RMST 495/520: Long Books

Hi everyone, in my version of “The Savage Detectives” by Roberto Bolano, I read up to page 140, which took me to the end of Part 1. I’m not sure if everyone else felt this way, but the entire time I was reading, the most prominent feeling for myself was absolute exhaustion. Juan García Madero is one of the most stretched-thin characters ever. Well most of the time anyways, there are some days where he writes that he does absolutely nothing except staying in bed reading and writing. However majority of his days are spent with different faces like Arturo and Lima, who at first, he was chasing in a slightly desperate manner trying to prove to them and himself that he belonged to the Visceral Realists. My feeling of exhaustion on behalf of Madero first came from me comparing my own life to his, especially considering he is only seventeen years old, and he’s staying out all night with people he’s just met, running from place to place on a whim, and I think about how unalike I am to Madero. I think there is intention from Bolano’s behalf to try and evoke those feelings because the idea of a poetic revolution is grand, time consuming and it feels like an “all or nothing” moment.

While Madero is not the most likeable or relatable character to me, I think there is a theme of confidence that evolves in the first part of the book. The first event of the book is his argument with Álamo over what a rispetto is and other poetry related terminology. From this incident onwards, there is an underlying purpose to Madero’s interactions, thoughts and actions; which is he wants to contribute to the Latin American revolution of poetry. Even though in the earlier pages of Part 1, Madero writes he is sure he will never see Lima or Arturo again and is uncertain of his status with the Visceral Realists, nonetheless, he is still practicing his poetry in public and putting himself out there every day.

The relationship between Madero and Quim is also quite unique and complex. In my reading, I think Madero and Quim are quite similar, which if I had to guess the inner thoughts of Madero, I don’t think that is something he would be keen on. When he first hears about Quim and then meets him, he thinks he is a crazy man. However, as his relationship with primarily María, as well as the whole family progresses, he learns more about Quim’s passions for poetry, and I think he develops his own opinion on him. I also found it very interesting that when Madero discovered that Quim was sexually involved with Lupe, he seemed to show judgement, when Madero has also found himself in morally grey areas pertaining to sex and relationships. It seems like there are some parts of Quim he admires, but his faults he shows resentment towards, maybe because it is just the parts of himself he despises as well.

Overall, I enjoyed the first part of the book, and considering how it ends, I am curious to see where Madero and the others flee to.

Photos: Front cover of the novel « The Savage Detectives » and image of author Roberto Bolaño

Genuine First Impressions of Robert Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives

Literally, « What in the world did I just read?! »… Allow the following images of facial reactions to help explain the wide range of emotions and impressions I’d felt and received whilst reading the first part of The Savage Detectives.

First and foremost, reading through the first part of the novel, I was genuinely shocked, confused, losing patience, bored, repulsed, reluctant, indifferent, disappointed and hopeful by what I had read. At other times, I asked myself a series of questions: Had I picked up the wrong book by accident? Why was this book assigned to us? What is the literary value of learning from this book? Am I in my right mind to read this book? Why are there so many characters being added or mentioned? I can’t keep up with who’s who. Who’s important? Whose not important? Where is the poetry? Why is there more description for romance, sex, skinny love and relationships than actual poetry? Can the author even write poetry, or does he examine poetry? Why does this feel more like a coming-of-age genre than crime and mystery? And most important of them all, where is the mystery? It’s called The Savage Detectives, so I get the « savage » part, but who is the « detective » and what is the « mystery » being solved?

There aren’t many things I like, but many things that I did not like. However, what I found interesting is the level of female involvement in his life, specifically older women. As the narrative progresses, it constantly switches between the relationships among older women and in a way, he becomes an object to these women. To me, it is interesting that Lupe becomes a cause worth giving up their old life and fleeing for, but not as a voice worth hearing.

In-Class Discussion Question

« Is the main protagonist García Madero a victim of the Visceral Realists, or their most near-perfect creation of it? »

At first glance, it appears as if García Madero is undergoing a process of « coming-of-age » story arc, and he appears to be searching for himself, his identity, to belong to others, and to inform others who he is or becoming in the process. He is young, energized, inexperienced, hungry for meaning, attention and belonging, and easily vulnerable to others’ charisma, passion and attention. Despite the purpose of the literary and poetic movement of The Visceral Realists, the group offers Madero many things he lacks and seeks in the moment: access to romantic and sexual relationships with various women, to a higher purpose, to transgression, to a community and most importantly, to the formation of his identity. As the audience, we see how Madero changes himself eagerly throughout the dated journal entries: from « temporarily » taking a break from his studies in Law to joining a so-called poetry group, the Visceral Realists; to distanting himself from his family; to following the men of this group wherever they go day-in and day-out; to involving himself with the lavish lifestyle of the upper class; to helping certain women escape from the cruel dangers that lie asleep in Mexico City; and now to a life on the run. His thoughts and his inner world are restless, accumulative, experiential, constantly moving forward and toward something, but not knowing what that something is.

