I dispiaceri del vero poliziotto

by Roberto Bolaño, Ilide Carmignani (Translator)

Il sogno di ogni vero lettore non è forse di ritrovare, anche solo per poco, i personaggi di un libro che ha appassionatamente amato? Ebbene, lo vedrà realizzarsi, per la prima volta, in questo romanzo, dove riappaiono alcuni dei personaggi di 2666. Per poterli incontrare di nuovo, però, dovrà accettare il rischio di intraprendere un viaggio quasi iniziatico, all'interno di una foresta in cui le piste si confondono e si aggrovigliano. Ma il vero lettore non esiterà, e si trasformerà lui stesso nel vero poliziotto del titolo: colui che (come Bolaño) "cerca invano di mettere ordine in questo dannato romanzo». Inoltrandosi dunque nella trama fittissima e imprevedibile di queste pagine, scoprirà, per esempio, che il professor Amalfi­tano è approdato in Messico dopo essere stato espulso dall'Università di Barcellona per omosessualità, e ne conoscerà il nuovo amante, un irresistibile falsario di dipinti di Larry Rivers (mentre dell'ex amante, un poeta malato di Aids, leggerà le impagabili lettere); e rivedrà anche l'incan­tevole Rosa Amalfitano, di cui sembra innamorarsi il poliziotto Pedro Negrete, incaricato di indagare sul professore insieme allo scherano Pancho, erede di una dinastia di donne violate... Nel frattempo si lascerà sedurre, il vero lettore, da digressioni letterarie impertinenti, classifiche irriguardose, biografie fittizie, atmosfere inquietanti, sogni rivelatori. Con l'im­per­tur­babile senso del ritmo e la dovizia visionaria delle sue storie, Bolaño saprà i­pnotizzare il suo lettore-po­liziotto, imponendogli un modo di raccontare nuovo e sorprendente. Sicché, alla fine, l'unico «dispiacere» che quegli proverà sarà di vedere i personaggi, già da sempre in fuga, sottrarsi ancora una volta: come se, terminato il libro, «saltassero letteralmente fuori dall'ulti­ma pagina e continuassero a fuggire».

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Literature, Latin American, Spanish Literature, 21st Century, Contemporary

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

For most of his early adulthood, Bolaño was a vagabond, living at one time or another in Chile, Mexico, El Salvador, France and Spain. Bolaño moved to Europe in 1977, and finally made his way to Spain, where he married and settled on the Mediterranean coast near Barcelona, working as a dishwasher, a campground custodian, bellhop and garbage collector — working during the day and writing at night.

He continued with his poetry, before shifting to fiction in his early forties. In an interview Bolaño stated that he made this decision because he felt responsible for the future financial well-being of his family, which he knew he could never secure from the earnings of a poet. This was confirmed by Jorge Herralde, who explained that Bolaño "abandoned his parsimonious beatnik existence" because the birth of his son in 1990 made him "decide that he was responsible for his family's future and that it would be easier to earn a living by writing fiction." However, he continued to think of himself primarily as a poet, and a collection of his verse, spanning 20 years, was published in 2000 under the title The Romantic Dogs.

Regarding his native country Chile, which he visited just once after going into voluntary exile, Bolaño had conflicted feelings. He was notorious in Chile for his fierce attacks on Isabel Allende and other members of the literary establishment.

In 2003, after a long period of declining health, Bolaño passed away. Bolaño was survived by his Spanish wife and their two children, whom he once called "my only motherland."

Although deep down he always felt like a poet, his reputation ultimately rests on his novels, novellas and short story collections. Although Bolaño espoused the lifestyle of a bohemian poet and literary enfant terrible for all his adult life, he only began to produce substantial works of fiction in the 1990s. He almost immediately became a highly regarded figure in Spanish and Latin American letters.

In rapid succession, he published a series of critically acclaimed works, the most important of which are the novel Los detectives salvajes (The Savage Detectives), the novella Nocturno de Chile (By Night In Chile), and, posthumously, the novel 2666. His two collections of short stories Llamadas telefónicas and Putas asesinas were awarded literary prizes.

In 2009 a number of unpublished novels were discovered among the author's papers.

Reviews

[Jenn(ifer) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s like my friend made me this sandwich – the fresh, artisan bread was so good it could have been a meal all by itself. I was famished, and I blindly took a big bite of the sandwich only to find to my surprise that between the two delectable slices of bread was a strange mix of avocado, cherry cordials and some sort of fabric that I think might have been silk or some sort of synthetic silk – I’m not quite sure. All of the ingredients on their own were good enough, but thrown together in this sandwich, they were completely indigestible.

***

Sometimes the basement tapes should remain in the basement. Just because a writer has a bunch of files containing sub-files on his computer doesn’t mean he wanted to make a novel out of them. Still, it’s Bolaño, and I would happily read a published edition of all his notes and errata, but do me a favor next time, label them as such.

In the words of David Markson: This is not a novel. Or maybe it starts as a novel and ends as a novel, with a bunch of randomness in the middle that makes me question its novel-ness.

This book should be read by the Bolaño completest… for all others, try his earlier work.

[Hakan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeni yıla bir Bolano kitabıyla başlamak gibisi yok... Gerçek bir Polisin Çilesi, Bolano’nun ölümünden sonra kalan dosyalarından kitaplaştırılmış. Dolayısıyla bir dağınıklığı, elden geçirilmemişliği hissedilebiliyor. Ancak Bolano’ya, benim gibi, pek de açıklanması kolay olmayan bir hayranlığınız varsa bu sorun olmuyor, yine büyük bir keyifle okuyorsunuz. Ama bu adam neler yazmış da böyle hayranlık uyandırmış diye merak edenlere Bolano’ya bu kitapla başlamalarını önermem. Hastaları için yani bu roman.

