The Savage Detectives
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section needs to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help improve this article with relevant internal links. (July 2007) |
| The Savage Detectives | |
| Author | Roberto Bolaño |
|---|---|
| Original title | Los Detectives Salvajes |
| Country | Chile |
| Language | Spanish |
| Publication date | 1998 |
The Savage Detectives (Los Detectives Salvajes in Spanish) is an award winning novel written by the Chilean author Roberto Bolaño in 1998. Natasha Wimmer's English translation was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2007. It tells the story of a search for a female Mexican poet, Cesárea Tinajero, by two other poets, the Chilean Arturo Belano and the Mexican Ulises Lima.
[edit] Plot summary
The novel is narrated entirely in first person, although there are numerous different narrators. The first section is told by a 17 year old amateur poet Juan García Madero. It centers around his admittance to a roving gang of poets who refer to themselves as the Visceral Realists. He drops out of the university and travels around Mexico City, having numerous sexual encounters and becoming increasingly involved with the myriad denizens of Visceral Realism.
The second section consists of interviews with a variety of characters from various locations around North America, Europe, and the Middle East, all of whom have come into contact, in one way or another, with the current leaders of the Visceral Realists, Ulises Lima and Arturo Belano. Each narrator has his or her own opinion of the two, although the consensus is that they are detached drifters and literary elitists that often leave bitter tastes in the mouths of those they meet. We hear the two spend years in a European purgatory, frequenting bars and camp sites, and generally living a bohemian lifestyle. Lima, the more introverted of the two, serves a fleeting stint in an Israeli prison, while Belano challenges a literary critic to an absurd sword fight on a Spanish beach.
The final third of the book is again narrated by Juan García Madero, now in the Sonora Desert with Lima, Belano, and a prostitute named Lupe. The section involves the "Savage Detectives" closing in on the elusive poet Cesarea Tinajero, while being chased by a pimp named Alberto and a corrupt Mexican police officer.
Partial Character List
| Character | Description |
|---|---|
| Arturo Bolano | One of the founders of visceral realism. More extroverted. Chilean. |
| Ulises Lima | One of the founders of visceral realism. More introverted |
| Juan García Madero | 17 year old visceral realist. Moved in w/ the font's for a while. |
| "Lupe | young prostitute. Friend of maria font's. dates Juan Garcia madero. |
| Alberto | Lupe's pimp. Gangster |
| Octavio Paz | Celebrated Mexican "Peasant Poet". Hated by the Visceral Realist's. |
| Maria Font: | |
| Angelica Font | Won the laura damian poetry prize |
| Joaquin (Quim) Font | The Font sister's father. Architect. Seeing Lupita. |
| Julio Cesar Alamo | Visceral Realist’s met in his Poetry workshop. Led trip to Niceragua when Lima was lost. |
| Cesárea Tinajero | Poet 'mother of Visceral Realist'. Nearly forgotten. |
| Amadeo Salvatierra | Old guy who drinks Mezcal. Poet. Full of himself. |
| Perla Aviles | Went Horseriding w/ Arturo |
| Laura Jaurengui | Convinced Arturo started Visceral Realist to impress her |
| Cesar Arriaga | used to date Laura |
| Rafael Barrios | |
| Felipe Müller | another Visceral Realist founder. Also Chilean. Took care arturo's mother in Barcelona. |
| Fabio Ernesto Logiacomo | poet. Won casas de los americanas competition |
| Luis Sebastian Rosado | hates the Visceral Realists. Slept w/ luscious skin |
| Alberto Moore | Friend of Luis Rosado |
| Pancho Rodriguez | |
| Mocetezuma Rodriguez | |
| Luscious Skin | Visceral Realist Poet. Bisexual. |
| Carlos Monsivais | published a collection of work by Visceral Realists |
| Manuel Maples Arce | respected poet. Full of himself |
| Barbara Patterson | american hippie girl. Dates rafael. Filthy. Funny |
| Ernesto San Epifanio | |
| Catalina O'Hara | Painter |
| Jacinto Requena | dating xochitl. Slept w/ maria font |
| Xochitl Garcia | dating jacinto. Fritz's mother |
| Auxilio Lacouture | mother of mexican poetry. Stayed in UNAM through revolution |
| joaquin Vazquez Amaral | Respected poet. Liked VRs. |
| Lisandro Morales | publisher. Published arturo. |
| Vargas Pardo | Ecuadorean novelist. |
| Simone Darrieux | dated arturo in Paris. Ulises showered at her house in paris |
| Hipolito Garces | Friend of Ulises in Paris. Cooked for him, but ripped him off. |
| Roberto Rosas | Friend of Ulises in Paris. Hated Hipolito |
| Sofia Pellegrini | Friend of Ulises in Paris. |
| Michel Bulteau | French poet. Ulises called him in Paris |
| Mary Watson | English Hippie. Slept w/ Arturo when he was a park ranger |
| Alain Lebert | Fisherman in Spain. Friend of Arturo's, along w/ the pirate, margarite |
| Norman Bolzman | Friend in Israel of Ulises. Lived w/ claudia and daniel. Dated claudia. Ulises was in love w/ claudia |
| Heimito Kunst | In jail w/ ulises in Israel. Lived w/ him in Vienna. Crazy |
| Jose "Zopilote" Colina | publisher. Full of himself |
| Veronika Volkow | Trotsky's great-granddaughter |
| Alfonso Perez Camarga | Painter. Bought drugs from arturo and lima |
| Hugo Montero | Brought Ulises to Nicaragua w/ don pancracio, Labarca & other mex. Poets |
