Roberto Bolaño: The Third Reich

[Daniel del Real]

Here's the Spanish edition of Bola?o's The Third Reich.

El Tercer Reich - Ed. Anagrama. (http://www.anagrama-ed.es/titulo/NH_466)

The novels seems to be already available in Spain and soon to arrive to Latin America. At 368 pages is way larger than I thought it would be.
No idea when the English translation is gonna be available, but I think for mid 2010 should be ready.

[Stiffelio]

Here's the Spanish edition of Bola?o's The Third Reich.

El Tercer Reich - Ed. Anagrama. (http://www.anagrama-ed.es/titulo/NH_466)

The novels seems to be already available in Spain and soon to arrive to Latin America. At 368 pages is way larger than I thought it would be.
No idea when the English translation is gonna be available, but I think for mid 2010 should be ready.

I wonder at what ridiculously high price they will sell this book in Latin America !!

[DB Cooper]

Wow 368 pages! I was expecting something about half that size. This is pleasant news, although Im not sure how many pages it will be in the English translation.

[Daniel del Real]

I wonder at what ridiculously high price they will sell this book in Latin America !!

Well, let's see. Originally it's 18 euros, that's like 25 dollars. Expensive as usual with Anagrama books.
I have a love & hate feeling towards Jorge Herralde.


Wow 368 pages! I was expecting something about half that size. This is pleasant news, although Im not sure how many pages it will be in the English translation.

I'm sure the English edition will be shorter. 2666 English editions is no more than 900 pages, while the Spanish one is 1125 pages.

[Stiffelio]

I'm sure the English edition will be shorter. 2666 English editions is no more than 900 pages, while the Spanish one is 1125 pages.

That is usually the case in most Spanish-to-English translations. Spanish is a more expansive language, syntactically speaking.

[Daniel del Real]

Finally I was able to get this book last weekend. It arrived pretty soon to Mexico, same month that the novel appeared in Spanish libraries.


I wonder at what ridiculously high price they will sell this book in Latin America !!

Another great news is that the book is not expensive at all. This Anagrama edition was printed in Mexico, so we avoided to pay the price in euros. The book was only 200 pesos, which is no more than 15 dollars.

I started reading it last weekend and immediately I realized this is not Bola?o as we all know him from Los Detectives Salvajes and 2666. In this novel the characters can be counted with the fingers on your hands, the narration goes straight forward and the characters lack the dept that his future editions developed.
Despite of this, we perceive the same flow that Bola?o gives to his narrative and the feeling of the nomad spirit who is always a foreigner in the land where he lives.

I'm about one third of the book, however I had to stop reading it since brilliant me forgot it in the room where I go to my literary chats on Monday. Luckily the organizers got the book but I have to wait til next monday so they can hand it to me. :(

[DB Cooper]

Not exactly a glowing review, check back in later because Im curious to see what your final impressions are. The Third Reich looks to be his last work that is longer than a novella or short story, so I had very high hopes. Also, do you know at what point Bolano wrote this? Is it early in his career or near the end?

[DB Cooper]

Also, I cant find a release date for the English translation anywhere. Anybody have an idea?

EDIT: Nevermind, according to the Picador blog the release date is Jan 2011. Although Im not sure thats accurate anymore, the list the release dates for The Romantic Dogs as March 2011, Monsieur Pain as Sept 2011, The Skating Rink as Sept 2010 , Antwerp as Jan 2012. Strange as The Third Reich was supposed to be released before all of those titles, but all of those titles are already released! Now I really have no idea, back to square one.

[Bubba]

Also, I cant find a release date for the English translation anywhere. Anybody have an idea?

EDIT: Nevermind, according to the Picador blog the release date is Jan 2011. Although Im not sure thats accurate anymore, the list the release dates for The Romantic Dogs as March 2011, Monsieur Pain as Sept 2011, The Skating Rink as Sept 2010 , Antwerp as Jan 2012. Strange as The Third Reich was supposed to be released before all of those titles, but all of those titles are already released! Now I really have no idea, back to square one.

