Mónica Maristain Knihy

With the release of Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives in 1998,journalist Monica Maristain discovered a writer “capable of befriending his readers.” After exchanging several letters with Bolaño, Maristain formed a friendship of her own, culminating in an extensive interview with the novelist about truth and consequences, an interview that turned out to be Bolaño’s last.Appearing for the first time in English, Bolaño’s final interview is accompanied by a collection of conversations with reporters stationed throughout Latin America, providing a rich context for the work of the writer who, according to essayist Marcela Valdes, is “a T.S. Eliot or Virginia Woolf of Latin American letters.” As in all of Bolaño’s work, there is also wide-ranging discussion of the author’s many literary influences. (Explanatory notes on authors and titles that may be unfamiliar to English-language readers are included here.) The interviews, all of which were completed during the writing of the gigantic 2666, also address Bolaño’s deepest personal concerns, from his domestic life and two young children to the realities of a fatal disease.

The first biography of the Chilean novelist Roberto Bolano, author of 2666 and The Savage Detectives among many others. How to know the man behind works of fiction so prone to extravagance? This intimate and revealing biography is based on years of research and features interviews with family and friends. From his early life in Chile to his youth in Mexico and an infatuation with literature (fictionalised in 'The Savage Detectives'), to the stardom which eventually arrived with the global popularity of '2666', this is a brilliant portrait of an astounding talent.