In "Distant Stars", Bolaño Roberto explores the political and cultural environment in Chile during and after the Chilean coup d'état. Compared to "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (which was a nightmare lol) and the other readings in this course, it is a quick and slightly easier read. According to the lecture, "Distant Stars" is an expansion and adaptation of a story from "Nazi Literature of the Americas”: the story is full of references to the South American literary world, but it can carry the tension and intrigue of a spy or detective novel. I am so surprised Bolaño manages to write such a large amount of events and characters, all intensely, without being overwhelming or playing the shock factor game.
The author confronts us with different kinds of collaboration with different sides of the regime, from activists to innocent bystanders to sections of society. The scenarios and characters are fictional, but with hindsight, we can recognize the reality of the time as well as many aspects experienced in other totalitarian regimes.
The narrator and his friends are poets living in Chile, where General Pinochet came to power after Salvador Allende was murdered. Bolaño tells how a man who considers himself a poet, with various names such as Alberto Ruiz-Tagle and Carlos Wieder, is implicated in several murders that took place under Pinochet's regime. After Weider’s sky poetry becomes famous, he puts on a multimedia art show depicting the grisly murders of students and dissidents opposed to the revolution. I believe that a monster/serial killer like Weider was able to use political events to satisfy his desires at that time. Wieder is a strange and creepy character, in fact, his last name is so close to weird that he just swapped the letters and added an "O" !!!! I will continue to say weirdo and recall the character.
Overall, "Distant Stars" was interesting and I enjoyed reading it, yet a bit confusing at times, especially when the point of view changes and the narrator starts talking about other people, like the disappearance of Juan Stein or other political associates.
In conclusion, I found a page, stating what Bolaño mainly wanted to convey.
A summary from page55-56:
Death is friendship
Death is Chile
Death is responsibility
Death is love
Death is growth
Death is communion
Death is cleansing
Death is my heart
Death is resurrection
I believe much of his work is condensed in this poem and these are good quotes to begin or finish reading "Distant Stars"!
Questions:
Compared to the other readings in this course, "Distant Stars" is relatively short. Were you satisfied with the length and plot of the novel?
One small but perhaps important thing: the novel is called Distant Star, not Distant Star*s*. I note in passing that you sometimes make small mistakes like this... sometime that might not matter, but here perhaps you might wonder who or what is the "distant star" and more generally what the title means?
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the lines you quote are from the poem written by Carlos Wieder. It's interesting that you think that they "stat[e] what Bolaño mainly wanted to convey." I'll grant that it's possible that this may be true, but it's counter-intuitive, and you'd have to make the argument for that reading, in that at first sight (and perhaps second sight too!) Wieder is the villain of the piece, not someone you'd tend to agree with. But the argument that Wieder is somehow (despite himself?) right is intriguing, and the argument would be worth investigating... but cannot at all be taken for granted.
I was quite satisfied with the length of the novel because it's that time of the year where I'm losing some motivation. Although besides my own reason, the book is full of intricate symbolism and imagery despite the shortness of the novel. I think this made the length acceptable because it still had the intricacies a longer novel would have.
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