Author Archives: Jon

When I Sing, Mountains Dance: Songs of Selves and Others

Posted on July 8, 2026 by Jon

The subject of the assertion contained in the title of Irene Solà’s When I Sing, Mountains Dance (2019) is, in the first instance, a young man by the name of Hilari who composes poems–though he does not write them down. He comes … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Discontent: Calling Out Bullshit

Posted on July 7, 2026 by Jon

Marisa, the narrator and protagonist of Beatriz Serrano’s Discontent (2025) has what anthropologist David Graeber calls a “bullshit job,” which he defines as “a form of employment that is so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Little Eyes: Remote Control and Controlled

Posted on July 4, 2026 by Jon

At the very end of Samanta Schweblin’s Little Eyes (2018), there is a mention of a young boy “staring at his own reflection on [a] black screen” (239). The book’s resonance with the TV series, Black Mirror, could hardly be clearer. As with … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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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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