Last Evenings on Earth

by Roberto Bolaño

Although I've read some of Bolaño's short stories in publications like the New Yorker and Harper's, this is the first collection of his shorter pieces that I've read.  I find Bolaño works differently in short fiction than he does in novels.

There is little trace of the long, self-indulgent sentences and paragraphs that fill books like The Savage Detectives and 2666, and instead, he presents a more economical and stripped down approach to his writing, while still maintaining a signature style and aesthetic that makes it clearly his work.

The fourteen stories that make up this book are mostly concerned with writers and writing, as are all of the novels of his that I've read so far (I suspect they all are).  Many of these stories appear to be auto-biographical, with the narrator frequently being Bolaño`s alter-ego Arturo Belano, or simply `B`.  We visit the author at various ages, and the stories are almost evenly divided between the Chile of his childhood, the Mexico of his young adulthood, and the Spain that he eventually chose to settle in.  When not writing about himself as a writer, Bolaño explores other writers and their lives, as in the stories `Sensini`, `Dentist`, `Henri Simon Leprince`, `Enrique Martin`, and `A Literary Adventure`.  The final story in the book, `Dance Card`explores the influence of Neruda on his life.

When not writing about writers and writing, Bolaño stays compelling.  His `Anne Moore`s Life`recounts the life of an American woman who never quite manages to settle down, and eventually becomes Bolaño`s (or Belano`s) lover.  Many of the stories, such as `Gómez Palacio`, `The Grub`, and the title story explore the dingier parts of Mexico, the Northern towns and seedy bars.

One story, `Mauricio (`The Eye`) Silva`could have been written by William S. Burroughs, with it`s story of a photographer who has absconded with two young Indian boys intended to become eunuchs for a religious ceremony.

In all, this book displays the breadth of Bolaño`s skills as a writer, and continues to whet my appetite to read more of his work.