t? Bolano. ?imdi bütün haklar?n? Can Yay?nlar? ald?. Bütün kitaplar? yeniden basacaklar. Bunun devam?nda da yazar?n henüz Türkçeye kazand?r?lmam?? eski yap?tlar?n? ve henüz ?spanyolcada yeni bas?lan Bolano'nun izni olmadan ortaya ç?kart?lan gizli kitaplar?n? da basacaklar?n? ümit ediyorum, bekliyorum.

Roberto Bolano okuman?z? tavsiye ederim!

7.5/10 dq latin-amerika-edebiyat? ?ili-edebiyat?20 s Comfortably127 43

?? ??????? ???? ????? ??? ?? ??????? ?????? ????? ?? ?????????, ??? ??? ????? ?????? ???? ?????????. ?????? ???????? ??? ?? 119 ??????? ???. ??, ? ???????? ???? ?? ?? ???????????. ???????? ????? ???????????? ???? ????????? ??? ??? ????? ??? ??????? ??? ?????????? ??? ?? ??????? ??? ???????. ????????? ?? ???? ??? ??? ?? ????????? ?? ?? ???????, ???????? ??? ?? ????? ??? ?? ???????, ?? ?? ???? ??? ????????????. ???? ??? ??? ???????!21 s Corto Maltese83 37

???????? ????????? ??? ???????????? ?????? ????????? ????????.20 s Greg1,120 1,960

I have no idea what the compulsion is. There are quite a few Bolaño books that I haven’t read yet, and which I don’t own. There are a couple of them that I own but which I haven’t read yet. So, I’m not sure what the compulsion was to buy this one in hardcover the day it was released. Maybe it was because there wasn’t much of interest that had come out that week? I don’t remember what other books were published that week. But, that doesn’t really answer the question since I buy so few books these days. Maybe I just wanted the feeling of buying a book instead of just acquiring them, which is what I seem to do these days (and no, I don’t steal books. I’m not a Bolaño character)

Since, I actually paid money for this and I have a week or so left where I can read books I choose, maybe that’s why I read it? And because it is short? I don’t know, but I decided to read this. I could have read one of the three other Bolaño books that I own but haven’t read.

Maybe I’m just trying to figure out for myself why I spent money and the very small amount of time on this book, when again, there are other Bolaño books I could read without spending money on, and piles of books that I really do mean to read sometime in the next decade.

As you can see from the three stars, and if you know that my feelings on the other Bolaño books that I’ve read (I think I’ve used the phrase, his books are perfect examples of the reason why i to read), you’ll realize that I’m not in awe of this one. It actually made me wonder upon finishing it just how much more stuff there is of his out there waiting to be translated into English, and if it’s possible that we are at the bottom of the barrel of his stuff. But how big is the bottom of this barrel?

This is again one of his “last published works”, this seems to be a description given to many of his recently published works in America. To be fair this is an actual novella of new material, and not just a episode from 2666 or Savage Detectives reworked (or in an early form) that is being sold as it’s own piece. Maybe I heard this somewhere, or maybe it’s just a conjecture I thought of a while back and now believe I must have read it and didn’t just make this up, but I get the feeling that Bolaño published a lot of things in his lifetime to make money to survive in between working on his longer works and that he was more than happy to cannibalize off of his own larger works. (On re-reading this, I’m pretty sure that there is a Bolaño character in one of the novels who cannibalizes his own work and re-publishes things just to try to win literary prize money). I know from the publishing history of 2666 that he was also very concerned with providing for his family after his death. This novella feels a longish short story, but with some reformatting tweaks was turned into a hundred page novella, and which would earn some money off of fans of his work and help in the building up of some security for his family.

I can’t blame that guy for something that.

I just didn’t really enjoy the story all that much.

It’s about a teenage girl whose parents die in a car accident. She’s left orphaned with her brother. They stop going to school. She starts to work in a hair salon, he sweeps up in a gym and starts lifting weights. They watch movies together. Two older friends of her brother sort of move into their apartment. She embarks on the thug life (ok, petty criminal life).

Surprisingly she doesn’t embark on the petty crimes of stealing books. Something glorified in other Bolaño works, and also in another novel written originally in Spanish, about a beautiful young book thief and an older bookseller who becomes enthralled by her (that would be Severina by Rodrigo Rey Rosa, you can read my review here.)

I’m not going to say what the crime is she gets involved in, but it’s the sort of hair brained thing that the sorts of characters she is living with would come up with. It’s ambitious, but also kind of depressing in the scope involved. It’s smarter though then the crime of the young adult novel Monster. That’s not saying much, though.