Kitabın çok çarpıcı bir girişi var; erkek eşcinselliğinin türlü argo tabirlerini farklı edebiyatçılara yakıştırarak bodoslama giriş yapıyor üstat (Elbette Tanpınar’ın 19. Asır Türk Edebiyat Tarihi’ni okumuyorsunuz). Ben tesadüfen bu bölümün İngilizce çevirisini de buldum, Saliha Nilüfer’in hakkını teslim etmek gerek, iyi iş çıkarmış. Çeviri zaten genelinde çok iyi ama o giriş herkesin harcı değil, ne çevirmenler, ne de aslında okurlar açısından. Zaten kitabın ortalarında, 120. sayfada bir başka bağlamda şöyle buyurmuş üstat: “Okumanın yazmaktan daha konforlu bir iş olmadığını öğrenmişlerdi. İnsanın okurken anımsamayı ve şüphe etmeyi öğrendiğini... ve belleğin aşk olduğunu.”

Birçok kişi ne saçmalamış bu adam diye belki de ilk sayfasında kitabı bir yere fırlatmıştır. Zaten eşcinsellikle derdi olanların bu kitaptan uzak durmalarında yarar var. Her neyse bu acayip başlangıcı atlatınca kıvama giriyor kitap. Beş ayrı bölüm var, bazıları sizi darmadağın ediyor (olumlu anlamda), bazılarını ise görev icabı okuyorsunuz; mesela üçüncü bölüm Rosa ve dördüncü bölüm Archimboldi bana öyle hissettirdi. Bolano’ya hürmeten hadi okuyalım derken, son bölüm Sonora’lı Katiller yine tokat gibi çarpıyor.

Bolano’nun şimdiye kadar 8 veya 9 kitabını okudum. Başyapıtı kabul edilen, koca bir tuğla boyutundaki 2666’yı ise hala bekletiyorum raflarımda. Şöyle dünyadan elimi eteğimi çekebileceğim bir haftam olursa, keyfine vararak okumak için ona saklıyorum. Bu yararsız bilgiyle sonlandırayım yeni yılın GR’deki ilk katkımı. Buraya kadar bu yorumu okuma zahmetine katlanan herkese de mutlu ve de tabii ki bol kitaplı bir yıl diliyorum.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life, of course, which puts the essential books under our noses only when they are strictly essential, or on some cosmic whim

The Part about Death

Roberto Bolano, apparently, worked on this novel from roughly 1980 until his death in 2003. He never published it. It's not a finished novel. He mentioned it from time to time to people by the name it's been published with, but it just sat on his computer in files in various states of completion.

Sort of like, say, Pale King.

Pale King was a self-contained work though, maybe not as complete as it would have been if DFW had finished it, but it still basically works as a novel.

I don't think feel like Woes of the True Policeman, would have ever seen been published in Bolano's lifetime, even if he had lived past fifty. I feel like the book was his notes for what would become 2666. In literary evolution these are the parts that would have died off to make the bigger worker.

But, since he died in a way all of his jottings are fair game to be published. And that is not necessarily a bad thing. There are great examples of works that probably would have been lost if literary executors hadn't taken matters into their own hands.

The Part about Spoilers

A fear going into this book is that it contains 2666 spoilers. My memory of character names is shit, so I'm not sure exactly how many characters cross between the pages of this book and 2666, but two fairly big ones do. Amalfitano and Arcimboldi. And then there is the title, and the pointing towards the police and murders of 2666. Is this short novel a gigantic spoiler of the larger work?

No. It's not. And even if something looked like a spoiler it wouldn't be one.

I'm tempted to say that this is like reading a piece of well-executed Bolano fan-fiction.

Or, it's like an alternate-universe version of 2666.

Characters with the same name do pop up, but they aren't quite the same people. I'm curious to see how different they are, so I'm going back and reading 2666 now, but even with my shitty memory I can see that they aren't the same.

Just a couple of quick examples. The Arcimboldi oeuvre, is different in the two novels. Amalfitano goes from being a professor of philosophy to a professor of literature between his first English appearance in 2666 to the present work. and is this even a spoiler? But he goes back to being a professor of philosophy in the last part of this work, and details don't necessarily mesh between the fifth section of this book and the earlier parts. This fifth part also brings into the novel some of the police and the dead girls, and it is the section of the novel that made me realize I was reading an incomplete work, and one which is probably more just working drafts of stories he'd include in the main narrative of 2666 than a work that would ever be able to stand by itself.

These are just minor details, but the feeling of this whole work is that he isn't giving any answers. He's just working through characters, scenes, places. Even if there were some big reveal in this book that could be related to the events in 2666 there would be no reason to take the reveal as being true or relevant to the much more finished work (which is also problematic, because while it's 'finished' there is the nagging feeling that it's not as finished as it would have been if Bolano hadn't raced to finish it before his death).

So, I'd say there are no spoilers. Although there is the fear of them popping up with the title of the book and the jacket copy of the book.


The Part about Star Ratings

How to rate this book? It's unfinished. It's fragmentary. But even in disjointed fragments and with the various inconsistencies in the novel (which makes me wonder about the role of literary executor / compiler; should these sorts of things be fixed or just let stand?) it is still quite good.

Giving this three-stars feels wrong. Giving it the same four-stars that I've given to most of the other Bolano books feels wrong (I just checked on this and I actually gave 2666 five stars, I thought I had given it four also because I couldn't decide if I liked it more than Savage Detectives or not (this will sort of clear up my rating woes)). But I'm going to go with four stars, but a four-stars that aren't as four-ish as the four stars that Savage Detectives has. And one star rating under 2666 I think is an appropriate number of yellow little stars to be lit up under the picture of his book on my goodreads page.

