They Want to Watch the Great Masters Spar

2666

Conclusion of Part 2

The Part About Amalfitano

Books on clotheslines, eliminating philosophers names from lists, voices from beyond the grave, wives sleeping with cab drivers for money, searching for poets...where do I start this post? As Bolano began the section with Amalfitano stating, "I don't know what I'm doing in Santa Teresa." Let me say I don't know the answer either after finishing this section!

Amalfitano is the focus of this section. We learn more about his estranged wife, Lola in the beginning of this part of 2666. Just like the critics in Part 1, Lola is also searching for an illusive literary figure. However, in this case the writer is someone that she does have a relationship. It is a poet who she met and had sex with at a party several years ago in Barcelona. We never learn the name of the poet. Perhaps this is because he is actually Archimboldi from Part 1?

This novel works like a puzzle. As I have mentioned before there is so much detail that it is difficult to decipher which parts are important and which parts are actually part of some sort of story arch. There are some unreliable narrators in this section, Amalfitano's story is in direct contrast to his wife's account. He claims that the first time that Lola heard about the Poet was when he provided her with a book of his work after they were married. Amalfitano also claims that the Poet is gay and Lola couldn't possibly have met him over an all night sexual escapade.

Exaggeration Is A Form of Polite Admiration

2666

Conclusion of Part 1

The Part About the Critics

Part of the fun of creating this blog is to look back on what your impressions were early on in a novel. In a previous post, I thought that the wheelchair would stop Morini and Liz Norton from sleeping together. Well spoiler alert it looks like I was wrong. Although they are together at the end of the section, it is unclear if they are involved sexually. For an author who gives a lot of detail there are still a lot of gaps and inferences that need to be applied by the reader. This is what makes experimental fiction so compelling.

It is interesting that there were some clues that Norton and Morini would get together.  Bolano did say something to the effect that the characters shared more that Archimboldi in common and we will get back to that later.

At the end of Part 1, some of our heroes have traveled to Mexico. Morini did not make the journey. They were following a tip that Archimboldi had recently been in Santa Teresa, Mexico.  A fictional city somewhere in the northwestern part of the country. The critics really want to find this reclusive author and get him the Nobel Prize or at the very least get the recognition as those who brought him to the podium.

The critics are all searching for something to take care of them and give life purpose. For Espinoza and Pelletier early on it seems that it is winning the love of Liz Norton. When the two men realize that this is not going to happen through her Dear John email to the both of them, they need to find another obsession. 

Pelletier finds his peace by reading and rereading Archimboldi's work. He takes the news from in an introverted and isolated manner. He spends his time at the hotel always alone and always with his eyes glued to the prose. 

Espinoza takes an extroverted approach. He finds a young girl named Rebecca who is a local rug merchant. He almost immediately gets sexually involved with her. Rebecca because of her age and experience is easily manipulated by the outgoing Espinoza. Everything about their encounter was meticulously documented. This is important because nothing about the threesome was detailed. We have no clue as to whether sex took place with Norton and Morini. 

This leads to Liz Norton.  She recovers from the breakup by turning to a reliable man, Moroni. I wonder if this connection would have even happened if Moroni had made the trip to Santa Rosa. When Norton returned to London it didn't take her very long to get her apartment and papers in order. I take this as a metaphor for how she aniticpated that it would take longer to move on from the abrupt conclusion to her prior relationship with Espinoza and Pelletier. Liz on her return quickly made a flight reservation to go see Morini.

A dream sequence where Liz was confused led her to a moment of real life clarity. The line that grabbed me was "Months before, I would've just drunk a glass of water and gone back to bed, but nothing would ever be the same again." She decided to sleep with him. As I mentioned previously there is little detail except that they love each other. 

The last lines of the critics are very interesting. It seems like nothing in this section was put in just to pass time. It is very apparent from Bolano's skill as a poet he does not waste words.  It is impossible not to look to a section and find something telling or insightful within the paragraphs.  I mean a perfect example would be looking at the final words of the critics in the section. This can't be random on incidental. 

