Author Archives: Jon

Roads Not Taken

Posted on April 9, 2026 by Jon

I ended up teaching a course on long books this semester. Here is the original proposal: Why are long books long? Beyond its length, what makes a long book different from a short book? How is the experience of reading … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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2666 VI: Between Parentheses, Naturaleza Muerta

Posted on April 8, 2026 by Jon

At one point in “The Part of Archimboldi,” the 325-page section with which 2666 concludes, we find ourselves something like four, five, or even six or more levels of narrative deep, as digressions and parentheses accumulate with no clear end. We … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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The Savage Detectives VI: Reading with AI

Posted on March 28, 2026 by Jon

As an experiment (and in preparation for an upcoming discussion of reading with AI, in the context of reading The Savage Detectives), I thought I would ask ChatGPT a few questions about the book, and see what it came up … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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The Savage Detectives V: Was it Worth It?

Posted on March 23, 2026 by Jon

And so, after some 450 pages, with Part III of The Savage Detectives we are back with García Madero, who along with Belano, Lima, and Lupe is barreling along the highway in Quim Font’s borrowed Chevy Impala, heading north to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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2666 V: Narrative Necrosis

Posted on March 18, 2026 by Jon

Drawing on narrative theory (Genette, Barthes, Todorov, Culler, etc.) Bede Scott argues that the fourth part of 2666, “The Part of the Crimes,” induces what he calls “‘narrative necrosis,’ whereby the tissue of the narrative itself undergoes a process of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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The Savage Detectives IV: A Chill Descends from the North Pole

Posted on March 12, 2026 by Jon

Part Two of Bolaño’s novel ranges far and wide, both temporally and geographically. As its subtitle indicates, it covers the period from 1976 to 1996. And it takes us from Mexico to Europe (France, Spain, Austria…), the Middle East, and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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2666 IV: A Snowball in the Sun

Posted on February 28, 2026 by Jon

All roads lead to Santa Teresa: is that the “fate” of the “Part of Fate,” which inexorably leads us ever closer to “the killings in Sonora” first glimpsed by the critic Morini in an article in the Italian newspaper Il … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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The Savage Detectives III: A Joke Covering Up Something More Serious

Posted on February 22, 2026 by Jon

A little over half-way through The Savage Detectives (on page 369 of 648), it feels as though things may be starting to come together. According to Luis Sebastián Rosado, it is Luscious Skin who at last outlines the structure of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Bolaño and the History of the Future

Posted on February 6, 2026 by Jon

Bolaño’s fiction, whether set in Chile or Mexico, is as much about a memory of Latin America as it is about the region’s actuality, even if that memory is sometimes also a memory of the future. Audio | Transcript | … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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2666 III: Order with the Possibility of Suicide

Posted on January 31, 2026 by Jon

“The Part of Amalfitano” is, at almost exactly eighty pages, the shortest of the five parts that make up 2666. It expands on the character, circumstances, and history of Oscar Amalfitano, a professor at the University of Santa Teresa and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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