The Part about Conclusions

I really should have planned this better and have had five parts to the review. I'm going to go back now and re-read 2666, mostly because I'm curious how this novel relates to it and partially because after talking about the novel with a co-worker yesterday I'm embarrassed about how poor my memory is. I might come back and add more to this review after I finish it. My plan is to re-read 2666 and then re-read this book again, with my mind fully refreshed with all of the characters and plot points of the bigger novel, and after all this re-reading have a better idea of what I'm talking about.

This plan is going to result in some heart-racing thrills though as I then try to race through the remaining books in my 2012 reading-challenge, and will probably cause me to read some books at speeds where a week after finishing them all the details have been cleanly wiped from my mind.

The Part about Gratitude

Thank you Laima for sharing your ARC copy of this with me! I will send it back to you soon.

At least I've read. At least I can still read, he said to himself, at once dubious and hopeful

[N · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this made me feel a wave of sadness that this novel is to be Bolano's unfinished and last work to be published.

Hyper, surreal and darkly comedic, the novel is a continuation of the adventures of Professor Amaltifano of Bolano's sprawling "2666", his daughter, Rosa who disappears in Book II of the latter work; the works of Archimboldi, who serves as the catalyst of "2666's" plot in motion as well as Amaltifano's former lovers; young and hypersexual students Castillo and Padilla who serve as metaphors of the young, virile and frustrated ignored artists whom Bolano always has sympatized with in all his works.

By all accounts, its a fast paced read into the abyss; something that will continue to linger on in the reader's mind with penetrating insight towards the mind of a genius such as Bolano's.

[Guillermo Jiménez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hasta donde tengo entendido, esta novela de Bolaño no goza de gran aceptación, ni por parte de sus seguidores, ni mucho menos de sus detractores.

Hubo un momento en que Bolaño significó para mí un universo literario en donde creí encontrar las respuestas a todas mis cuestiones acerca del cosmos de la literatura; por mucho tiempo, su Entre paréntesis se convirtió en mi I Ching personal, un oráculo al cual podía acudir en busca de un poco de luz en un mundo que cada vez menos se me hace lleno de tinieblas.

Revisando la fecha de publicación, cierro los ojos e intento recordar qué diablos estaba haciendo hace 10 años, y por qué cuando, seguramente, comencé a leer esta novela por primera vez, simplemente sentí que no era el momento y la dejé para después.

Ese después fue hace un par de semanas.

Nuevamente, una sensación de que la lectura me llegó en el momento adecuado. Enfrascado en varias otras lecturas simultáneas, decidido fui al estante en la ex biblioteca, ahora cuarto del Jorge, y tomé el libro sin pensarlo: necesitaba algo que pudiera leer rápidamente, una especie de familiaridad y lugar común.

Confieso que el arranque de la novela por poco y me hace decidir posponerla de nuevo, tiene un aire caduco, su acercamiento, o su tratamiento en el inicio pareciera buscar ahuyentar a cualquier otro lector; pareciera buscar confirmar que fue escrito en otro momento.

Si a eso le sumamos que la novela fue trabajada a lo largo de muchos años por parte de Roberto, solo puedo preguntarme qué hubiera hecho con el texto de haber sobrevivido a esta época reciente: dudo mucho que la hubiéramos conocido.

También me pregunté cuál hubiera sido la postura de Roberto ante el lenguaje inclusivo, ante los comentarios de Vargas Llosa burlándose, bur-lán-do-se, de la búsqueda de una parte de la población por hacer del lenguaje un lugar seguro y que dé cabida a más personas.

En fin, yo disfruté mucho la novela, sí, la pude leer como un lado B de 2666, principalmente por el tema y los protagonistas, pero también por la estructura y el estilo; aunque bien pudiéramos leerlo como un buen compendio literario de toda la obra de Bolaño.

También me fascina el título, el más philipkdickeano de todos sus títulos, e incluso el más cercano a la obra de este autor, no tanto por su trama como por su aire, podría imaginar a Amalfitano como esos seres extraños que exploran una realidad donde lo asombroso es lo cotidiano, y que ni siquiera en esas atmósferas encuentran un lugar en el cual encajar.

Otra gran referencia sería, claro está, Los detectives salvajes, el coro de voces que participan en Los sinsabores del verdadero policía (LSDVP, escribiendo las siglas veo la coincidencia del LSD) se suceden de un capítulo a otro, ya desdibujadas las múltiples entradas de la segunda parte de la novela que le valiera el Herralde.
Al leer este tipo de libros me gusta imaginar qué sucedería si eso fuera lo que sobreviviera de la obra de un autor, o si este fuera el único libro que alguien leyera de Bolaño; por ello me custa trabajo juzgarlo aisladamente.

Siento que puedo apreciarlo mejor si lo leo a la sombra de esas otras grandes novelas del mismo autor, o con la luz de algunos de sus relatos, sobre todo aquellos que hacen mención a algunos de los personajes.

Debo confesar que hice una pausa para googlear un poco sobre los libros de Bolaño, y acudí al estante donde están apilados sus libros, tomé un par y comencé a hojearlos, leer pedazos, párrafos… y, maldita sea, el efecto Bolaño ahí sigue en mí. Me alejo de él, le rehuyo, busco tomar distancia, sin embargo su peso no se ha movido un ápice. Hay algo en este escritor, en su obra, que me vibra, y que no se ha perdido con el tiempo.

Llevo años con el proyecto de reelerlo, me gustaría poder echarme a leer sus libros sin ton ni son uno tras otro sin otro fin que el de ir hilando las historias, de ir armando un bricolage literario de asuntos, temas, tramas y subtramas, de unir con hilos invisibles aquello que me habla desde sus páginas.

Algún día, quizá en la vejez pueda hacerlo.

