Description
Book SynopsisDavid Kurnick argues that the controversies surrounding Roberto Bolaño’s life and work have obscured his achievements—and that
The Savage Detectives is still underappreciated for the subtlety and vitality of its portrait of collective life. He explores the novel as an epic of social structure and its decomposition.
Trade ReviewNamed one of the Best Scholarly Books of 2022 * The Chronicle of Higher Education *
David Kurnick's account of
The Savage Detectives shows a glittering intelligence at work. His writing is fluent; his analysis, sharp; his engagement, passionate. His account of the politics of the book and its reception is clear-eyed and wise. His close reading of the text and his insights into its complex form give real pleasure and will delight those who love this novel and enlighten those who are coming to it for the first time. -- Colm Tóibín, author of
Brooklyn: A NovelKurnick truly loves
The Savage Detectives, and his affection for its poet-protagonists and their fellow-adventurers mirrors the visionary empathy of Bolaño’s most personal novel. Reading
The Savage Detectives in Kurnick's company is like sitting down for a long conversation with a brilliant friend (mezcal optional)—an exhilarating mix of shared recognition and initiation into the fresh mysteries of Bolaño’s universe. -- Natasha Wimmer, translator of Roberto Bolaño’s
The Savage DetectivesThe vividness of David Kurnick's critique somehow matches, and extends, the vividness of
The Savage Detectives itself. His contextualizations, and the keenness of his perception, both open and anchor the book in new ways. A masterful reading that takes us well beyond any shallow fascinations of the Bolaño myth to a place of deeper appreciation. -- Justin Torres, author of
We the AnimalsHow to read
The Savage Detectives anew? By providing a fresh, comprehensive, and detailed close reading that engages with the specificities of the book’s tantalizing idiosyncrasies without pandering to reductionist critical stances. Kurnick vindicates enthusiasm as a critical point of departure, a methodology almost, without succumbing to hagiography or fandom. -- -Héctor Hoyos, author of
Beyond Bolaño: The Global Latin American NovelA warm and patient critical revaluation of Bolaño’s novel . . . By attending closely to technical detail, Kurnick demonstrates the power of careful analysis to cut through mythmaking; by countering sloppy interpretations of
The Savage Detectives with a thoughtful, historically conscious one, he demonstrates the importance of criticizing with one’s own background and biases in mind. In so doing, he provides an example of the power of criticism: At its best, it can cut through embarrassment and bad faith to give readers a clearer view of a writer’s world. -- Lily Meyer * The Nation *
Thrilling.
The Savage Detectives Reread is not so much a readers’ guide as a sharp, playful, deeply poignant companion piece. -- Josh Weeks * Times Literary Supplement *
Incandescent . . . It’s a work of living, electric, palpably humane literary theory. -- Anahid Nersessian * The Chronicle of Higher Education *
[This book’s] meaningful contribution to Latin American literary studies is to analyze Bolaño from the outside: outside of the commercial fetish with world literature and the critical fetish with challenging it. Ultimately, the joy of reading Kurnick’s book is that, unlike a sizeable portion of today’s literary criticism, it never forgets its object of study. -- Bécquer Seguín * Critical Inquiry *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
I. Mexicans Lost in Mexico (1975)
Some Neighborhoods of Part I
II. The Savage Detectives (1976–1996)
Some Microclimates of Part II
III. The Deserts of Sonora (1976)
Coda
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
