Nazi Literature in the Americas

“Genius . . . [This] is Bolaño playing with sharp, twisting knives.” —Stacey D’Erasmo, The New York Times Book Review

“Imaginative, full of a love for literature, and . . . exceptionally entertaining.” —Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

Nazi Literature in the Americas is Roberto Bolaño’s vertiginous, Borgesian journey into literature’s most abysmal depths. In this mock encyclopedia of imaginary poets and novelists of the pan-American far right, we are met with a procession of literary mediocrities, sycophants, narcissists, hacks, and criminals, who share the dream of ushering in the Fourth Reich. Their portraits—rendered in sharp chiaroscuro—are every bit as brilliant, menacing, and alive as Bolaño’s finest short stories. Wickedly funny and deep cutting, Nazi Literature in the Americas is also a testament to the awesome power of literature: its capacity for obsession, delusion, and violence.