The book is short. It’s broken into a bunch of short chapters. But each short chapter is followed by about three to five blank pages, which makes this 109 page book only about fifty pages of actual text/story/whatever you want to call it. It’s a very nice looking book though.

Kind of think about the layout of David Foster Wallace’s This is Water.

I’m ok with short, it just doesn’t seem to go anywhere. This is the kind of story that would be told as a chapter in one of Bolaño’s larger novels, it would be the backstory of one of his female characters who is now invoked in something more substantial. And it's not even one of his more interesting characters that he’s given us.

Also there is something a little creepy about the character, I don’t really buy the character as a teenage girl, but rather she is kind of a fantasy that a middle aged man might have about what a teenage girl who is kind of sophisticated (read the code word you want for this) beyond her age is . It’s not that he goes into any explicit detail, or glorifies her actions, but there is still something creepy in the portrayal. And I just don’t buy her as an authentic character, there is too much aged worldliness about her that doesn’t feel how a teenage girl would really be. But she is what an older intellectual with a rebellious spirit would probably an idealized teenage girl to be .

This book doesn’t diminish my love for Bolaño, but it didn’t feel a book that was all that necessary. It would have been better as a long short story in a collection rather than as it’s own standalone piece. By itself it is up against too much competition from Bolaño’s other work and just doesn’t stand up to those works. fiction new-directions19 s Doug2,197 768

3.5, rounded up.

I'd always been a bit intimidated by Roberto Bolaño, fearing both the length and presumed complexity of his major works, so this was a good introduction for me. And though I am not quite sure I understood all that was going on, or intended (I have a sneaky suspicion there is an entire layer of subtext flying completely over my head!), I enjoyed this brief but jam-packed shorter work.

In a way, this reminded me of some of the early works of Pinter (especially The Birthday Party), in which an outside force inexplicably and threateningly descends upon a supposedly normal existence. Reading other , and gleaning ideas from my book group read, has expanded my understanding of this, and I'll be thinking about it for quite some time I suspect. I think the key may reside in that odd choice of words 'lumpen', which is defined as both "uninterested in revolutionary advancement" (that underlying subtext!) and "boorish and stupid" ... which might refer to both the characters and my own incomprehension! :-( I no longer fear Bolaño, however, and at some point would to tackle his longer epics.17 s ???? ?????Author 1 book103

Una Bolanita novelita

O ???????? ?????????? ???? ??????????: ?????????? ?? ????? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ?????? ?? ???????? ?? ?? ????????? ???????? ???? ??? ?? ???? ?????, ????? ?? ?????????? ?? ????? ??? ????????. ? ???????? ?????????? ?? ?????? ??? ??? ????????? ??????? ?? ????? ??????????, ???????? ??? ???????????.

???? ?? ??????? ??? ?? ????? ?????? ??? ?? ???? ?? ????? ?? ??????, ???? ??????? ?? ????????. ?????????????? ????? ?? ??????, ?? ??? ????? ???????? ??? ??????????, ?????????? ??? ?????????, ? ?????? ??? ???? ????? ??????? ?? ?????? ?? ??????? ??????????????? ????. ???? ?? ?????? ????? ??? ????????.

? ???????? ?????? ?? ????? ??????? ??? ??????? ??????????? ??? ???????? ?? ???????, ??? ????? ????? ???? ?????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ??? ???? ??? ?????. ? ????????? ????? ????? ??? ???????, ???? ??? ?????????. ??????? ???? ??? ? ?????????? ????????? ???????? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ????? ???. ? ??????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??? ?? ???????? ?? ??? ??? ?????????? ??? ??? ? ???? ??? ????????? ??????? ??? ???? ??? ?????, ??????? ?????????? ?????? ???????????? ?????? ??? ????? ??? ??? ????????????? ?? ????????? ??? ???????? ???.

?? ???? ???????; ???????? ??? ?????? ??? ????? ?????????? ??? ???????????, ???? ????????? ?? ?????????. ???????? ???????. ??????? ??? ??????????. ???? ????????? ?????? ????????? ??????. ??????? ??? ???????? ??????????????, ????? ???? ????????, ???? ?? ??????? ???????????? ?????, ???? ?? ?????? ???????? ?????.

