La literatura nazi en América by Bolaño, Roberto - 1996

Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1996. First edition. 237 pp. 8vo. Some light toning to spine and along spine on back cover of self-wrappers, otherwise fine. First edition. 237 pp. 8vo. A darkly-comic fictional encyclopedia or anthology of right-wing literary figures in the Americas. It is structured as a series of biographical sketches of major figures, followed by a glossary of further writers, publishers, periodicals, and a bibliography of works. The authors and works are invented, but weave among historical figures and milieus - namely World War II - in order to create a sinister tapestry of unofficial fascism in society and literature.

Roberto Bolaño (1953-2003) was likely the first and biggest literary sensation of the Twenty-First Century. He was born in Chile, then moved to Mexico as a youth, but returned to take part in Salvador Allende's socialist revolution in 1973. He was imprisoned, but released by some guards who were his childhood classmates, and returned to Mexico where he founded an avant-garde poetic movement called Infrarrealismo, which he fictionalized in his most famous novel, The Savage Detectives (1998). He eventually moved to Spain, got married, and had children, and turned to novel writing to support his family. His first book published in English - By Night in Chile - was released by New Directions the year he died to critical praise. In the years after his death sixteen more books of poetry and prose have been released, including his magnum opus, 2666.