Espinoza "I believe you." (of course his last line has the first person in it. It is also an affirmation of his support of Pelletier which Espinoza as extrovert expresses.)

Pelletier "Archimboldi is here and we're here, and this is the closest we'll ever be to him." (this line has his obsession with Archimboldi. It is a second period reference. Maybe I am searching here. I still find it fascinating)

Norton "I don't think that is a good idea. I'd rather sleep alone." (Her last line to the two men is also in complete contrast to what she does with Morini. Again, might be a stretch but I don't think it is an accident that this is the last true speaking line for Norton)

Norton "I know the two of you will understand (last line of her letter and also the final line of the section. There has to be something more here)

That is all for now on the part about the Critics. I am sure that other things will fill in as the novel progresses.  I am already excited to learn more about Almalfitano!

2666 a reading blog

Who is Benno von Archimboldi?

Week One 2666

Like with Underworld I am going to (hopefully!) blog thoughts on Roberto Bolano's epic novel 2666.

The start of the novel consists of the introduction of Benno von Archimboldi a German author with an Italian sounding name. We learn of this recluse novelist through four of his biggest fans and critics. Bolano gives us titles of the works by Archimboldi but very little else to describe his work.

I am about 65 pages in and most of the focus is on four critics who follow his work meet at different conferences. Three of the critics are male and one is female. Two of these male critics Pelletier and Ezpinoza have an affair with the female Liz Norton. The other male Moroni suffers from disease and is stuck in a wheel chair. Otherwise maybe he would also be sleeping with Norton. When I stopped reading Liz Norton has just ended the affair withe Ezpinoza and Pelletier.  We are also getting some information about where Archimboldi might  be traveling.

Just writing this down I wonder why I am enjoying the beginning of this novel so much.  There is more to the story but that is what I have the patience to write down.

It is the detail. It is the style.  It is the tangent short stories.  This novel is already opening me to think more about obsession. The definition of great art. The things that bound a group together.  I can't wait to see how it all unfolds.

Want to have Underworld as a Trophy

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She realized how rare it was to see what stands before you,(Quotes and Thoughts from Pages 361-400 of Underworld by Don Delillo )

"She realized how rare it was to see what stands before you, what a novelty of basic sensation in the grinding life of the city to look across a measured space and be undistracted by signs and streetlights and taxis and scaffolding, by your own bespattered mind, sorting the data, and by the energy that hurrying people make, lunch crowds and buses and bike messengers, all that consciousness powering down the flumes of Manhattan so that it becomes impossible to see across a street to the turquoise tiles of some terra-cotta facade, a winged beast carved above the lintel." - page 379

Klara Sax has returned to the novel is now wondering the streets of Manhattan.  She plans to create a documentary film on a talented graffiti artist from the Bronx.  In this particular passage, Don Delillo creates a scene that is understood by anyone who has spent considerable amounts of time in New York.  Waking the streets in a major city, especially New York is sensation over load and is over whelming.  I personally found interesting about this was the clause, "by your own bespattered mind, sorting the data."  The work that our brains do each day to focus on what is important and what is scattered truly is amazing.

I recall David Foster Wallace discussing this concept in his interview with David Lipsky.  He states, "I recieved five hundred thousand discrete bits of information today, of which maybe twenty-five are important.  And how am I going to sort those out, you know?"  This statement is valid.

"It didn't always help.  When Klara heard praise it sounded weak and tentative to her, badly rehearsed, when she was criticized in the press or through the intimate roundabouts of rumor and half news, she had to struggle against the feeling that they might be right, she was doing shallow and meek and dismissible work." -page 382

In the world of sports today, Boston Red Sox Left Fielder Carl Crawford said upon his arrival at Spring Training that he was surprised to hear that team owner John Henry stated on the radio in the off season that he was against the decision to sign Crawford as a free agent. 

