DISTANT STAR - Rare Fine Copy of The True First Edition/First Printing

Bolano, Roberto (Author) & Andrews, Chris (Translator)

ISBN 10: 0811215865 / ISBN 13: 9780811215862

Published by New York City, NY: New Directions, 2004, 2004

About this Item

1st Printing. 150 pages. Published in 2004. The author's second novel to be translated into English. One of Roberto Bolano's finest achievements. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, including the British Edition, which was issued in conjunction with New Directions, Bolano's American publisher. Published in a very small and limited first print run as a softcover original only that sold out upon publication. It remains available in innumerable printings and various editions. The First Edition is now very rare. Presents Roberto Bolano's "Estrella distante" in a felicitous English translation by Chris Andrews, one of his two best translators, the other being Natasha Wimmer. Very quietly released by New Directions when he was still completely unknown in the English-speaking world and shortly after he prematurely died, it is the companion volume to "By Night In Chile", two highly original and closely intertwined novels about Chile, her tragic history, and the diabolical men - Bolano's protagonists - whose evil intentions and deeds brought Chile to her knees and very nearly finished her off for good. It remains one of the beloved author's touchstones. What exactly is Roberto Bolano's achievement? "Bolano was the first to make a true break from the legacy of 'The Boom'. Many other writers of his generation, and younger writers too, have tried and are still trying to make a literature of their own, one that doesn't languish in the long shadow of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, and the other novelists who exploded on the world scene in the 1960's. Bolano made the leap seem effortless. The writers of The Boom put Latin America on the map. Bolano creates a Latin America of the mind, a post-nationalist Latin America filtered through a rootless, restless, uncompromising literary sensibility" (Natasha Wimmer). The consistently high level of Bolano's virtuosity is almost miraculous when one sees it as having been achieved during a brief and miserable personal life. It was as though he turned to literature not just to complement or complete but to change his life altogether. By the time of his untimely death in 2003 at the age of 50, Bolano was universally regarded as the greatest Spanish-language novelist of our time. "The real thing and the rarest" (Susan Sontag). An absolute "must-have" title for Roberto Bolano collectors. This title is a great book. This is one of very few copies of the First Edition/First Printing (American) still available online and is fine condition overall: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have very serious flaws, are in innumerable subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. One of the greatest writers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ROBERTO BOLANO TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0811215865.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1783045646923

Bibliographic Details

• Title: DISTANT STAR - Rare Fine Copy of The True First Edition/First Printing
• Publisher: New York City, NY: New Directions, 2004
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0811215865
• ISBN 13: 9780811215862
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Fine

About this title

Synopsis

A chilling novel about the nightmare of a corrupt and brutal dictatorship.

The star of Roberto Bolaño's hair-raising novel Distant Star is Alberto Ruiz-Tagle, an air force pilot who exploits the 1973 coup to launch his own version of the New Chilean Poetry, a multimedia enterprise involving sky-writing, poetry, torture, and photo exhibitions.

For our unnamed narrator, who first encounters this "star" in a college poetry workshop, Ruiz-Tagle becomes the silent hand behind every evil act in the darkness of Pinochet's regime. The narrator, unable to stop himself, tries to track Ruiz-Tagle down, and sees signs of his activity over and over again. A corrosive, mocking humor sparkles within Bolaño's darkest visions of Chile under Pinochet. In Bolaño's world there's a big graveyard and there's a big graveyard laugh. (He once described his novel By Night in Chile as "a tale of terror, a situation comedy, and a combination pastoral-gothic novel.")

Many Chilean authors have written about the "bloody events of the early Pinochet years, the abductions and murders," Richard Eder commented in the The New York Times: "None has done it in so dark and glittering a fashion as Roberto Bolaño."

About the Authors

Author of 2666 and many other acclaimed works, Roberto Bolaño (1953-2003) was born in Santiago, Chile, and later lived in Mexico, Paris, and Spain. He has been acclaimed “by far the most exciting writer to come from south of the Rio Grande in a long time” (Ilan Stavans, The Los Angeles Times),” and as “the real thing and the rarest” (Susan Sontag). Among his many prizes are the extremely prestigious Herralde de Novela Award and the Premio Rómulo Gallegos. He was widely considered to be the greatest Latin American writer of his generation. He wrote nine novels, two story collections, and five books of poetry, before dying in July 2003 at the age of 50.

The poet and translator Chris Andrews has won the Valle Inclan Prize and the French-American Translation Prize for his work.