[Steven Godin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Returning to Santa Teresa from Bolaño's magnum opus 2666 - his fictional border town based on Ciudad Juárez and its off the scale murder rate of young women - was returning to one of the most unforgettable places I've ever come across in a novel. Unlike 2666, Woes of the True Policeman reads less like an unfinished novel though, and more like a gathering of material for a fictional project that was shelved. Certain characters feature again, including police detectives and the exiled Chilean professor Óscar Amalfitano, although here he ends up with a different wife. The writing and the way he again easily sucked me into this world was quite brilliantly done. It's no 2666, but for lovers of that novel it makes for a satisfying read.

[Argos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Belki 2666’dan sonra okumam (çıta çok yüksekti), belki romanın yazar öldükten sonra bulunan metinlerden düzenlenmiş olmasının getirdiği eksiklikler nedeniyle beklediğim Bolano etkisini bulamadım. Birşeyler eksik kaldı, ya da yerine oturmadı. Tabii Vahşi Hafiyeler’i okumuş olmam işimi kolaylaştırsa da sanırım bu kitabı tam kafamda oturtabilmek için R. Bolano’nun diğer kitaplarını da okumam gerekecek.

[Jonfaith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amalfitano remembered a time when he believed that nothing happened by chance, everything happened for some reason, but when was that time? He couldn't remember, all he could remember was that at some point this was what he believed.

Calvino notes in his Six Memos that Borges began writing fiction as a particular exercise; he would imagine philosophical novels that had been poorly translated into Spanish and write synopses of such. Bolaño's own inchoate 20 year project most likely gave birth to 2666. I can't state that categorically, but Greg thinks so and I tend to agree. Call it a hunch. Jesus, this project is so evocative and such a mess. I found myself gasping in marvel, which is a rare feat these days. Strike that, over the last decade, I seldom go, "whoa". I did here.

My friend Harold Maier who owned Louisville's Twice Told Books for over 25 years asked me this last fall about Bolaño. I told him I always felt that I wasn't connecting completely when reading him, there was an aura of mishearing at play. That said, I couldn't stop thinking about him. That presence remains.

Life, of course, which puts the essential books under our noses only when they are strictly essential, or on some cosmic whim.

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Estranha arte narrativa esta de Roberto Bolaño que me obriga a gostar tanto de um livro tão inenarrável.

[jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

unlike most writers, for whom each work of fiction is a realm only unto itself, roberto bolaño freely shared characters, settings, storylines, and major themes throughout his novels and short stories. so it is with woes of the true policeman (los sinsabores del verdadero policía), a novel begun by the late chilean in the 1980s and left unfinished at the time of his death in 2003. first published in his native spanish in 2011, woes of the true policeman is a well-polished, if incomplete, effort. bolaño's widow, carolina lópez, penned the brief, yet essential editorial note that accompanies the text, explaining the novel's provenance, its posthumous ordering, and the source files from which it was collected.

woes of the true policeman begins, in fine bolaño fashion, with an exposition on the sexual classifications of literature and their respective practitioners:

novels, in general, were heterosexual. poetry, on the other hand, was completely homosexual. within the vast ocean of poetry he identified various currents: faggots, queers, sissies, freaks, butches, fairies, nymphs, and philenes. but the two major currents were faggots and queers. walt whitman, for example, was a faggot poet. pablo neruda, a queer. william blake was definitely a faggot. octavio paz was a queer. borges was a philene, or in other words he might be a faggot one minute and simply asexual the next. rubén darío was a freak, in fact, the queen freak, the prototypical freak (in spanish, of course; in the wide world the reigning freak is still verlaine the generous). freaks, according to padilla, were closer to madhouse flamboyance and naked hallucination, while faggots and queers wandered in stagger-step from ethics to aesthetics and back again.

these pronouncements on the proclivities of a panoply of poets (including cernuda, guillén, montale, vallejo, cardenal, parra, and many others) foreshadow a theme that sets in motion the arc of the novel's first two parts ("the fall of the berlin wall" and "amalfitano and padilla"). óscar amalfitano, well-known to any bolaño reader from his role in the epic 2666, figures prominently into woes's plot. a literature (and sometimes philosophy) professor at the university of barcelona, amalfitano, and his daughter rosa (detailed in the third section of woes), are well-adapted to their life in the spanish metropolis, but a scandalous revelation soon forces him from his post and them from the european continent. santa teresa, 2666's fictionalized approximation of the imperiled and bloody ciudad juárez, becomes their new home, with amalfitano taking on a teaching post at the city's university.

small details of amalfitano's life differ from his earlier appearance in 2666 (his late wife's name is different, the obsession with geometry seems absent, etc.), but his fascination with the enigmatic french/german novelist benno von archimboldi remains. other minor characters, including amalfitano's dean (horacio guerra), make a reappearance, setting portions of woes within the narrative context more fully explored in 2666. nearly all of woes seems like it could well have been composed of chapters excised from the larger tome (as they were both actively worked on during the years preceding bolaño's passing), yet the indications are clear that this was to be a separate, if obviously not unrelated, novel.

as bolaño reimagined and reused his characters, they sometimes took slightly different forms depending on the work in which they appear. whereas jmg arcimboldi appears briefly in the savage detectives as a frenchman, throughout 2666 he is referred to as benno von archimboldi, instead a prussian writer. much like the quest in the savage detectives to discover the seemingly undiscoverable poetry of cesárea tinajero, arcimboldi's own mysterious life and literary output becomes the focus for amalfitano. woes's fourth section, "j.m.g. arcimboldi," is a nazi literature in the americas-style foray into the works of arcrimboldi (differing from those listed in 2666), wherein amalfitano explores not only his novels, poetry, and other writings, but also his friendships (queneau, perec, etc.), enemies, hobbies (magic!), and epistolary correspondences.

