Night in Chile

Name: Night in Chile
ISBN: 9787208131033

Roberto Bolaño / 徐泉Shanghai People's Publishing House · ChinaNov 2018

4.2

Word count: 80K words
Chapters: 7
ISBN: 9787208131033

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Summary

Sebastián Urrutia Lacroix, a feverish priest and literary critic, a mediocre poet and member of Opus Dei, believes he is dying. In his final hours, over the course of a single night, he reviews the important times of his life, and the following figures and episodes appear in turn: his association with Farewell, the godfather of Chilean literary criticism, which gradually makes him aware of his homosexual tendencies; Ernst Jünger, and the Guatemalan painter who let himself die of malnutrition in Paris and scoffed at all offers of goodwill; two clients of ambiguous identity, an invitation to travel around Europe in search of ways to preserve church architecture, and an unwelcome secret request to teach Marxism to General Pinochet; and a mysterious woman in whose suburban mansion the luminaries of Chilean literature gather, while in its basement events take place worthy of a horror film...

Editor's review

By Night in Chile is a highly experimental novella by the Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño. Composed of just two long paragraphs, it nonetheless carries immense literary density and historical weight. Through the chaotic stream-of-consciousness monologue of a dying priest, Sebastián Urrutia Lacroix—literary critic, mediocre poet, and member of Opus Dei—Bolaño interweaves personal memory, literary criticism, political reflection, and the historical trauma of Chile. In seemingly fragmented, leaping ravings, he constructs a spiritual portrait of an intellectual under the shadow of dictatorship, in language at once poetic and full of pain. This is not a narrative novel in the traditional sense but rather an elegy for the Chilean intelligentsia written in prose poetry, exploring the eternal tensions between art and tyranny, memory and forgetting, betrayal and integrity. Reading it requires patience, for it refuses to offer a clear linear story and instead invites the reader to descend into the dark labyrinth of a dying mind, where literature, politics, and personal guilt can no longer be separated. With his distinctive literary courage, Bolaño demonstrates how the novel form can bear the weight of history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

People interested in Latin American literature and history, especially Chile during the Pinochet era
Readers who appreciate experimental literary forms, stream-of-consciousness writing, and complex textual structures
Fans hoping to deepen their understanding of Bolaño's literary world and core themes
Readers who think about issues such as the moral dilemmas of intellectuals and the relationship between art and politics

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a clear, complete, linear traditional story
Readers completely unfamiliar with the political and historical background who are unwilling to do additional research

Reading tips

Before reading, it helps to have a basic understanding of the 1973 Chilean coup and the history of Pinochet's military government
Accept its distinctive textual form; do not insist on sorting out every character and event thread. First absorb its language and emotional atmosphere
Reading it alongside other works by Bolaño (such as The Savage Detectives and 2666) can help illuminate his overall creative trajectory

About the publisher

Shanghai People's Publishing House China · Founded in 1951

Shanghai People's Publishing House is a comprehensive publisher whose list focuses on academic monographs and general-interest titles in philosophy, social sciences, politics and law, economics and management, and history. Among its books are Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties History in the Chinese Dynastic History series; The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy in foreign literature; the Wenjing Classical Translation Illustrated Edition of The Complete Greek Tragedies of Euripides; and works of social theory such as Max Weber's Economy and Society and Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments. Its authors include Wang Zhongluo, J.R.R. Tolkien, Luo Niansheng, and Zhou Zuoren.

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FAQ

Why does this book have only two paragraphs?

This is a deliberate literary experiment by Bolaño. The single, long, almost suffocating paragraph form mimics the unbroken, chaotic flow of consciousness of a dying protagonist, heightening the text's oppressive force and immersion. The form itself is part of the content.

Can I understand this book without having read other works by Bolaño?

Yes. By Night in Chile is a standalone novella, though its core themes (such as historical trauma and the role of literature) are consistent with Bolaño's oeuvre. It can serve as an entry point into his literary world, though it may be the most radical and concentrated in form among his works.

Are the many writers and artworks mentioned in the book real?

Yes. Bolaño embeds a large number of real literary and artistic references, from classic European writers to modern Latin American poets, building a rich intertextual network. These references are not decoration; they serve to portray the protagonist's identity as a literary critic and to evoke the continuity and rupture of the intellectual tradition.

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About the author

Roberto Bolaño Author · Chilean · 1953–2003

Roberto Bolaño was a Chilean novelist and poet. Born in Santiago in 1953, he moved to Mexico in 1968, traveled to Europe in 1977, and later settled in Blanes, Spain. A driving force behind the infrarealist poetry movement, he worked across poetry and fiction, often following wanderers, marginal writers, and exiles while examining literature, violence, and time through a stark narrative gaze. His major works include the novels The Savage Detectives and 2666, the story collections Last Evenings on Earth and Distant Star, and the poetry collection The Unknown University; many of his books have appeared in Chinese translation. He died of liver disease in Barcelona in 2003 at the age of 50, and his work has continued to attract wide attention, earning him recognition as a major voice in contemporary Spanish-language literature.

徐泉 Author

Xu Quan is an author for whom only limited public information is available. Two works are currently known, namely Night in Chile and The Literature Conference. As details such as nationality, dates of birth and death, and English name remain unconfirmed, little can be said about the author's personal background. Existing classifications place the works under foreign literature and otherworldly fantasy, suggesting that the writing may span both realistic and fantastical subjects. Judging from the works themselves, Xu Quan tends to develop characters and events within concrete situations and to choose subjects without restriction, moving both into the context of foreign literature and into narrative spaces with an otherworldly flavor. The two works, placed side by side, reflect the author's varied attempts in subject and style. Although verifiable material on Xu Quan's life and creative background is still lacking, the two existing works nevertheless offer readers an entry point for observing the author's writing orientation and for learning more about this author.