TWO VOICES: Natasha Wimmer on Roberto Bolano

Posted on October 10, 2009 by Scott Esposito



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Natasha

Hear Natasha Wimmer, translator of the blockbuster novels The Savage Detectives and 2666, discuss Roberto Bolano and his two major novels. She also reads her translation-in-progress of Bolano's unpublished essay collection Entre parentesis (Between Parentheses) and discusses Bolano's unpublished manuscripts.

Bolaño’s work appeared on the English-language scene in 2003—the year of his death at 50—and in the six years since his rise has been nothing short of remarkable, especially when one considers the typical reception of an author-in-translation in U.S. markets. Bolaño’s stories have appeared in The New Yorker, his novels have been almost universally praised in the nation’s most esteemed reviews of books, and recently talk has focused on adding him to the Latin American canon of essential authors.

It was only late in his life that Bolaño became a major writer. Born in 1953 in Chile, he was living abroad in Mexico City when Pinochet toppled Chile’s government in the coup of 1973. Bolaño quickly returned to Chile to fight with the resistance, but almost immediately he found himself in a jail cell facing death. He escaped back to Mexico by the unlikeliest of coincidences (his jailer happened to be a friend from school), where he lived the life of a vagabond for years before settling permanently in Spain in the 1980s.

Bolaño’s first novel was only published in 1993, when he had just 10 years left to live, although it brought him sufficient recognition to allow him to continue publishing his work. After that Bolaño would write prolifically, publishing 10 novels before his death and one after: the thousand-page magnum opus, 2666, which was published in English in 2008 and brought Bolaño his most widespread fame in the English-reading world yet.

In 2004, Natasha Wimmer was offered the translation job of a lifetime when FSG editor Loren Stein asked her to translate Roberto Bolaño’s 500-page epic novel, The Savage Detectives. When it become apparent that The Savage Detectives would likely be a major success upon publication, 2666 was added to Wimmer’s work. The publication of both books has brought Ms. Wimmer widespread recognition and success as a translator of Spanish-language literature.

During her translation of both novels Wimmer lived in Mexico City, familiarizing herself with the far-flung locales and the distinctive Mexican dialect found throughout both of these works. In addition to the challenges of geography and grammar, Bolaño’s precise, labyrinthine prose and his intricate plots confronted Wimmer with immense obstacles—obstacles that virtually every critic has agreed she has overcome in spectacular fashion.