I may be wrong, but you are probably looking at a Picador UK blog; I don't think Picador publishes Bola?o in the US. Bola?o's literary estate is handled by an agent known as "the Shark," and he surely cuts up the rights' pie into as many pieces (North American rights, UK rights, Antipodes rights) as he can, all the better to cash in. I prefer to check B.'s books out from the library, as I don't want to help line this guy's pockets.

Daniel's worries about the price of the book highlight the still very "colonial" nature of the publishing and book-selling markets in Latin America. The raw material is exported from Latin America, the value is added in the "m?tropole," then the finished product gets sent back to the country it came from, where it is sold at a great mark-up. Indeed, Latin American markets are sometimes so poorly integrated that the books by a writer from one Latin American country are often not available in a neighboring country (Chilean writers in Argentina, say) unless they have first traveled across the seas to Spain and then been shipped back.

[Daniel del Real]

Not exactly a glowing review, check back in later because Im curious to see what your final impressions are. The Third Reich looks to be his last work that is longer than a novella or short story, so I had very high hopes. Also, do you know at what point Bolano wrote this? Is it early in his career or near the end?

This is really early Bola?o's work, written in the late 80's, early 90's. This is why, from the begginig, I wasn't expecting to read a fully developed book like Los Detectives Salvajes or 2666. He was still to define his narrative style and this is easily portrayed in the book.



Daniel's worries about the price of the book highlight the still very "colonial" nature of the publishing and book-selling markets in Latin America. The raw material is exported from Latin America, the value is added in the "m?tropole," then the finished product gets sent back to the country it came from, where it is sold at a great mark-up. Indeed, Latin American markets are sometimes so poorly integrated that the books by a writer from one Latin American country are often not available in a neighboring country (Chilean writers in Argentina, say) unless they have first traveled across the seas to Spain and then been shipped back.

Absolutely right Bubba. I've commented this here before, but it's a true shame that for reading our own Latin American authors we have to depend on the Spanish market that rules the majority of editorial groups for Spanish language. This is a tremendous problem in terms of availability, since not all the titles are distributed to all countries, and of course the already mentioned cost, that sometimes we have to pay in euros.

[Stiffelio]

Bola?o's literary estate is handled by an agent known as "the Shark," and he surely cuts up the rights' pie into as many pieces (North American rights, UK rights, Antipodes rights) as he can, all the better to cash in.

Bola?o's agent is Andrew Wylie. I also heard him called "the Jackal" and other less flattering names.

[Stiffelio]

Daniel's worries about the price of the book highlight the still very "colonial" nature of the publishing and book-selling markets in Latin America. The raw material is exported from Latin America, the value is added in the "m?tropole," then the finished product gets sent back to the country it came from, where it is sold at a great mark-up. Indeed, Latin American markets are sometimes so poorly integrated that the books by a writer from one Latin American country are often not available in a neighboring country (Chilean writers in Argentina, say) unless they have first traveled across the seas to Spain and then been shipped back.

This is SO true. It's the result of unbridled globalization practices. Spanish publishing conglomerates were rich in cash during the late 90s/early 00s, and they all but swept away with most publishing firms in Latin America, paying abnormally high earning multiples. So they are now basically an oligopoly who need to amortize their investments by charging higher prices and cutting down on distribution expenses. A really pitiful situation for us readers in LA.

[Bubba]

This is SO true. It's the result of unbridled globalization practices. Spanish publishing conglomerates were rich in cash during the late 90s/early 00s, and they all but swept away with most publishing firms in Latin America, paying abnormally high earning multiples. So they are now basically an oligopoly who need to amortize their investments by charging higher prices and cutting down on distribution expenses. A really pitiful situation for us readers in LA.

I think it's a little too easy to blame the situation on globalization, Stiffelio. It's true that a lot of Latin American companies, including publishers, were unprepared to compete globally, but that was the result of decades of protectionism, which, so they could continue selling shoddy goods at above-market prices in their captive domestic markets, they often lobbied for themselves. Sure, sometimes Spanish or French companies that were no probably no better run than their Latin American counterparts managed to take over Latin American companies simply because they were able to borrow the cash they needed to finance the acquisitions more cheaply than the target companies could have. But this was usually because Latin American companies came with a well deserved reputation for "country risk." Again, not the fault of globalization.