the novel's final part, "killers of sonora," seems to presage the thousands of heinous murders (or feminicidios) that play such a crucial role in 2666. this portion of the book seems to be the section bolaño was likely reworking before he succumbed to liver failure, and follows a group of policemen and mexican elites who come to suspect that amalfitano may have some nefarious involvement in a disappearance and murder.

woes of the true policemen features all of the usual elements that have made bolaño's works so distinctive: ominous prose, obscure poets, dark forebodings, ribald humor, perfidious characters and the ever-blurry line between fiction and reality (vila-matas, marías, marsé, goytisolo, vargas llosa, and others are all cast in a proposed biopic about italian poet giacomo leopardi). the intertextuality of bolaño's fiction makes this novel a requisite read for anyone compelled to delve into the ancillary worlds established by his two masterworks, the savage detectives and 2666. only a number of thorough, immersive readings of bolaño's many books would allow for a full conception of the shared and sometimes contrasting details and characters he developed so well. one excerpt in woes, for example, appeared previously, almost verbatim, as the short story "another russian tale" (from the return) and another borrows portions from distant star.

with scant material remaining that has yet to be translated, the veritable wealth of bolaño's oeuvre has been all but exhausted. the past decade has seen the chilean author go from relatively obscure, unknown novelist, poet, and short story writer (amongst english-speaking audiences, that is) to perhaps one of the most celebrated figures in literary translation. while woes of the true policeman may have assumed a slightly different form had its completion been seen through, it will remain a single, yet luminous star in the constellation bolaño.

they learned that a book was a labyrinth and a desert. that there was nothing more important than ceaseless reading and traveling, perhaps one and the same thing. that when books were read, writers were released from the souls of stones, which is where they went to live after they died, and they moved into the souls of readers as if into a soft prison cell, a cell that later swelled or burst. that all writing systems are frauds. that true poetry resides between the abyss and misfortune and that the grand highway of selfless acts, of the elegance of eyes and the fate of marcabrú, passes near its abode. that the main lesson of literature was courage, a rare courage like a stone well in the middle of a lake district, like a whirlwind and a mirror. that reading wasn't more comfortable than writing. that by reading one learned to question and remember. that memory was love.

*translated from the spanish by natasha wimmer (the savage detectives, 2666, antwerp, the third reich, between parentheses, mario vargas llosa, and laura restrepo)

[Read By RodKelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4.5/5    
    
Woes of the True Policeman is a bizarre, fragmentary novel that drifts through themes of shame, exile, queerness, and literary passion with a feverish momentum. The main plot centers on Óscar Amalfitano, a philosophy and literature professor exiled to the fictional town of Santa Teresa after an affair with a male student is brought to light.

From there the book opens up and becomes a kaleidoscope of digressions, obsessive lists, monologues about poetry and art, and metaphysical tangents. Bolaño’s writing style is dense, unruly, and intoxicating, full of insane metaphors and long, spiraling, beautiful sentences. I love how unapologetically queer and intellectually unkempt this novel is. I also love the intense feeling of sadness that suffuses the narrative, a sadness I found oddly comforting. Bolaño’s favorite types are all represented here: the exiled, the mad, the overeducated, the addicted, and the fools who treat literature like holy scripture.

Bolaño is concerned in this novel with the beauty and horror of having only fragments, letters, poems, forgotten books, and diseased wisdom with which to make sense of the world. He writes like someone who has read everything and still found it insufficient. That desperation, the need to keep going, keep cataloguing, keep chasing after the unattainable Truth, is something I deeply admire about his work. Woes of the True Policeman is a bit like a poetic footnote that has outgrown its urtext (that being 2666). It’s Bolaño at his most baroque and despairing, and I loved it.

[Basak Altincekic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Özellikle son bölümüyle 2666 ve Vahşi Hafiyeler’i hatırlatıyor. Tamamlanabilmiş olsaydı nasıl bir son hali olurdu insan merak ediyor tabii. Benim gibi Bolano hayranlarının nefsini köreltmesi için ideal. Can yayınları iki yeni Bolano basmak için hazırlanıyor, yolumuz uzun, heyecanımız yüksek, gençliğimiz var… mı? İnşallah

[pierlapo quimby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non leggete le prime quattro pagine del romanzo.
Non dite 'che titolo curioso, leggiamo solo l'incipit, vediamo come inizia questo recupero postumo del folle cileno'.
Non dovete farlo assolutamente.

...

Non mi avete dato retta, eh?
Siete fregati.