«??????? ?????????? ??? ????????? ??? ??? ???????????. ??????? ?????????? ??? ????????? ??? ?? ??????????? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ??????? «???????? ? ???????????» ??? ?????? ??????? ??????. ??? ??? ???? ???????. ??? ???????? ?? ???? ??? ??????? ??? ?? ???????? ??? ??????? ??? ??? ??????????? ?? ?????? ?? ???? ???????? ??? ?????.»mylibrary15 s Biron Pa?a144 227

Bolano'nun ölmeden önce yay?nlad??? son kitap Lümpen Roman; benim okudu?um di?er kitaplar? içerisinde en mu?lak durumda olan?. Uzak Y?ld?z için Bolano'nun romanc?l???n?n basit bir tarifini yazm??t?m, bu kitap o tarife uymuyor. Kar??ma ilk kez hikayeci olmayan bir Bolano ç?kt?. Ve sanki Bolano'nun içindeki bütün Borgeslik çekilip al?nm??, oyunbaz bir taraf? yok, daha ciddi, sessiz sakin bir kitap Lümpen Roman.

Lümpen roman anlat?m biçiminin yan?s?ra, konu olarak da klasik Bolano'dan farkl? oldu?u izlenimini yarat?yor ba?ta, ama dü?ününce öyle olmad???n?, asl?nda her zaman i?ledi?i konulara bir bak?? görüyoruz. Ben yine Bolano'nun fa?izmin kökenleriyle ilgili bir ara?t?rmaya giri?ti?ini dü?ündüm.

??lenen meseleyle ve yazar?n anlat?? biçimiyle, kulland??? yöntemler ve metaforlarla ilgili bir ak?l yürütmeye giri?mek istiyorum; asl?nda spoiler verilebilecek bir kitap de?il lakin hiçbir etki alt?nda kalmadan okumak isteyen okur için spoiler içine al?yorum.


Roman ebeveynleri trafik kazas?nda ölen Bianca ve karde?inin günlük ya?amlar?yla ba?l?yor. Ba??bo? kalan ikili maddi zorluklar ya??yor, hayatlar?n? nas?l devam ettireceklerini kestiremiyorlar. Para için okula b?rak?p i?e giriyorlar ve yazar bize i?in o k?sm?n? hiç anlatmasa da, hayatlar? altüst oluyor.

Bir süre sonra Bianca'n?n isimsiz karde?i eve iki ki?i getiriyor ve gelen iki ki?i onlarla ya?amaya ba?l?yor. Yemek yap?yorlar, ortal??? süpürüyorlar ve Bianca ve karde?iyle birlikte televizyon izliyorlar; yani neredeyse ebeveynlerinden farkl? de?iller, ama baz? farkl?l?klarla: eve para getirmiyorlar ve onlar? iyiye de?il, "kötüye" yönlendiriyorlar.

Bu arada Bianca'n?n geceleri uyumakta sorun ya?ad???n?, çünkü onun için gece olmad???n?, geceyi de gündüz gibi ayd?nl?k gördü?ünü okuyoruz. Kitab?n ismi ve geçmi?i olan di?er karakteri Maciste de kör; burada ikisi aras?nda kurulan bir ba? görüyoruz. Maciste kaza geçirmi?, herkesi ve her ?eyi yitirmi?, unutulmu? bir eski aktör ve karanl?klar?n içinde ya??yor. Bianca ise, ebeveynlerini yitirmi?, hayat? altüst olmu? ve ???klar?n içinde ya??yor. Gece bir unutu?, karanl?klar?n sildi?i kimliklerin kimliksiz huzuru, ama ayn? zamanda kaybolu?, yokolu?, Maciste ne kadar yok olabiliyorsa.

Hiçbir türlü huzur bulamayan, geceyi keyfince ya?ayamayan Bianca ve karde?i, ebeveynlerinin yoklu?u biraz olsun bast?rabilmek için ebeveyn rolüne koyduklar? iki ki?inin etkisi alt?na giriyorlar ve suça yönlendiriliyorlar.

Bianca, Maciste'nin kasas?n? ar?yor, ar?yor, ar?yor ve bulam?yor. En sonunda bulamayaca??na da kanaat getiriyor, bulmak istemedi?ini dü?ünüyor ve bu aray??tan vazgeçip eve gidiyor ve kitab?n ba??ndan beri ne zaman yapaca??n? merak etti?imiz ?eyi yap?p karde?inin "arkada?lar?n?" evden kovuyor. Üstelik bunu yaparken zorlanm?yor bile.