From one point of view, the Visceral Realists appear less of a movement that produces Mexican poetry, but rather produce identities. As the entries progress, Madero becomes less poetic, less involved in poetry, less reflective, less philosophical, and less articulative. In a sense, the Visceral Realists create another self in García Madero. The accumulation of sexual encounters, parties and meetings with whoever matters more than poetry itself. In the novel, they mentioned poets and certain poems, but they do not reflect, discuss and learn from them. Like a magazine accumulating many of the great works of other poets, the group is accumulating rebellious and eccentric experiences and identities amongst the young men. In other words, Madero is another product of being a man in the Visceral Realist: to behave in certain ways, to react, think and speak in certain ways and to blindly do things in certain ways. He moves and rebels not with the pen and mind, but with his body and the words of others in the Visceral Realist.

What has me questioning is how seamless García Madero’s character transformation is. Simply, there is no noticeable or grand moment where he recognizes loss. There is no event where he mourns what he is leaving behind (i.e., his family, the potential future to work as a lawyer, the potential to advance in social class, the potential to move out of poverty, dangers and crimes of his living environment, etc.). It feels deliberate that the author wrote the narrative in the absence of Madero feeling regret, guilt or grief. In a way, Madero often observes and follows the other members of the group, quickly internalizing the values and assimilating to their actions and behaviours.

I have to admit that I’m not quite sure what to think of this book so far. I got pulled into it right away – I quite enjoy the journal-entry-style-writing and I was interested following the story of García Madero’s shift from being a law student to joining a group of poets. The part in which I started to feel disinterested was when he started sharing either his or his friend’s sexual experiences. Some of it made me feel sick to my stomach, especially when they spoke about everyone’s interest in taking Angélica’s virginity.

While I understand that the book is set in 1975 Mexico, and is written by a 17-year-old boy, it was evidently very sexist and I was not only feeling disturbed by it, but I also just started to find it all to be boring. It felt like I had read 40 pages of the same thing over and over again and I was considering whether I should start skipping some pages (or at least paragraphs) because I didn’t feel like I needed to read about another man degrading another woman in bed. While this interest for sex never completely went away, it did feel like it at least started to include some other parts of his day, like searching for Ulises Lima and Arturo Belano in book stores, conversations with his aunt and uncle, etc.

I was starting to feel a bit confused around when García Madero got sick. I wondered if he was on drugs or if there were also some hallucinations happening for him too, especially when he was trying to call María. What Lima and Belano shared with him when they went to visit him about Quim pretending to be Angélica left me pondering what was actually true. Quim was referred to many times as not being “in his right mind,” (but then he refers to more people as not being in their “right mind” either) but I began to wonder whether there was something happening to García Madero himself? I’m not sure, I just noticed a bit of a shift in his emotions or thoughts as the story went on and I’m curious if anyone else experienced this.

I felt sad to hear about the situation that Lupe was in throughout the whole book and I’m curious to hear about what happens for her. While this book brought up many different emotions for me, I did still feel interested to know about where this story was going.

There were many parts that I felt like were unnecessary details to include and I didn’t understand their relevance, however whenever I felt this way, I reflected back on our first class and remembered that we would be diving into what long stories are and why they write them, so I am interested to learn more about this (I even find himself getting annoyed in movies sometimes, wondering why they made certain scenes as long as they did).

I tried to like it. I genuinely did. And at the end I did; somewhat. I hope that Bolaño’s intention with Garcia Madero’s epistolar writing in the first part of Los detectives salvajes (1998) was to generate some kind of disgust. I would not say this first part was boring; quite the contrary. It was full of feelings, maybe not the positive feelings one might expect from reading a novel, but feelings nonetheless.

I am amazed by the ability of Bolaño to make someone so unlikable. Garcia Madero reads as a type of person I’ve met many times throughout my academic life: he thinks he is better than everyone else in his life except the few people he chooses to deify and “toxically” admire (I’m looking at you Ulises). He is also a great example of machismo, a prime teen man ready to be groomed into the sexist, violent, Latin American society. Ignoring the sex-obsessed journal writing, not unexpected coming from a teen, Garcia Madero’s attitutde towards the women in his life is tough to read. I don’t say shocking, because this is, again, not something that surprises. This is the “normal”, this is how we usually understand men to behave, specially in a Latin American culture built upon machismo. But there is this specific moment on the novel where I had to put it down, where I had to remind myself this wasn’t a real person, where I started to doubt Bolaño and his intentions with this character.

