Epilogue: After Bolaño

Abstract

Since the posthumous publication of 2666 in Spanish in 2004 and of the English translations of Distant Star (2004), The Savage Detectives (2007), and 2666 (2008), the novels of Roberto Bolaño—and their central figure, the reader-experiencer—have provided one of the most important models for writers in both the English- and Spanish-speaking worlds. As US authors are reading more Latin American literature than ever, Latin American authors are increasingly writing about their “experience” of the United States. After analyzing contemporary works by Latina/o writers composing in English in the United States, including Francisco Goldman, Ana Menéndez, and Junot Díaz; by non-Latina/o US writers such as Ben Lerner and Kenneth Goldsmith; and by Spanish-language writers such as Mexican-born novelist Valeria Luiselli and Puerto Rican poet Mara Pastor, the book ends by considering how recent works in the literatures of the Americas might point toward new literary possibilities in the future.