I suspect, too, that, in Argentina at least, readers probably have more choices now (if they can afford to pay the high prices) than they did in the twenty to thirty years before the arrival of the Spanish conglomerates. I have read that the during the Franco dictatorship many Spanish publishers relocated to Buenos Aires or Mexico City, leading to a "golden age" for Latin American publishing. How true that is I don't know.

As for Bola?o's agent, I had in mind Wylie, but I got his alias wrong. Of course, neither "the Jackal" nor "the Shark" is particularly affectionate.

[Stiffelio]

I suspect, too, that, in Argentina at least, readers probably have more choices now (if they can afford to pay the high prices) than they did in the twenty to thirty years before the arrival of the Spanish conglomerates. I have read that the during the Franco dictatorship many Spanish publishers relocated to Buenos Aires or Mexico City, leading to a "golden age" for Latin American publishing. How true that is I don't know.

I'm afraid we do not have more choices now than we did thirty years ago. As Daniel mentioned above, it is virtually impossible to buy recent book releases from other Latin American writers if they are not produced in Spain. And even in this case, the big Spanish conglomerates only distribute about 10% of their current releases aimed at the Latin American market. I'm tired of reading hot reviews of books by Chilean, Bolivian, Mexican, even Spanish writers, only to learn they are unavailable here. So I need to import directly from places like Casa del Libro and such. And translations are worse: go and try to buy a Brazilian or a Portuguese novel, or a German or Swedish one. Unless it's a big seller name such as Saramago or Grass, you must forget about it. The latest Bola?o will only be available in Argentina in late April, for the BA Book Fair.

[Raphael Lambach]

I wonder at what ridiculously high price they will sell this book in Latin America !!

Unfortunately in Latin America Book aren't cheap as they are in Europe or US. But I still buy a lot of book every month and I'll do it forever... but -

[Daniel del Real]

Here's my final review for this book:




Bola?o's Third Reich is a different novel in comparison with his most acclaimed books The Savage Detectives and 2666. Since the beginning we can perceive a slightly different approach to the narrative techniques he later uses and the way the author manages time and characters. This is one of the few stories where Bola?o doesn't break up and repair time. This time he goes chronological.

The classical form of a diary appears in this novel, going over a month in the life of German strategic war games champion Udo Berger and his stay in Hotel del Mar, located at the coast of a Spanish village near to Barcelona.
He arrives to this town late August with her girlfriend Ingeborg and his original plans are to write an article about a strategic roll game named The Third Reich in which he is an expert. He needs to have it ready for a convention to happen in Paris at the end of the year. At the same time he wants to get a good time in a sunny place with his girlfriend in a town he already knows because he used to visit this same hotel ten years ago on summers with his whole family.

From the moment they arrive to the hotel we are witness of the incursion of some peculiar characters to the story:

Frau Else, the owner of the hotel, a German citizen who always have captured Udo’s attention. She is in her mid thirties and is described as a beautiful woman who is married with an older man who is seriously ill and lives in the hotel.

Then they meet Charlie and Hanna, a German young couple who is also spending their holidays in Spain. Charlie is a stubborn strong man with a difficult temperament that for some moments makes the relationship difficult between the couples. Hanging around the streets of the town they meet Lobo and Cordero.

Lobo and Cordero (Wolf and Lamb) are two low class Spanish guys, who work in whatever they find and spend the most of their times drinking in a tavern or wandering around the beach.
They are friends of a young man nicknamed El Quemado (The Burned) that as his nick indicates, is a disfigured man whose nationality we are uncertain, who works renting jet skies at the beach. He finds a great interest in Udo's game and gets involved more and more in a strategic game against Berger as the story goes by. Although he is an uneducated man, we can see he is really clever, and with the help of an unknown teacher, starts to turn around the game, menacing with defeating the German champion.
Udo's stay in the hotel will extend for several reasons:
* The mysterious disappearance of Charly, (despite of Charly’s girlfriend Hana and later Ingeborg returning to Germany).
* His every time more frequent affairs with the hotel owner Frau Else.
* The game against el Quemado that goes more interesting every day.
* And finally because with all these situations he hasn't been able to write that important article that is supposed to change the history of war strategic games.

