NAZI LITERATURE IN THE AMERICAS by Roberto Bolano, reviewed by BL Kennedy

Nazi Literature in the Americas
Roberto Bolano
New Directions Publishing
New York,NY
227 pgs
$13.95
ISBN: 978-8112-1794-1


Irma Carrasco

Puebla Mexico-1910—Mexico City

A Mexican poet inclined to mysticism and tormented phraseology. At the age of twenty she published her first collection of verse, The Voice You Withered, which bears witness to a stubborn and sometimes fanatical reading of Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz.

Her grandparents and parents were supporters of the Porfio Diaz. Her elder brother was a priest who embraced the cause of the Cristeros and was executed in 1928. In her 1933 collection, The Destiny of Women, she confessed that she was in love with God, Life, and a New Mexican Dawn, to which she also referred indiscriminately as “resurrection, awakening, forgiveness, falling in love forgiveness” and “marriage”.

I do not know precisely what I think of this book. In fact, I do not know how this book relates to me as a poet. The author, Roberto Bolano, is highly respected in his field by the likes of Allen Ginsberg, Octavio Paz, and Lezama Lima. To be honest with you, I couldn’t give two flying fucks if the author was recommended by Borges. I think that Nazi Literature in the Americas offers little insight into the workings of a lame and racist imagination.

The book is broken down into fourteen thematic sections, in which the writer lives through politics and literary works. Oh, I should add, it includes bibliographies and cross references, with an epilogue for all you monsters who are foaming at the mouth to read this book. My advice is that at the price of $13.95, even if it is published by New Directions Press, this book is just a waste of money.