Distant Star
Published on 3. October 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
176 pages
978-1-78487-945-7 (ISBN)
Description
Alberto Ruiz-Tagle was once the quiet, unknowable, unpromising member of Chile's young poetry scene.
But the military coup of 1973 sees Alberto reborn as Chile's leading celebrity poet, Carlos Wieder. Known for his daring sky poems, penned in smoke high above the cities, Weider's dazzling trajectory is a cause for astonishment and speculation amongst his old poetry friends. Where did this talent suddenly spring from? And, how is it connected to the disappearance of the beautiful Garmendia twins?
Told from across the years in exile in Europe, the narrator's attempts to trace the fate of his old circle will lead him to one last confrontation with the brutality of their generation.
TRANSLATED BY CHRIS ANDREWS
'Roberto Bolano's universe - huge, interconnected, polyphonic - is formed from the collision of a wicked sense of humour and a vast and white-hot moral fire... His oeuvre is among the great, blistering literary achievements of the twentieth century' Lauren Groff
'For stunning wit, brutal honesty, loving humanity and a heart that bleeds into the simplest of words, no other writer ever came close' Marlon James
But the military coup of 1973 sees Alberto reborn as Chile's leading celebrity poet, Carlos Wieder. Known for his daring sky poems, penned in smoke high above the cities, Weider's dazzling trajectory is a cause for astonishment and speculation amongst his old poetry friends. Where did this talent suddenly spring from? And, how is it connected to the disappearance of the beautiful Garmendia twins?
Told from across the years in exile in Europe, the narrator's attempts to trace the fate of his old circle will lead him to one last confrontation with the brutality of their generation.
TRANSLATED BY CHRIS ANDREWS
'Roberto Bolano's universe - huge, interconnected, polyphonic - is formed from the collision of a wicked sense of humour and a vast and white-hot moral fire... His oeuvre is among the great, blistering literary achievements of the twentieth century' Lauren Groff
'For stunning wit, brutal honesty, loving humanity and a heart that bleeds into the simplest of words, no other writer ever came close' Marlon James
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 193 mm
Width: 131 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
127 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78487-945-7 (9781784879457)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2024
Vintage Digital
€8.99
Available for download
Persons
Roberto Bolano (Author)
Roberto Bolano was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1953. He grew up in Chile and Mexico City, where he was a founder of the Infrarealism poetry movement. Described by the New York Times as 'the most significant Latin American literary voice of his generation', he was the author of over twenty works, including The Savage Detectives, which received the Herralde Prize and the Romulo Gallegos Prize when it appeared in 1998, and 2666, which posthumously won the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Bolano died in Blanes, Spain, at the age of fifty, just as his writing found global recognition.
Chris Andrews (Translator)
Chris Andrews was born in Newcastle, Australia, in 1962. He teaches in the department of French, Italian and Spanish Studies of the University of Melbourne. His translation of Roberto Bolano's Distant Star in 2005 won the prestigious Valle-Inclan Prize.
Roberto Bolano was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1953. He grew up in Chile and Mexico City, where he was a founder of the Infrarealism poetry movement. Described by the New York Times as 'the most significant Latin American literary voice of his generation', he was the author of over twenty works, including The Savage Detectives, which received the Herralde Prize and the Romulo Gallegos Prize when it appeared in 1998, and 2666, which posthumously won the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Bolano died in Blanes, Spain, at the age of fifty, just as his writing found global recognition.
Chris Andrews (Translator)
Chris Andrews was born in Newcastle, Australia, in 1962. He teaches in the department of French, Italian and Spanish Studies of the University of Melbourne. His translation of Roberto Bolano's Distant Star in 2005 won the prestigious Valle-Inclan Prize.