What he founds changing is his life, the perspective he has on everything that surrounds him and his interaction the environment.
At the end Bola?o is telling us that what we think it is the purpose of our life can easily be affected by the facts that involve us every day. We think we can take control of what we want in life, but what we live is also a point to take into consideration as we construct our goals.

Although a younger and not completely developed Bola?o is presented through the story, we can see that he always had that fluency for narration, being able to capture the reader since the beginning of the story. The characters, maybe not as good as in his later novels, are profound and create a great ambient around Udo. Personally, El Quemado is my favorite character of the book, a very ambiguous and intriguing man with the most impressive development as the tale advances.

I can say with all my trust, that this is not only a new book pulled out from nowhere just to make more money of Bola?o's name: It is also a great exercise of narrative that builds up a really analytical universe about a man's life and what he thinks is his destiny.
****0

[Bjorn]

Some news about the English edition: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/14/lost-roberto-bolano-serialised-spring


A newly uncovered novel by the late Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/roberto-bolano) will get its first English language publication this year in the literary quarterly the Paris Review (http://www.theparisreview.org/). Described by its translator Natasha Wimmer as "buoyant" and "funny", The Third Reich tells the story of a German man who is a war-gaming champion. It will be serialised in four parts, with the first out in the magazine's imminent spring issue.
A typescript of the novel was found among the writer's papers after his death in 2003. According to the Wylie Agency, which represents Bolaño's work, it dates from the 1990s and is a "completed novel that is meticulously corrected by hand".
First published in Spanish last year, The Third Reich is the story of Udo Berger, who is taking a holiday on the Costa Brava before a big war-gaming tournament, and who finds himself drawn into a battle with an enigmatic local, El Quemado (The Burned One). The Wylie Agency has described the book as "one man's descent into nightmare". But the author's long-time translator Natasha Wimmer has suggested a cheerier read, saying the novel has been a joy to work on, "mostly because Bolaño seems to have had such fun writing it. It's a buoyant novel, ominous at moments but mostly just funny."
Bolaño lived a colourful early life, dropping out of school in Chile, briefly jailed after Pinochet's coup for his support of Allende, and helping found a surrealist literary movement – "infrarealism" – in Mexico City. Later he lived a "vagabond" life in Europe and then Spain, supporting himself with menial jobs like dishwashing and fruit-picking. He took an uncompromising approach to his writing, telling his diary, "I am sure I will die unpublished", and he was already 43 before his first book appeared – dying just seven years later, of liver failure.
At that point only one of his books had been translated into English (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jan/17/fiction-roberto-bolano-2666-chile), but his international reputation took off posthumously, with Wimmer's translation of his novel The Savage Detectives, the story of a budding young poet in Mexico City with elements of Kerouac's On The Road. Later 2666, Bolaño's epic novel in five parts, telling the story of the 20th century through the life of enigmatic writer Benno von Archimboldi, brought him even more acclaim.
Over the past two years, Picador has been bringing out much of Bolaño's previously untranslated work, including Amulet, The Skating Rink and Monsieur Pain. A collection of poems, The Romantic Dogs, is due out next month.
The Third Reich is not the only Bolaño novel to be uncovered posthumously. Two manuscripts – titled Diorama and The Troubles of the Real Police Officer – were reported to have been unearthed among his papers in 2009 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/10/spain-roberto-bolantildeo), alongside a possible sixth section of 2666.

[Daniel del Real]

Some news about the English edition: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/14/lost-roberto-bolano-serialised-spring

Great news. Actually The Troubles of the Real Police Officer was already released in Spain, but can't find it yet here in Mexico.