Josh 蔡’s Reviews > Nazi Literature in the Americas > Status Update

you get it

_takechiya wrote: "you get it"

it's really incredible to me how the text avoids simply being clever, especially given the way the novel is framed which could easily become gimmicky, but instead it throws punch after punch of ideas and themes beyond simply 'fascists are bad and look at how quirky they are' while also on the other hand being literally just that as well. i can only imagine how laborious it was for bolaño to create these patterns and make it seem as if the audience discovers it by themselves

Josh wrote: it's really incredible to me how the text avoids simply being clever, especially given the way the novel is framed which could easily become gimmicky, but instead it..."

That's exactly right, this man is a genius. He's explored the idea of mundane evil elsewhere but this is where he does it in more detail. It's always good to hammer in how unextraordinary fascism can be, especially in latam where I'd dare say this phenomenon becomes even more complex.

_takechiya wrote: "Josh wrote: it's really incredible to me how the text avoids simply being clever, especially given the way the novel is framed which could easily become gimmicky, but instead it..."

That's exactly..."

i think im seeing what you mean by fascism being more complex in latin america-- im nearing the end of the book, where there has been a brief spell of specifically US writers, i'm thinking it might serve as a contrast to the last two longer chapters.
i'll definitely talk to you about this at some point, i had actually wanted to reach out earlier but i had been feeling frivolous and insubstantive so i've been keeping myself busy to regain some sort of reality