Roberto Bolano

 

Nazi Literature in the America's

I feel that I should offer a warning to anyone  attempting to read this book in public, for example on the train to work, at work or at the hospital whilst waiting for an X-ray - Hide The Cover. Because if you don't, be prepared for the impolite stares, for the pointed questions & for the blank look  when you attempt to answer their questions.

This book is written in the form of a catalogue of writers, or to be more accurate right wing writers and supporters of the Nazi ideology, yet all the authors profiled here are entirely the work of Roberto Bolano's  literary imagination & it comes across as a homage to one of his favourite writers, Jorge Luis Borges. 

"Nazi Literature in the America's", is one clever S.O.B, with a sense of irony and a humour so dry it makes the Gobi desert seem like a waterfall. This encyclopaedia highlights the writer's lives and like most of Bolano's characters they seem to fail miserably, in fact, apart from a few who meet a violent end, the majority are merely self deluded individuals living lives full of frustration - literary or otherwise. In fact, Bolano takes great delight in informing us of every detail of the lives of these literary midgets, not sparing us from any crime or foul deed, and yet it's done in such a cultured manor, with such a professorial detachment, that you realise, regardless of the writers political leaning, at the end of the day they all (or almost all) are pointless. Whatever teeth they may have possessed, have long been pulled. Through out this anthology, we learn of the lives of this collection of writers from across America, of their persistence & determination to create a body of work regardless of the fact that for the most part, it goes unread, unreviewed & by most of the world about them, unnoticed.

This is one strange little book full of characters whose heinous natures have no redeeming factors, individuals such as Willy Schurholz an experimental poet, who traced the outline of what he considered the ideal concentration camp in the desert sands, Thomas. R . Murchison, founder of the Aryan brotherhood & the most infamous of them all Carlos Ramirez Hoffman, poet, skywriter, self publicist and assassin for the Pinochet regime. This story is the last in the catalogue & drastically changes the tone of the collection, in this tale, written in the form of a search for the assassin by a fellow writer (called Bolano), this story was later expanded into a novel (short) called Distant Star.

Although this tome is probably his most explicit concerning the complicit nature of the literary establishment and authority in Latin America, a frequent theme throughout his oeuvre, it also explores another theme familiar to fans of Bolano's work, because regardless of our opinion of the characters in this book, they still hold up that Bolano flag - that literature matters and as an amoral energy constantly reinvigorates & reinvents itself & it's role within a culture.

 

Roberto Bolano(Wikipedia)

This is a good link for all things Bolano - In lieu of a field guide

Ryunosuke Akutagawa.

RASHOMON AND 17 OTHER STORIES.

 

 Ryunosuke Akutugawa is generally regarded as the "father of the Japanese short story" of which he wrote approximately a hundred, before taking his own life at the age of 35, he also has Japan's most famous Literary prize named after him (Akutagawa Prize) . Born in  Tokyo in 1892 & raised by a family steeped in  traditional Japanese culture, by a young age had mastered  English, before going on to excel as a student in his country's top educational establishments. By the age of ten he was writing and publishing in student magazines, he graduated from Tokyo Imperial University ( University of Tokyo ) in 1916 with a degree in English Literature. He worked as a teacher of English until the demand for his writing enabled him to work full time in that role.

In this collection of short stories, translated by Jay Rubin, we see a range of work from throughout the authors short life, some which have not been published for decades. We start this book with Rashomon, (not the film of the same name) a tale of a servant sacked by his Samurai master  who seeks shelter under the Rashomon, which was the largest gate in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan.

At the  time of this story, the gate was in need of repair, slowly collapsing with neglect, & a habitual hideout for thieves, murderers & others of that ilk, it was also a place to dump unwanted corpses. Through this story we witness the servant's moral breakdown as he comes to terms with the collapse of his society. The second tale "In the bamboo grove" is the story most people will recognise, as it's the main influence of  Akira Kurosawa film "Rashomon", this is the story of a murder of a traveller & the alleged rape of his wife, the tale is told from the perspective of several witnesses including the accused & the victim (via a medium) all  have their own version of the tale & their own agenda's including the deceased. The next story is "The Nose" a tale about  a priest who has a problem with his nose, then we have several other tales such as Dragon (A potters tale) &  "The spiders thread" until we reach "Hell screen". This is a fabulous horror story, which I've already posted on, although I don't think I did it the justice it deserved by concentrating on the artist's view, in the process neglecting the suspect morality of the lord or even the storytellers unbalanced narration.

  This book contains to many tales for me to cover everyone, so I will just mention a few of my favourites & put a complete list at the end. For a start the story "Green Onions" is a fantastic balancing act, that has the writer, writing a tale with a deadline looming, the story concerns this beautiful girl & although all through the story you are aware it's a story (The author makes this clear) you follow her with trepidation, worried for her welfare. Then there's "Horse legs" in this one, the main character drops dead, but it's a mistake it should have been someone else. On arriving at a version of heaven, the mistake is discovered, but by this time the character's legs are rotten & the only thing available to replace them is a pair of horse's legs. We then have a series of stories more directly reflecting the author's life, tales such as - Baby Sickness, The life of a Stupid Man & Spinning Gears. The last two in particular show his writing turning inward, reflecting his own personal obsessions & also the increasing shadow, his mothers madness cast over his thought processes (she experienced mental health problems after the authors birth). This coupled with having to support his own & his sisters family after her husband killed himself, put him under a strain his nerves couldn't handle & he turned to drugs, which in the end led him to take his own life.