Yani Bianca özgür iradesini kullan?yor ve kendisine yapt?r?lan ?eyi yapmak istemiyor. Ama kitab?n esas irdeledi?i ?ey tam da bu bana göre. Kitab?n ortalar?nda bir yerde, geceleri odas?na ald??? misafirlerle sevi?mekten yoruluyor Bianca ve kendisine her gece sevi?mek zorunda olmad???n? hat?rlat?yor. ?stedi?i zaman kap?y? kilitliyor, istedi?i zaman onlar? içeri al?yor. Yani "Bianca tamamen onlar?n etkisi alt?ndayken bir gün özgür iradesinin fark?na var?r" gibi bir anlat?m ç?km?yor romanda. Bianca, eve gelen misafirlerle bir al??veri? içerisinde ve istedi?i ?eyi asl?nda onlara uygulatabiliyor, ko?ulsuz ?arts?z itaat içinde de?il. Bolano'nun vurgulad??? ?ey ?u: ?rade bir an özgür, di?er an ise ba??ml? de?ildir. "Art?k bir anne ve evli bir kad?n?m, oysa k?sa bir süre öncesine kadar bir suçluydum. Karde?imle ben öksüz kalm??t?k. Bu, bir ?ekilde her ?eyi hakl? ç?kar?yordu. Kimsemiz yoktu. Ve her ?ey bir gecede olmu?tu." Bianca asl?nda hiçbir ?ey "yapmad???" halde, kendisini bir suçlu olarak tan?ml?yor. Çünkü ald??? kadar, eylemi neticeye kavu?masa bile onu bir de?i?ime ve dönü?üme u?rat?yor ve karar? ald??? an, Bianca suçu i?lemi? oluyor.

Üstüne en çok kafa yorulan, en çok ara?t?r?lan meselelerden biri fa?izm. Hem ikinci dünya sava??, hem de daha yerel fa?ist yönetimler 20. yüzy?la damgas?n? vurdu. Belki 21. yüzy?la da damgas?n? vuracak; her yerde popülizm yükseliyor. ??te bu ara?t?rma noktas?nda, akl?m?za tak?lacak en önemli konu ?udur: Evet, insanlar? manipüle eden liderler var, fakat bireylerin hiç suçu yok mu? Bolano'nun cevab?, benim anlad???m kadar?yla "evet, var" ?eklinde.

Bianca hatas?ndan döndükten sonra, sonunda gece oluyor. Üstündeki s?k?nt?y? atlat?yor ve rahatl?yor.

Kitab?n ilk cümlesini biraz daha irdelersek, "Art?k bir anne ve evli bir kad?n?m, oysa k?sa bir süre öncesine kadar bir suçluydum." sözü dikkatimizi çekiyor. Anne olunca neden "art?k" suçlu olmad???n? soruyoruz. Her ?eyin imaj üstünden yürüdü?ü bir dünyada suçlu profilinden s?yr?lman?n o dünyan?n makbul profillerine girerek oldu?unu söyleyerek cevaplayabiliriz.



??lenen temay? be?ensem de, k?sa romanlar? sevmiyorum. Ke?ke bu roman? hem daha uzun uzad?ya ele alsayd? -çünkü bu meselede daha i?lenecek çok ?ey var, hem de klasik Bolano üslubunu korusayd?. contemporary fiction latin-american-literature17 s David CarrascoAuthor 1 book31

Un cuento más que una novela, pero una muestra más del dominio narrativo de Bolaño, con esa prosa directa y concisa, y esa musicalidad que en ocasiones te hace sentir que en lugar de leer estas escuchando una sinfonía. Narrada en primera persona, la obra dibuja un panorama de melancolía, desencanto, alienación y desesperanza del que emerge la personalidad de la protagonista, cuyo arco evolutivo (de la ingenuidad a la madurez) se refleja a la perfección en la propia evolución de la prosa de la voz narradora a medida que el relato avanza. Esta es una de las características que más me ha llamado la atención y con la que más he disfrutado.

Quizá no sea el mejor Bolaño, pero es una obra muy recomendable, no solo para fans sino para quien desee una lectura breve (cuento/relato) de excelente calidad narrativa.15 s Lee Klein 830 915

Feels a few days of consistent improvisation that came off well enough to call a novella, particularly the first half before the arrival of Maciste. Foreboding, anticlimactic, the tone of The Third Reich, sort of. Riffs reliant on outerspace. Making love. Always on the verge of some great violence. Worth an hour or so of your time. 13 s Dan470 4

A Little Lumpen Novelita is my first Roberto Bolaño. I have no room for additional favorite novelists in my mind, my bookshelves, or my teetering to-read piles. But based upon
A Little Lumpen Novelita, and especially its disconcerting portrayal of unrootedness, I may need to make room for more Roberto Bolaño. 4.5 stars
13 s ????538 118

3.5 / 5

"??????? ???????????????"

????????????? ????????, ?????????????, ???????.
??? ??????? ??????????, ?????? ??? ??? ??????? ?? ?????????? ??? ??? ??????? ???.

??? ??? ?????????. ????????? ??? ??? ?????????? ?? ???????? ?? ???????? ???????.

