On 2666 and Savage Detectives

As you may know by now, Stephen King is my all time favorite fiction author, and Roberto Bolano is a good second. The distinction between them is fast though, at least at the surface: SK deals in horror, RB in literature. Below that is what makes their stories, and for that matter, any story work is the stuff that's easy to identify, but hard to reproduce: suspense, entertainment, well-rounded character, a journey, a resolve and an easy to identify theme. If you're interested, you can read more about my theory of fiction in the foreword of The Entity.

Why both 2666 and Savage Detectives? Partly because they're very alike in their scope, their all-over-the-placeness, tone, etc etc. In fact, RB was very consistent in the quality of his output, usually underdogs in cities and towns that were going down the drain, fighting against something, but ultimately fighting against themselves. 

2666 is the most massive of the two, and also the most pulpy. It starts off with three academics that are after an elusive figure named Archimbaldi, and what ties all of them together is that they are all after the same woman. Then the story is all over the place, until it ends up in Mexico and it zooms in on the murder of many young women, and it's explored whether this was done by an individual, or a group of individuals. It remains in the air, which of the two, just like it has remained in the air, and many of those murders, which were actually committed, were unresolved. 

Savage Detectives is the story of a group of poets that live in Mexico City, they circle around each other, and around some elusive older poet. Beyond that, not much happens, but the writing is of such excellent quality that you get easily hooked and just keep on reading. 

When should you read these works

- The characters are underdogs that are fighting the system, but ultimately themselves. That makes it excellent reads during times when you're trying to figure out your bearing, whether you're a teen in high school, in college/university or when you've been in a job for a few years and you're trying to figure out your next move. It's excellent for all of this, because these stories are very 'meta': between the lines they deal with our place in the world, and that's what you will get out of this (in so many words), even though you will not be able to put this into words after reading, beyond the notion that these were interesting reads (if that makes any sense...).

- These are also excellent reads for those times when you catch that notion of efficiency, productivity and all such ---- and when you realise that it might be applicable to some of our lives, but definitely not to all. These works will get you to switch gears and slow down. 

Continue reading

On IT by Stephen King
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On Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
An analysis in three parts: part 1, part 2 & part 3.


On Do I amuse you? by Salvator Paine
On a free short story that I found online.