Week 11 -Robert Bolaño’s Distant Star.
This week I read Robert Bolaño’s Distant Star. I read the book outside with Jordan and Daisy and I must say we enjoyed reading it (especially with the sun shining). The book was certainly dark in its elements of murder and violence, however it remained thought provoking. The book reminded me of stories I used to read as a child such as Nancy Drew given its mystery tone. I also enjoyed the way in which the story was told, and in the beginning I found the narrator themselves to be mysterious and at times confusing. The narrator not only described the scene but also played an active role in the story, which resulted in an engaging experience for me as the reader. I found myself trying to discover their name or story throughout the book. Having this type of narrator also seemed to shape how I perceived the other characters. We gain their thoughts, internal voices, dislikes and opinions on every page, this active narrator certainly persuaded me how I interpreted characters such as Wieder.
I think my biggest observation from the book was its structure. We have analyzed a variety of stories, autobiographies and poetry in this class so far, and to me Robert Bolaño’s Distant Star, felt like a mashup of all of these structures. The novel began in a way that led me to believe it was going to be another collection of poetry, however it continues to develop into a narrative, that being said it is a narrative with a substantial amount of reference to poetry. The initial introduction to art, poetry and fantasization of women (the Garmendia sisters) was met with a distinct shift to a darker and more mysterious tone.
Poetry is a form of writing which I personally find to be the most beautiful and artistic. Forms of poetry such as song lyrics and love poems or even poems of traumatic events follow an element of semantics that moves a reader. While reading I came across familiar names, one of them being Pablo Neruda and his Twenty Love Poems. It was interesting to see familiar names in the story and certainly grabbed my attention.
In response to Jons question on whether or not Wieder produces art, I think that it could objectively, and from the most removed perspective, be categorized as art, however not in the conventional sense that it depicts something beautiful or emotional, but in the sense that it is technically his artistic expression. It is undoubtedly gruesome and horrific and in the eyes of most, not an act of art but rather just an act of violence.
His images of his victims, such as the Garmendia sisters shock and disturb both the narrator and the reader, although I believe his “artistic expression” if you will, is very intentional. The exact intention behind it, I'm unsure, and that is what I would love to hear from you all. What do you think the intention behind Wieder acts are?
"Distant Star felt like a mashup of all of these structures". Bolaño is an author who plays with ways of telling and you have noticed it very well. If you remember, Borges also played with the genres of literature. In addition, the literary form is one of the topics that the poet characters talk about, so this becomes more evident. These poets are hyper-aware of the literary tradition and show it to us. What is the relationship between poetry and the horror of the dictatorship?
ReplyDeleteHi Elisabeth! Thanks for your lovely post. To answer your question I think that Carlos Wieder has a very different idea as to what 'art' can be considered vs many of us. As mentioned early on in the text, his poems felt cold and distant and things really only went up a notch from there. His Air show for example is art, however can be interpreted in so many ways... I think his goal is to elicit some sort of reaction from his audience more than anything.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the insightful review! I find it interesting how Bolaño combined ideas of art and violence into the character of Carlos Wieder. It is almost like Bolaño wanted to show us how the two concepts can easily become one.
ReplyDeleteHi Elisabeth! Loved your blog post. Your mention of reading the book in a sunny, open area was a nice added touch. To answer your question, I would say I don't really know. My best guess is that he did those killings to release some sort of pent-up frustration. Like it's one thing to kill people but dismembering them and taking pictures is entirely different, so there has to be some bigger motivation behind them. Maybe the motivation for killing the sisters had to do with jealousy, over how great they were at writing poems. All I can say is, Carlos definitely had some serious problems.
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