?? ????? ??? ?? ???? ??????? ?? ?????????. ? ???? ???? ?????????. ??????? ??????, ?????? ?????? ?????????. ?????????? ??? ??????? ???????. ?????????? ??? ??? ?????? ??? ?? ????? ????? ????????????.

? ?????????, ?????????? ???? ?????. ??? ????????? ???? ?? ????. ????? ???? ?????? ?? ??????????.

? ??????? ??????????. ?????????? ??????? ??? ??? ??????? ???? ??????????. ? ????? ??? ???????, ????????, ?? ?????????????? ???? ????????????? ???.
?????????? ????????, ????????. ??? ???? ????????????.
????????? ???? ???? ???? ??????. ??? ?????? ???? ???????? ??? ??? ?? ?????? ??? ?? ???? ??? ??????????? ?? ?????.

??????? ?? ????? ???. ??? ???? ??? ???? ?? ?? ?????????? ?? ??? ????????.12 s Larnacouer de SH769 167

Kaç ya??nda ölmek isterdiniz?
K?rk?mdan önce. Otuz alt?.

//

Bu kadar zor ve ac? bir roman ancak bu kadar h?zl? ve kolay okunabilir. Pek çok ?ey hakk?nda hiçbir ?ey, harika bir minimalizm örne?i. books-i-own one-sitting-read12 s Argos1,108 359

Elim Bolano’ya 3 y?ld?z vermeye gitmedi, 3,5’tan 4 olsun dedim. Bolano’nun ölmeden önce yazd??? son roman ve tarz?na uymayan bir roman, üstelik bu kez içinde ?air de yok. Onun ola?anüstü hikaye anlat?c?l??? yerini iyi bir roman yaz?c?s?na b?rakm??.
Bolano okuyacaklara ilk sözüm bu kitab? sonlara b?rak?n, ilk okumu?san?z Bolano’nun bu olmad???n? kabul ederek di?er eserlerini okuyun derim. 12 s LW349 75

Un romanzetto canaglia Una novelita lumpen

È un racconto svelto , denso e scuro , con tante ombre e un poco di luce esitante .
La storia di Bianca e suo fratello , di due balordi senza nome, il libico e il bolognese , è raccontata dalla ragazza in prima persona, come un lungo flashback ,una storia di uccelli in una tormenta di sabbia, senza rumore e senza occhi , che veniva da un altro mondo
in una Roma irreale .

Adesso so che la vicinanza non esiste . Qualcuno ha sempre gli occhi chiusi .
Uno vede quando l'altro non vede. L'altro vede quando uno non vede.
Solo una madre può essere vicina,ma questo allora era l'ignoto. Inesistente.
Esisteva solo il miraggio della vicinanza. E la vicinanza degli amici di mio fratello,
una vicinanza costruita , fra l'altro, a base di sguardi e piccole attenzioni,
non solo mi lusingava, ma mi piaceva pure.

In quel periodo sognavo molto e dimenticavo in fretta quasi tutti i sogni.
La mia vita in realtà era come un sogno. A volte mi affacciavo a una finestra qualsiasi della casa di Maciste e mi mettevo a pensare ai sogni e alla vita ,che era come mettersi a pensare ai miei sogni che dimenticavo con tale rapidità
e alla mia stessa vita che sembrava un sogno, e non arrivava da nessuna parte ,
niente si chiariva dentro la mia testa, ma il solo fatto di farlo, di pensare ai sogni e alla vita, toglieva un peso incerto dal mio cuore o quello che io chiamavo il mio cuore, il cuore di una delinquente, di una persona senza scrupoli o con scrupoli cosi distorti che faticavo a riconoscerli come miei.cielito-lindo love-sex-relationships12 s Sevgi K.81 34

Bolaño'nun okudugum ilk kitabi, çevirmen olarak Seda Ersavc?'y? çok ba?ar?l? buldum zira ana karakterin dü?ünce dünyas? yazar tarafindan sürükleyici bir kurguyla anlat?lm?? olsa da yer yer bir kelimenin bile farkli yorumlanmasi kurgunun hemen bozulmas?na sebep olabilirdi. Ama cok guzel ve temiz bir ceviri olmu?.
Kitaba gelirsek yazar; ana karakterin ya?am mücadelesini ajitasyona döndürmeden anlatirken zamanla daha da so?ukkanlilikla devam eden ahlaki geli?imini samimiyetten uzaklasmadan basarili bir sekilde yansitabilmi?.
Ozetle iyi ki okudum dedigim eserlerden biri oldu.don-quixote12 s Ivana Balnožan69 193 Read

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