Distant Star
Encyclopedia
Distant Star is a novella by Chilean author Roberto Bolaño
, first published in Spanish
in 1996. Chris Andrews’s English
translation was published by New Directions in 2004. The story is based on the chapter "The Infamous Ramírez Hoffman" from Bolaño's book Nazi Literature in the Americas
, where the protagonist's name is Carlos Ramírez Hoffman.
(probably Belano, Bolaño's frequent stand-in) and tells the story of Alberto Ruiz-Tagle, an aviator who exploits the 1973 Chilean coup d'état to launch his own version of the New Chilean Poetry: a multi-media enterprise involving sky-writing, torture, photography, murder, and verse. The narrator first encounters him in a college poetry workshop, where Ruiz-Tagle only has eyes for the beautiful Garmendia twins, Veronica and Angelica. As the novel progresses it becomes clear that Ruiz-Tagle is far more and far less than a mere poet through progressively darker and ironic twists and turns.
The next sighting comes as the narrator stands in prison camp for political undesirables, gazing up at a WWII Messerchmitt
skywriting
over the Andes
. The aviator is none other than Ruiz-Tagle, now serving in the Chilean force under his actual name, Carlos Wieder, and writing nationalist slogans in the sky. The narrator becomes obsessed with Ruiz-Tagle, suspecting that he is behind every evil act in Pinochet’s regime. After his release the narrator struggles to survive and make sense of his situation, but his destiny is eventually reconnected with that of Ruiz-Tagle/Wieder when a Chilean private detective seeks his help in tracking Wieder down by trying to identify the airforce pilot's hand behind various articles printed in neo-fascist publications.
, an encyclopedic novel composed of short biographies of imaginary Pan-American authors on the political right. The section, entitled "The Infamous Ramírez Hoffman", is the longest in the novel and is markedly different than the other sections of the book, taking on a less encyclopedic and more personal tone. In the expansion of the text some of the characters' names remained unchanged (e.g. the narrator's fellow prisoner Norberto and the detective Abel Ramirez) but for most of the main characters the names were altered:
In spite of the differences between the texts Bolaño places them within the same fictional world, claiming that the story was narrated to him by Arturo B.
in Nazi Literature in the Americas, but Arturo was displeased with the outcome:
Roberto Bolaño
Roberto Bolaño Ávalos was a Chilean novelist and poet. In 1999 he won the Rómulo Gallegos Prize for his novel Los detectives salvajes , and in 2008 he was posthumously awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction for his novel 2666, which was described by board member Marcela Valdes...
, first published in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
in 1996. Chris Andrews’s English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
translation was published by New Directions in 2004. The story is based on the chapter "The Infamous Ramírez Hoffman" from Bolaño's book Nazi Literature in the Americas
Nazi Literature in the Americas
Nazi Literature in the Americas is a work of fiction by the Chilean author Roberto Bolaño. It was published in 1996. Chris Andrews’ English translation was published in 2008 by New Directions which was shortlisted for the 2008 Best Translated Book Award....
, where the protagonist's name is Carlos Ramírez Hoffman.
Plot summary
The book is narrated from a distance by Arturo B.Arturo Belano
Arturo Belano is the alter ego of the Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño. The character's first appearance was in the novella Distant Star, where he was the narrator, while his most prominent role was in The Savage Detectives where he and fellow writer Ulises Lima are the central characters...
(probably Belano, Bolaño's frequent stand-in) and tells the story of Alberto Ruiz-Tagle, an aviator who exploits the 1973 Chilean coup d'état to launch his own version of the New Chilean Poetry: a multi-media enterprise involving sky-writing, torture, photography, murder, and verse. The narrator first encounters him in a college poetry workshop, where Ruiz-Tagle only has eyes for the beautiful Garmendia twins, Veronica and Angelica. As the novel progresses it becomes clear that Ruiz-Tagle is far more and far less than a mere poet through progressively darker and ironic twists and turns.
The next sighting comes as the narrator stands in prison camp for political undesirables, gazing up at a WWII Messerchmitt
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...
skywriting
Skywriting
Skywriting is the process of using a small aircraft, able to expel special smoke during flight, to fly in certain patterns to create writing readable by someone on the ground...
over the Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
. The aviator is none other than Ruiz-Tagle, now serving in the Chilean force under his actual name, Carlos Wieder, and writing nationalist slogans in the sky. The narrator becomes obsessed with Ruiz-Tagle, suspecting that he is behind every evil act in Pinochet’s regime. After his release the narrator struggles to survive and make sense of his situation, but his destiny is eventually reconnected with that of Ruiz-Tagle/Wieder when a Chilean private detective seeks his help in tracking Wieder down by trying to identify the airforce pilot's hand behind various articles printed in neo-fascist publications.
"The Infamous Ramírez Hoffman"
As stated in its introduction, Distant Star is an expansion of the final chapter of Bolaño's earlier work, Nazi Literature in the AmericasNazi Literature in the Americas
Nazi Literature in the Americas is a work of fiction by the Chilean author Roberto Bolaño. It was published in 1996. Chris Andrews’ English translation was published in 2008 by New Directions which was shortlisted for the 2008 Best Translated Book Award....
, an encyclopedic novel composed of short biographies of imaginary Pan-American authors on the political right. The section, entitled "The Infamous Ramírez Hoffman", is the longest in the novel and is markedly different than the other sections of the book, taking on a less encyclopedic and more personal tone. In the expansion of the text some of the characters' names remained unchanged (e.g. the narrator's fellow prisoner Norberto and the detective Abel Ramirez) but for most of the main characters the names were altered:
| Character | Distant Star | "The Infamous Ramírez Hoffman" |
|---|---|---|
| Protagonist | Carlos Wieder/Alberto Ruiz-Tagle | Ramírez Hoffman/Emilio Stevens |
| Narrator | Arturo B. Arturo Belano Arturo Belano is the alter ego of the Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño. The character's first appearance was in the novella Distant Star, where he was the narrator, while his most prominent role was in The Savage Detectives where he and fellow writer Ulises Lima are the central characters... |
Bolaño |
| Twin Sisters | Veronica and Angelica Garmendia | María and Magdalena Venegas |
In spite of the differences between the texts Bolaño places them within the same fictional world, claiming that the story was narrated to him by Arturo B.
Arturo Belano
Arturo Belano is the alter ego of the Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño. The character's first appearance was in the novella Distant Star, where he was the narrator, while his most prominent role was in The Savage Detectives where he and fellow writer Ulises Lima are the central characters...
in Nazi Literature in the Americas, but Arturo was displeased with the outcome:
- "So we took that final chapter and shut ourselves up for a month and a half in my house in Blanes, where, guided by his dreams and nightmares, we composed the present novel. My role was limited to preparing refreshments, consulting a few books, and discussing the reuse of numerous paragraphs with Arturo and the increasingly animated ghost of Pierre Menard."
External links
- Written in the Skies - review by Nick Caistor, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 23 October 2004.