Crawford response was, "It was unfortunate he feels that way. It's nothing for me to say to him. I wasn't happy about it. I was a little surprised to hear the comments but you know it's unfortunate he feels that way. Wish those words hadn't came out."

Honestly, why should it bother Carl Crawford what John Henry thinks about the decision.   The guy signed a seven year, $142 million contract which is guaranteed no matter how he performs for the remainder of his baseball career.

If money is a symbol of success in this world, than Carl Crawford is in an elite group.  The fear of not living up to expectations or of being criticized is always evident.  It is a human trait.  Crawford discussed if the high contract expectations had an impact on his performance last season where he had career lows in production.  "You never know until you sit back and think about it. It probably had its affect on me. You want to show you’re worth the money. The pressure builds up on playing in Boston. This year I have to find ways to get over that and play my game."

It is a "struggle against the feeling that they might be right,"  for all of us!

I was selfish about the past, selfish and protective (Quotes and Thoughts from pages 330 - 360 of Underworld by Don Delillo)

"I was selfish about the past, selfish and protective.  I didn't know how to bring Marian into those years.  And I think silence is the condition you accept as judgement on your crimes." - page 344

This passage occurs after Nick Shay has told his wife about the one night stand with Donna in Mojave Springs.  They had just finished a family trip to see ancient ruins.  This section was filled with moments that need to be analyzed.   My head hurts from trying to navigate this section.

Reading this passage one might assume that Nick is expressing remorse about his marital transgression.  Yet I think it is in reference to his unwillingness to give his wife total access to his life.  This is the strain of true intimacy.  It seems clear that she doesn't know about the murder that Nick committed as a minor.

Prior to this passage Delillo provides the reader with a coy description of Marian's upbringing. 

"Marian is from a Big Ten town, raised safely, protected from the swarm of street life and feeling deprived because of it - privileged and deprived, an American sort of thing."
-page 344

Delillo continues to describe how Marian is repulsed by crimes and violence seen on television shows.  Yet she wants to know more about Nick's past. She thrives on his honesty.  One way to read this section is to assume that Nick will not share his life because the truth would seem cartoonist.  Maybe she would have the same reactions to his past that she has had to the television because it was so close to the violence of TV.  Her Midwest sensibilities in check. 

What's the point of waking up in the morning (Quotes and Thoughts from Pages 280-330 of Underworld by Don Delillo )

The following passage occurs during an exchange with Tommy Chan, maybe the first baseball memorabilist in the country and Marvin Lindy, a man in search of the baseball hit by Bobby Thompson to win the pennant for the Giants.  Tommy was mocking the collectors who come to his store to pursue the past through the acquisition of sports relics.

(Eleanor) said, "Don't you have to give people an incentive to buy?  Not that it's any of my-"


(Tommy) "An incentive."  What a novel idea. "The incentive is within, I think. These materials have no esthetic interest.  They're discolored and crumbling.  Old paper, that's all it is.  My customers come here largely for the clutter and mess.  It's a history they feel they are a part of."

-page 322 

But Tommy does proclaim that Marvin's personal obsession to find the baseball does have some poetic merit. 

(Tommy) "The revenge of popular culture on those who take it too seriously."


(Eleanor) "...But then he thought, How can I not be serious? What's not to be serious about? What could I take more seriously than this? And what's the point of waking up in the morning if you don't try to match the enormousness of the known forces in the world with something powerful in your own life?"  - page 323

When I was a student at Syracuse University, members of the local community were up in arms about the state of the football program.  The team was not winning enough games to satisfy the masses.  The president of Syracuse at the time was Kenneth "Buzz" Shaw.  He famously told the fans of the team that they needed to "Get a life."  Basically, stating that placing that much emphasis on wins in losses in football was a waste of precious time and that they would be better served finding a more appropriate passion and direction. 

Naturally this comment from Buzz created quite a stir.  Who was he to judge what others decide to take seriously in their own lives?  Many were outraged and I think rightly so.  It is up to each individual to decide what to dedicate their lives to.