The Critics Are Coming for Roberto Bolaño
After decades of praise, some are souring on the late literary icon. A new book defends his legacy.
This article is adapted from AQ’s special report on the Summit of the Americas Is it still cool to like Roberto Bolaño As recently as the late 2000s, there were few authors who inspired more excitement and reverence than this late Chilean. His 1998 novel The Savage Detectives, translated into English in 2007, hypnotized readers across the Americas with a mix of mystery, Bildungsroman, and oral history of Mexico City’s 1970s avant-garde. But lately Bolaño-mania seems to have given way to second thoughts. David Kurnick, at the start of his new book looking at the legacy of The...
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