Roberto Bolaño

Roberto Bolaño (1953 – 2003) was a Chilean writer and poet. He originally wrote poetry, but changed to write fiction for money (after all, he had a family to feed). He had a kind of tendency of taking an Ensemble Darkhorse from one book (or sometimes just a minor character) and write a story around that character.

Even though he was from Chile, he spent very little time in the country and lived in Spain. He was also very critical of the writers in Chile, particularly Isabel Allende, decrying their (perceived) lack of talent. Which makes him somewhat of a Base Breaker among Chilean readers.

As you can see, he has been dead for a while, but is still publishing books. That shows you how prolific he was.

Do not confuse with Roberto Gómez Bolaños, also known as Chespirito.


 * Distant Star (1996)
 * The Savage Detectives (1998)


 * Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: In “Police Rat”, Pepe worries because since a rat dared to kill another rat, soon it will become commonplace.
 * Author Avatar: Most of his books have a character that it's supposed to be him... one way or another.
 * Author Tract: “Literature + Illness = Illness”, “The Myths of Cthulhu”.
 * Better as Friends: at the end of The Third Reich.
 * Diary: The Third Reich.
 * Doorstopper: 2666 clocks in at well over 1000 pages. Bolaño had planned another 200 pages before suffering Author Existence Failure.
 * Intellectual Animal: All the rats in “Police Rat”.
 * Literary Allusion Title: “The Myths of Cthulhu”, which is not about the Cthulhu Mythos.
 * Nerd Glasses
 * Overly Long Gag: Part 4 of 2666 is 300 pages of detailed descriptions of misogynist murders. It's not played for laughs.
 * Perma-Stubble
 * Real Time Strategy: The main character of The Third Reich is a huge player of wargames, a hobby shared by the author too.
 * Reclusive Artist: Not Bolaño himself, but the character Benno von Archimboldi in 2666.
 * Reptiles Are Abhorrent: “Police Rat”.
 * Shell-Shocked Veteran: The protagonist in “Jim”.
 * Spin Offspring: “Police Rat” has as main character Pepe the Cop, niece of Josephine the Singer.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: By Night In Chile is this to other Chilean writers during the Pinochet years.
 * Those Wacky Nazis: Deconstructed in Nazi Literature In The Americas. Nazis and Neo-Nazis tend to appear on his books, whether literally (Distant Star) or metaphorically (The Third Reich).
 * Wasteland Elder: Héctor Pereda in “The Insufferable Gaucho”.
 * Wicked Weasel: “Police Rat”.