[trovateOrtensia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Di come la vita promette molto a molti, e non mantiene con nessuno.
Di come è passato il tempo in cui “stare svegli voleva dire sognare”, e di come il sonno riserva ormai solo incubi.
Di come la vita dispensa sorprese, e tranelli, e inganni e colpi bassi e colpi mortali, e di come può capitare a ciascuno di noi che un mattino da “ottoni ci si risvegli trombe”, per dirla con Rimbaud, il poeta-ragazzo che “cammina da solo nella notte”, così evocato, così sempre presente in queste pagine.
Di come nuove vite ci si aprono davanti, a volte, e nuove strade e nuove promesse che seguiremo con la stessa ostinazione della prima volta, con la stessa fiducia e serietà e speranza e cocciutaggine infantile, pur sapendo che anche queste non porteranno da nessuna parte.
Di come siamo tutti detectives selvaggi, o solo inselvatichiti, alla ricerca di qualcosa che sempre si sottrae, tracce di verità, una giustificazione, un bisbiglio, un alibi, uno scampolo di senso che non c’è, un tesoro nascosto, la luce anche solo di un fiammifero nel buio, quel pedir fuego che in un lampo e per un lampo ci sottrae alla solitudine.
Di come nulla dura, e di come la morte è la sola promessa che la vita mantiene.
Di come un’intera generazione è stata spazzata via dall’aids, dalle droghe, da troppa vita.
Di come il dio che credevamo guidasse le nostre vite si rivela alla fine solo un funesto illusionista, un dio di morte beffardo come Toltecatl che ghigna in un murales da quattro soldi.
Di come ciascuno di noi, nonostante questo, conserva la sua personale, piccola, patetica camicia hawaiana nascosta sotto il materasso, sgargiante di colori e ammuffita e puzzolente.
Di come ciascuno di noi può incontrare il suo mago incantatore da strapazzo, capace di far spuntare la regina e il re di cuori nei luoghi e nei momenti più impensati, là dove non sapevamo che fossero.
Di come ciascuno di noi persegue, nonostante e contro l’evidenza, il tentativo disperato di dare ordine al caos, alla rovina, all’assenza di senso.
Di come la giovinezza, la bellezza, la forza si sbriciolano nel tempo.
Di come il deserto ricoprirà un giorno Santa Teresa, Padilla, Rosa, questo Amalfitano-albatros esiliato nel mondo, testimone, critico, lettore, sempre e dappertutto deriso e scandaloso, con gli occhi spalancati sulla “futilità degli sforzi” e l”ingenuità della lotta”.
Di come la letteratura e la poesia esigono coraggio, e di come sopravviveranno sempre e comunque alla polvere e all’autore, e continueranno a vivere oltre le pagine, dando al lettore la possibilità di altre vite, di altre gioie, di altri dolori.
“Nell’adolescenza avrei voluto essere ebreo, bolscevico, negro, omosessuale, drogato e mezzo matto, e come se non bastasse monco, ma sono diventato solo un professore di letteratura. Meno male, pensava Amalfitano, che ho potuto leggere migliaia di libri. Meno male che ho conosciuto i Poeti e che ho letto i Romanzi. Meno male che ho letto. Meno male che posso ancora leggere.”
L’arte è - per me - quella che getta luce sugli angoli oscuri, che illumina il mondo anche solo con la velocità di un lampo, che apre nuove strade e sentieri secondari e allontana dalla strada diritta e larga, che fruga e stana ciò che è nascosto, e dà voce a qualcosa che forse già c’era ma se ne stava lì, in un cono d’ombra, muto, inconsapevole e ignorato.
E’ quella che riesce a parlare, gridare, bisbigliare, balbettare oltre il tempo, lo spazio, la materia di cui è fatta, e a suscitare l’epifania di una comprensione o solo un grumo informe di emozioni che precedono il senso. E’ quella da cui può nascere un’idea chiara o distinta, o solo una contrazione involontaria alla bocca dello stomaco, un semplice clic nel cervello, dopo il quale, però, niente sarà come prima.
L’opera di Bolano per me è tutto questo.

[Javier Avilés · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entusiasmado y decepcionado a partes iguales. El entusiasmo proviene de reencontrarme con la prosa precisa de Bolaño, con su manera tan, digamos, matemática, de construir personajes y entornos.
La decepción era previsible. No hay nada nuevo en este texto inconcluso. Es, como esperaba, una explotación póstuma de la obra de un autor al que apreciamos mucho y cuya obra quedó truncada. Los sinsabores hubiese formado parte de 2666 si esta novela en cinco entregas hubiese podido ser concluida. Concretamente de La parte de Amalfitano.
No es, por mucho que nos digan una "novela".
Es una estafa.
Una estafa que acogemos con cariño.

[Oscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

’Los sinsabores del verdadero policía’ es una novela póstuma de Roberto Bolaño, un trabajo sobre el que trabajó desde los años 80, con continuas ampliaciones y revisiones, una obra inacabada por tanto, aunque buena parte de la misma el propio Bolaño dio por terminada. Tras saber esto, esperaba una novela puzzle, montada para dar el pego de ser una novela legible. Pero, afortunadamente, estamos ante una obra con entidad propia.

En la novela se pueden encontrar puntos en común con otras obras de Bolaño, destacando sobre todo su obra maestra, la genial ‘2666’. Aparece Amalfitano, pero un Amalfitano diferente al de ‘2666’, así como se comentan obras de Arcimboldi, que también difieren, y algunos crímenes de chicas mexicanas aparecidas en Sonora. Otras obras emparentadas son ‘Los detectives salvajes’ y ‘Estrella distante’.

En ’Los sinsabores del verdadero policía’, Bolaño nos habla de poetas malditos, de arte, de homosexualidad, de leyendas mexicanas, de biografía inventadas, de sexo, de política, de amor. Hay que leer la novela como si de un gran edificio se tratase, por el que vas atravesando puertas que te llevan a otras puertas, sabiendo que nunca llegarás al final del camino, pero disfrutando del mismo.

Las partes que más me han gustado, son las historias dentro de la propia novela, así como la metaliteratura relacionada con el escritor Arcimboldi. En resumen, buena pero no imprescindible.

[Bern · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yine olmamış bir kitap, Bolano'ya ait olmasaydı yıldızı daha düşük tutardım. Önsözünde yazıldığı gibi, kitap Bolano'nun daktilo yazmalarının ve bilgisayarındaki yazıların birleştirilmesinden oluşmuş. Kitap Bolano'nun diğer kitaplarını (Vahşi Dedektifler ve 2666'yı) okumayanlar için pek anlamlı olmayacak, çünkü bu kitapta bu bahsettiğim kitapların izdüşümü var, sanki bu kitapların taslakları zorla bir araya getirilmiş gibi. Bolano kendisi de belirtmiş zaten "Asıl polis okuyucu olacak" diye, gerçekten çileli bir okuma serüveni oldu. Her şeye rağmen Bolano okumak yine de keyifli.

[Rafa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Da la impresión de estar leyendo el sexto libro de 2666 que Herralde decidió convertir en libro independiente; cosas del dinero.

[Antônio Xerxenesky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Releitura para a tese. Interessante apenas para malucos por Bolaño. É meio que um ensaio (no sentido de prática, não do gênero literário) para 2666.

[Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

So wie man auf Film-DVDs zusätzlich oft unveröffentlichte Szenen, Making Of, Hintergrundinfos und andere Goodies findet, so erscheint mir dieses posthum gefundene und assemblierte Werk wie ein Extrabonus zu Bolaños Hauptwerk 2666. Es ist ein Sammelsurium aus Erzählungen, Listen und Aufzählungen, den Inhaltsangaben sämtlicher Romane Arcimboldis, historischen und geografischen Fakten und Fiktionen rund um das Leben des Literaturprofessors Òscar Amalfitanos und andere Themen aus 2666.

Einige der Szenen und Geschichten sind ganz ausgezeichnet, schräg und witzig, die meisterliche Handschrift Bolaños ist unverkennbar, anderes wiederum - auch unverkennbar - ermüdend oder trocken-enzyklopädisch. Für erfahrene Bolañistas, die nach 2666 & Co. noch nicht genug haben, ist das Buch eine feine Draufgabe. Als Einstieg in die literarische Welt Roberto Bolaños ist es ungeeignet. Wer mit Amalfitano, Arcimboldi oder Pedro Negrete nicht schon bekannt ist, wird hier wohl ratlos zurückbleiben.

Bleibt die Frage nach der Identität des wahren Polizisten. Eine Theorie lautet, der wahre Polizist wäre der Leser, was durchaus plausibel klingt. Ein anderer Hinweis findet sich im fünften Teil, Kapitel 13: »Gumaro sprach von weiße-Würmer-Dörfern, von Truthahngeier-Dörfern, von Kojoten-Dörfern, von Singvögel-Dörfern. Und sagte, genau das sei es, was ein wahrer Polizist lernen müsse. Pancho hielt ihn für verückt.«

[Aslı Can]

gerçek bir okurun çilesi
okur içindeki polisi keşfetmektedir fakat gel gör ki polislerden ölesiye nefret etmektedir
ne yapacaktır???
tüm bu karmaşadan ne anlam çıkaracaktır?
nerelere gidecek kimlerden soracaktır?
çilesine son vermek için oturup baştan sona bir roman yazmalı ya da belki, tüm sırrını çözene değin Gerçek Bir Polisin Çilesi'ni baştan sona okumalı, eline başka kitap almamalıdır

NOT: Takip etmesi epey güç bir kitap, Bolaño ile tanışmak için uygun kitap değil bence. İnceliğine aldanıp 2666 veya Vahşi Hafiyeler'i okumadan önce bunu okuyayım demeyesiniz, tavsiyemdir.

[Chad Post · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interested to see what my students think of this book. Aside from an excerpt from 2666 that I gave them earlier in the semester, the vast majority have never read Bolano, in which case, this might not feel quite so unfinished and sloppy. I understand the monetary and non-monetary reasons why these Bolano books are coming out, yet at the same time, this is kind of a disservice to his reputation and could backfire and, instead of drawing new readers into the world of amazing Bolano books, turn them off to him forever.

Putting all that aside, Woes of the True Policeman is pretty interesting if you take it as a sort of template, or pre-figuring of 2666. Not nearly as accomplished as a whole, but there are bits in here that are really brilliant.

[Erdem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bolaño'nun dehasını bu kitapta da görmek mümkün. Uzak Yıldız, Vahşi Hafiyeler ve 2666’yı özleyenler için gizli kalmış bir hazine. Bahsi geçen kitaplardaki motifler Gerçek Bir Polisin Çilesi’ne de hakim. Kimi zaman aynı kimi zaman benzer karakterler aşina olduğumuz yerleşkelerde sürekli bir hareket halinde. Her Bolaño metninde olduğu gibi kaçanlar-kovalayanlar arasındaki gerilim politika, edebiyat, tarih, cinsellik ve felsefe bağlamında kurgulanarak okura çok katmanlı izlekler çerçevesinde aktarılmış. Şiddet ve mizahı harmanlayan yazar dili sihirli bir enstrümana dönüştürmüş. Mösyö Pain ve Lümpen Roman’ın bıraktığı tatminsizlik hissi tamamen ortadan kalkıyor. Gerçek Bir Polisin Çilesi insana Bolaño okuduğunu iliklerine kadar hissettiriyor.

[Olcay Gürkan · Rating 5 out of 5]

2666 ya da Vahşi Hafiyeler’e başlamayı düşünen ama sayfa sayısı bariyeri nedeniyle kararsız kalan okurlar için bana kalırsa harika bir başlangıç noktası bu eser hatta adeta Bolaño’nun sunabileceği bakış açılarının, renkli karakterlerin ve bağımlılık yaratan anlatım biçiminin önizlemesi niteliğinde. Eğer 2666’yı Twin Peaks’miş gibi düşünürsek, Gerçek Bir Polisin Çilesi’ni de Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me yerine koymamız gerekir, yapabileceğim en anlaşılır benzetme bu olacaktır. Bolaño yarattığı şiddet ve ölümün kol gezdiği tekinsiz kurgusal çöllerde nasıl hayata dört elle sarılarak kuir aşkı, yaşama ve edebiyat aşkını kutsuyor asla anlayamayacağım herhalde.

[Stefano Marino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rientra a pieno diritto nei capolavori di Bolaño.

[Lee Foust · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I had read every novel written by Roberto Bolano, then I came across this one on my Kindle, which I guess I had pirated some time ago, and began reading it on the airplane as I winged my way across the Atlantic to that New World dictatorship soon to be known as Trumplandia.