• Ryunosuke Akutagawa, was & is considered as one of Japan's best writers, by first drawing on the old tales & myths of his homeland & adding a modern perspective, through to his later introspective pieces, his ability to paint with a ferocious pinpoint accuracy, the dilemma raised by mans instincts & the constraints placed by society was phenomenal. In his short career of about a 10 years, he wrote about a 150 stories & it's these that have earned him his place in his countries list of great writers.

This translation by Jay Rubin, has been divided into 4 sections, these are - World in decay, Under the sword,  modern tragicomedy & Akutagawa's own story, by using this method the stories follow a chronological order based on the time they are set in, as opposed to published date.

World in decay - Is set in the Heian period (794 - 1185) , this was Japan's classical era, a time of peace & prosperity & when the Imperial court  in Heian - Kyo ("capital of peace and tranquillity" ; later Kyoto) was the fountainhead of culture & all the arts flourished

• Rashomon
• In a bamboo grove
• The nose
• Dragon; the old potters tale
• The spider thread
• Hell screen

 

Under the sword - (1600 - 1868)  This period was dominated by warfare, from the end of the Heian period through to the imposition of peace under the Tokugawa Shoguns. After establishing their power base in Edo (modern Tokyo) they crushed all signs of change and used any method to maintain their social standing, with the Emperor merely a figurehead.

• Dr. Ogata Ryosai: Memorandum
• O - Gin
• Loyalty 

Modern Tragicomedy - This is a series of stories set in the writers own time, this includes tales of set in the Sino - Japanese war (1937 - 45) & deals with the horrific nature of conflict, yet it also contains a romantic comedy,  that's  just a fascinating balance, revealing the writers craft, whilst involving us with the life of the character.

• The story of a head that fell off
• Green onions
• Horses legs

Akutagawa's own story - These are stories from a later period in Ryunosuke Akutagawa's life & contain a strong autobiographical streak. But as the author wasn't a particular fan of autobiographical fiction, these tales (as Haruki Murakami said) "are fascinating because of the tension between their seeming confessionality and their perceptible manipulation of their material".

• Daidoji Shinsuke: The early years
• The writers craft
• The baby's sickness
• Death register
• The life of a stupid man
• Spinning gears

 

Ryunosuke Akutagawa(Wikpedia)

Christopher Brookmyre.

PANDAEMONIUM

Pandaemonium or Pandemonium (American-English) is the name invented by John Milton for the capitol of Hell, it's name is normally translated as All-Demon-Place. The high capitol was built by fallen angels at the suggestion of Mammon & was designed by the architect Mulciber, who before his fall designed palaces in heaven.

Christopher Brookmyre's Pandaemonium Is the story of the pupils of St Peter's High School & what happens on their retreat at a secluded outdoor activity centre set in the wilds of Scotland. They are on this retreat to try to come terms with the murder of a fellow pupil, this will involve the usual techniques of counselling, contemplation & prayer - not to mention booze, drugs, sexual liaisons & a great deal of partying.

 

Buried beneath a mountain, the US army has a secret base, in which they have some how opened a mysterious portal, from which hordes of big scary creatures with horns & tails come pouring out. Thinking that they've discovered an entrance to Hell & being the military, they slam a lid on it, and send for the artillery, which in this case is Cardinal Tullian, head of The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly known as The Inquisition. There's a lot of experimenting on the creatures (holy water, Crucifixion etc.) there is also lots of bad feeling as the scientist are being replaced by the churches brethren.

Back at the retreat the pupils are getting ready for a disco, with planned shenanigans aplenty.

Guess what happens ?

Yes, ALL Hell Breaks Loose.

Christopher Brookmyre, says on the back of this book   "Two very different worlds are about to clash in an earthly battle between science and the supernatural, philosophy and faith, civilisation and savagery.

The Bookies are offering evens."

The battle that ensues between the two opposing factions becomes a bloodbath where everything found is a weapon from pitchforks & other farming implements to guns & bows. Chainsaws are used to bludgeon Humans & then used as a chainsaw is normally used, slicing through the Daemons. All around is carnage, just as you start to bond with a character they are skewered, flung aloft, then tossed aside like so much garbage & these are the lucky ones. But it's done with so much warm humour, such zest, even as the character you really liked is being chased by a Daemon,  you're turning the page, half to see if they escape, half to see how they get killed.

This book is just funny, and has been described as a gothic horror story for the 21'st century, also as satirical, gripping and highly entertaining. But more to the point this book is just fun, the old-fashioned gut bursting, tear jerking laugh out loud fun.

Slight spoiler, there's a lovely twist at the end.

