Infrarealism

As many of us are buzzing over the recent New Directions release of Nazi

Literature in the Americas, FSG's paperback edition of The Savage Detectives is

also in stores, dropping almost simultaneously as if a new Bolaño translation

wasn't quite enough. The paperback Savage Detectivesis worth a look for the

insightful and detailed introduction by translator Natasha Wimmer, which offers the

standard biography and compact criticism as well as many of the wicked barbs

Bolaño was known for. Isabelle Allende, Gabriel García Márquez, and Mario

Vargas Llosa all get a dose of Bolaño's acid tongue. Fun as this is to read (even if

you love the Boom writers as much as I do), the most compelling aspect of the

intro is found in a footnote.

Serving as a makeshift who's-who guide to the characters in the book, to the

surviving and active infrarealists, Wimmer offers quotes from that infamous group

of disruptive poets the young Bolaño formed in Mexico City, and then, fictionally,

chronicled in his novel. The infrareaists' dismissal of established poets, and their

habit of shouting out their own poems during readings by more famous writers,

makes it easy to dismiss this group as a gang of literary thugs and over-zealous

youths with pens, but Wimmer's introduction allows readers to gain a sense of

these poetry-mad kids as adults, not to mention flesh-and blood-human beings.

In regard to Bolaño's success, the opinions of the infrarealists vary, as some recall

that Roberto used to swear he'd never abandon poetry for the novel, which he

continually called a second rate art form. Though he published many books of
poetry, it seems his fame will endure thanks to his prose. It would be interesting to

see if a book of his translated poems would net such a thorough and engaging

introductory essay. And the intro is wonderful, though the only problem with it is

that it made me impatient for 2666. Ms. Wimmer, please hurry.