OK, first of all this is Bolano's apparently last unfinished novel, and one that he'd been working on since the 1980s, and which he cannibalized heavily for 2666. Therefore I wouldn't read this before reading 2666, if I were you, given that that novel is, if not totally completed and revised to Bolano's satisfaction at the time of his death, at least closer to completion than Woes..., and we can imagine closer to what the author wanted it to be, than this novel he kept in a drawer for 40 years. Although, to play Devil's advocate against myself, reading Woes of the True Policeman and then following it up with 2666 would actually be to follow the genesis of Bolano's thought and writing. So, whatever, just so you know that the two novels, as they now stand, are like alternate versions of what was once a single stroke of inspiration. Woes... was written first and is centered on the character of Amalfitano, who is only one of several spotlighted protagonists in 2666. Beyond that, here in Woes... there are snatches of the other elements, which act here as interesting digressions, which become full-blown sections, practically sub-novels in and of themselves, in 2666.

While these 200+ pages are never going to approach the complexity or scope of the 1,200+ pages of 2666, there are some things I actually preferred about Woes..., as opposed to its more developed younger sibling. The Amalfitano character presented here is different than the one who ended up featured in the second section of 2666, and I think he's more interesting in this incarnation. I can only surmise that here the character was created first, and that the form of Woes of the True Policeman then wrapped itself around him, beginning with his encounter with Padilla (a student who becomes his lover) and ends with what might be his last communication with Padilla, in the form of a letter. Thus the character and his story form a tight Gestalt, even if the meaning or moral of the novel, as is usual with Bolano's writing, remains rather elusive, or allusive, if you will, rather up to the reader to construct. (This is why the other elements of Woes.... read like digressions, because they veer rather far from Amalfitano and his immediate experience. In 2666, of course, the murders in Santa Teresa, and Amalfitano's daughter Rosa, will be given whole novel-length sections of their own and so will become the focus of that novel's greater scope. Still, since some sections of 2666 struck me as weaker than others (Particularly the Rosa Amalfitano section) I think a case can be made for the more compact telling of a tale here--even if it turns out to be a completely different tale (the focus here is back on literature and sexuality, as in The Spirit of Science Fiction and even The Savage Detectives) than the global and historical scope of sexism, war, murder, and fate, which appears to be the terrain of the sprawling 2666.

At any rate, I'm quite pleased Bolano's heirs saw fit to publish this MS. I'm glad I came across it in my Kindle and was able to read one more Bolano novel before I had to begin re-reading to return to his unique brand of storytelling.

[Dragan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Svijet o smrti i o pisanju kao činu života sastavni je dio ovog romana, kao i samog pisca osuđenog na neograničeno pisanje protiv vremena. U samoj njegovoj srži inzostira se na koncepciji romana kao života: dok jesmo, pišemo, dok živimo, čitamo, jedini kraj je smrt.
Tipično za Bolana, krećemo se njegovim temama nasilja, nesporazuma, otuđenosti, neobičnosti, bolesti, posvemašnje degradacije i smrti.

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume, which Bolaño is said to have worked on from the 1980s until his death in 2003, is most likely to appeal to hard-core Bolañistas and novelists like myself, though it is full of interesting bits. It seems to be a side project to his masterly 2666, also left in a state of incompletion (though you wouldn’t know this unless you were told) at his death, and involves some of the same characters that appear in that novel, Amalfito and Rosa in particular. However, the versions of these characters as portrayed in Woes of the True Policeman do not really gibe with the their counterparts in 2666, and, and though Bolaño does occasionally refer to the former book by its title in his correspondence, there is ample reason to suppose that Woes is to some degree a sketch book for 2666, which he was working on at the same time. In that case many of the sketches in Woes may be seen as warm-ups for 2666, experiments finally omitted from that much more polished masterpiece. Since Bolaño frequently reused characters (slightly altered) from book to book, and never wasted a word he wrote, I’m tempted to think that when he finally had 2666 pretty much where he wanted it, he wondered if he could make another novel out of the leftovers that we now have as Woes. (And you can be certain his publishers wondered the same thing after his death.) Thus for anyone who writes and is interested in how Bolaño went about it, Woes is fascinating, even essential. It is very far from being a finished novel, however, even though there is new material included in it, particularly regarding policemen (consonant with the author’s abiding interest in detectives). For me Woes is a very instructive look into Bolaño’s writing process (“just do it,” in short), and for that I loved it.

[Paul Gleason · Rating 2 out of 5]

In my estimation, Bolano is the greatest writer to come out of Latin America since the great Boom of the 1960s. It's a no-brainer that The Savage Detectives and 2666 are two of the greatest novels ever written and that Bolano holds his own with any novelist who's put pen to paper.

Which brings us to Woes of the True Policeman, which is the last of Bolano's posthumous novels (he died of liver failure in 2003 and sadly never got to see the international success of his work).

What is Woes? Well, it's not a novel. Rather, it reads like a heavily edited collection of notes that Bolano took for 2666. The central characters are the same. Sure, we get more background on them - and sometimes alternate story lines - but that's really it. There's not much of a narrative - and the book is too fragmented to make sense as an experimental text.

So who is Woes for? It's not for me - and I'm one of Bolano's greatest admirers. I admire him for his innovations, his prose style, his original ideas. But I'm no fanboy. And it seems that this book was released for Bolano's fans and not his readers. There's a BIG difference.

The New York Times reviewer made an excellent point when he/she said that reading this book was like listening to outtakes from a terrific album. Do we really need to hear all of the takes of a song that went in to the creation of the final take? Do we really need to read Bolano and all the riffs that led to 2666?

It seems, as I write this, that this book was published to make money - and for no other reason.

Is this book like DFW's The Pale King? No way. DFW's book contains original material - it's not just the notes for Infinite Jest.

[César Galicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahora que conozco más de cerca a Amalfitano y que ya por fin me entero de las tramas en las novelas de Archimboldi, me urge leer de nuevo sus parte en 2666. Qué bonito, qué complejo, qué dinámico es el Bolañoverse. Aquello que perdimos cuando murió es incalculable.