Book contents
- Roberto Bolaño in Context
- Roberto Bolaño in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Chronology
- Part I Geographical, Social, and Historical Contexts
- Part II Shaping Events and Literary History
- Part III Genres, Discourses, Media
- Chapter 16 Essays and Short Stories
- Chapter 17 Poetry I: The Ghost That Runs through the Writing
- Chapter 18 Poetry II: Parody and the Question of History
- Chapter 19 The Novel and the Canon
- Chapter 20 Detective Fiction
- Chapter 21 Journalism, Media, Mass Culture
- Chapter 22 Literary Criticism and Literary History
- Part IV Aesthetics, Culture, and Politics
- Further Reading
- Index
Chapter 20 - Detective Fiction
from Part III - Genres, Discourses, Media
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 December 2022
- Roberto Bolaño in Context
- Roberto Bolaño in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Chronology
- Part I Geographical, Social, and Historical Contexts
- Part II Shaping Events and Literary History
- Part III Genres, Discourses, Media
- Chapter 16 Essays and Short Stories
- Chapter 17 Poetry I: The Ghost That Runs through the Writing
- Chapter 18 Poetry II: Parody and the Question of History
- Chapter 19 The Novel and the Canon
- Chapter 20 Detective Fiction
- Chapter 21 Journalism, Media, Mass Culture
- Chapter 22 Literary Criticism and Literary History
- Part IV Aesthetics, Culture, and Politics
- Further Reading
- Index
Summary
Focusing on two central novels by Roberto Bolaño, Los detectives salvajes and 2666, as works of crime fiction, this chapter considers them from the point of view of the rules of the detective and murder genre. The role of the detective and the construction of the puzzle emerge in each of the two novels as both a crime and a literary question. Situating the novels in the context of the impunity and violence that defined the experience of Mexico in the last three decades, the chapter proposes an alternative way to appreciate Bolaño’s depiction of violence, less as a philosophical statement about modernity and more as an ironic vision of literature and contemporary ideologies.
- Type
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- Information
- Roberto Bolaño In Context , pp. 224 - 236Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023