María nos ofreció una taza de café y luego se levantó y fue a la cocina. La seguí. Mientras esperaba que el agua hirviera la abracé por detrás y le dije que quería acostarme con ella. No me contestó. Quien calla otorga, pensé, y besé su cuello y su nuca. (165, my emphasis)

 

María offered us a cup of coffee and then got up and went to the kitchen. I followed her. As she was waiting for the water to boil I embraced her from behind and told her I wanted to sleep with her. She did not answer. Silence is giving, I thought, and I kissed her neck and nape (165, my translation, my emphasis)

This horrible scene exemplifies for me what García Madero is. Once again, I hope this book doesn’t portray García Madero as some kind of hero, at least not if his attitude and behavior does not change. For me, ignoring whatever intention of beliefs Bolaño had, this first part of the novel is a master class on how to write a hate-able character.

I am happy that Lupe was able to get away (for now, I have a feeling this will come back to haunt them), but part of me wishes García Madero was shot in that final scene of the book.

I hope I wasn’t the only person whose feelings about García Madero tended in this direction, I am curious to know what opinions did everyone else had on his character.

Hello everyone. My name is "Perfect" [...] My parents gave me my name.
They said that when I was a baby, I looked like such a perfect child no matter which way they turned me.
But as I grew up, things changed.
My parents kept asking more of me; the school kept demanding better performance.
I am so tired. I just want to scream: "I am not perfect!"

My Little Perfect World. Jimmy Liao

I’m not perfect, that is true! And my name is not Perfect, that is true too. My name is Eliana, and the literature and reading were not always a perfect match for me. Firstly, I arrived late to it; perhaps reading was an attempt to find a space for me, a space where I can relax and imagine, more than just spend my free time, a free time that I don’t have. Reading was and is, in my case, a space to feel the world in other words and images. I talk about images because I arrive at literature through the wordless graphic novels, such as Arrivals (2006), by Shaun Tan, translated into Spanish under the title Emigrantes. When I read this book, I can feel what he feels; the images turned into a voice that told me a part of the story of a man. And a similar case was when I read Cigarra (2018) by the same artist.  I can remember some wordless books and graphic novels that I enjoy and love, like those mentioned and others like Los días raros (María Heredia & Roger Ycaza, 2015) and The sound of colors (Jimmy Liao, 2021).  También, I can remember some long books that I couldn’t finish, like War and Peace (Tolstoy).

Before this lovely encuentro for me, I had read some long books, but I don’t remember del todo. With some of them, I re-read, and it was an opportunity for me! Some of them were abandoned before the end or after a pair of chapters. Anyway, the images were a chance to read other literature and find other voices that let me experience other words and set up other images, other perspectives.

And the second reason for my imperfect reading is that I don’t have a lot of time to read, and additionally, I read slowly. 

My expectation for this course is to finish reading the long book that I have chosen: Nuestra parte de noche by Mariana Enriquez, a book that I selected since I want to start reading the work of this author.

Finally, I studied my undergraduate degree in Colombia, which was in Visual Arts and Education (Pedagogy).

Hi everyone, welcome to my very first blog! My name is Ava, and I’m a 4th  year Political Science student.

Now, you might be wondering how I ended up in a Romance Studies seminar. Well…

A couple of months before I discovered this course, I realized that all I had been reading was journal articles and non-fiction books. I often hear my friends talk about the books they have been reading or recently picked up (usually fiction), and it made me think that I want to explore reading beyond what I have so far.

I have always enjoyed longer texts, and they seem more challenging to me than shorter texts, which is what drew me to this course in the first place, and I think this is the perfect opportunity to learn something new and to escape my comfort zone in a way.

You might have noticed the image on my blog. I chose this image as it connects partly to who I am. I’m originally from Iran, and with that comes my fondness for tea, pomegranate, Iranian poetry, art, and culture; hence why I thought this image captured that beautifully. This brings up another question as to why I am interested in Romance Studies in particular.

Around the same time last year, I took a course on the politics of Latin America, and since then, I have become more and more interested in the region, beyond its politics, and I thought this was a great opportunity to explore Latin America from a different lens: through forms of literature and language. I was particularly drawn to Peru, which is why I chose a book that, though it’s fiction, has history embedded within it and is quite political, and of course because the story takes place in Peru. My chosen long book is Conversation in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa. Another reason I chose this book is that I have read a shorter work by the author and wanted to read one of his longer pieces.

I hadn’t anticipated this, but I have already learned new things, even though we’ve only had one class so far. For the context of this course, I think the only way new ideas and thoughts can be shaped and I can truly allow myself to learn (and the only way I can finish these books) is to let go, pour some tea, sit down, and read, which is how I intend to read the two long books. From the first class, I can already tell we will have wonderful discussions throughout the term as we read our books and I am very much looking forward to it!