 

Christopher Brookmyre(Wiki)

Christopher Brookmyre (website)

Contemporary Authors(CB)

Interview The Scotsman

The Good Angel of Death

Andrey Kurkov 

Have you heard the one about the Russian, the Kazakh & the ex KGB officer? No. How about the one about a Bedouin, a Ukrainian & a Chameleon, still no? Then let me introduce you to Andrey Kurkov's "The Good Angel of Death.

This is the story of Kolya, a Russian night-watchman, who, whilst moving into a new flat in Kiev discovers a book (covered with marginalia), hidden in a copy of War and Peace. This awakens his curiosity & he sets out to discover more about the mysterious annotator.

This leads him to the to the grave of a Ukrainian nationalist who died in suspicious circumstances and was buried with a manuscript. Kolya exhumes the manuscript & learns that an item of national importance is buried at some old fort in the deserts of Kazakhstan. So far fairly straight forward, yes?

In Kolya's day job (sorry, night) as a watchman he watches over a warehouse full of dried baby food, which turn out to be hallucinogenic drugs, that are wanted by a criminal gang, who then threaten Kolya, causing him to flee.

He now sets out on the quest for this item (you know, that one of national importance), armed with 3 tins of the baby milk & not much else. On this adventure he crosses the Caspian sea in a floating fish factory, gets lost in the desert, acquires a beautiful Kazakh wife & gets involved with the machination of  2 Ukrainian nationalists & a KGB colonel, he also befriends a Chameleon who could be a spirit that protects wayward travellers.

 

On one review I read that this is written as though it was a dream, that it meanders it's own sweet path through the political drama of Ukrainian nationalism.  I am slightly paraphrasing the original, although the sentiment is the same & to my mind almost perfect, I say almost because it's not a dream, but a daydream.

 

My reasoning is that in a dream, you can feel fear, that there is a feeling of not being in control, where as in this book Kolya wanders around confronted by armed thugs, by the KGB, is shot at, gets lost in the desert & yet he seems fine, almost without a care in the world as if it will all work out somehow. There is this sense, as in a daydream, that no matter what happens, it's ok because Kolya knows it's not real, he can choose to leave at any moment, he can walk away.

The Good Angel of Death is a strange and  beguiling novel, that eases you into it's world and as you meander along in Kolya's wake, you will learn interesting facts such as; how Snickers can contribute to international understanding, or what quality of Vodka is needed to induce a joyful indifference to the immediate future. But apart from it's obvious educational use, this book is just a gentle and funny read that will charm you with it's storytelling.

Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Hellscreen.

This is the 6th story in the collection of short stories (Rashomon & 17 other stories), by Ryunosuke Akutagawa (western style) which I hope to review as a complete book soon. In this tale Japan's greatest artist (Yoshilde) is given the task, by His Imperial Majesty, of creating a screen depicting visions of Buddhist hell. As an artist Yoshilde is obsessed to the point where he is quite happy taking sketches of rotten corpses found by the roadside or chaining up his assistants into tortuous positions just to get the right image. In fact the artist is so consumed by his art,  nothing else matters. Well almost, he has a daughter, a fair beauty, courteous & devoted to him, she is also the only constant outside art in his life. So Yoshilde works on the screen drawing & painting images.

"Oh that screen! I can almost see its terrifying images of hell before me now!

Other artists painted what they called images of hell, but their compositions were nothing like Yoshilde's. He had the ten kings of hell and their minions over in one corner, and everything else - the entire screen - was enveloped in a fire storm so terrible you thought the swirling flames were going to melt the mountain of sabres and the forest of swords....... These alone were enough to shock and amaze any viewer, but the sinners writhing in  the hellfire of Yoshilde's powerful brush had nothing in common with those to be seen in ordinary picture of hell".

But the image for the centrepiece eludes him, no matter what he tries he can't get it right, he has the idea of a carriage plummeting through space, blasted by the winds of hell & in this carriage that's all ablaze, is a woman so beautifully  costumed she must be a consort of his Highness. Yoshilde in his desperation to finish the screen asks his highness to create the image with one of his carriages & if possible.......

 

His Imperial Highness answers Yoshilde's request,  but with a very high price & a twist that all those ten kings of hell would have applauded.

Hell Screen (地獄変, Jigokuhen ) is a short story written by Japanese writer Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. It was originally published in 1918 as a serialization in two newspapers. In this review I am using the western style of writing his name, as in Japan it would be Akutagawa Ryūnosuke pronounced AK -Ta GA - WA with all the A's long as in father & DYU - NOSS -ke with equal stress on the first two parts & less on the ke, also the e's are short as in Kevin. The reason I am using the western style is purely convenience as this is how it appears on the edition I have, that being, the Penguin Classics " Rashomon and 17 other stories" this is translated by Jay Rubin & has an introduction by Haruki Murakami.

This review is for the October mini challenge (Hello Japan) on Tanabata's "In Spring it is the Dawn" blog. The challenge for the month of October is all things spooky & also Japanese, for more check out the In Spring it is the Dawn site which apart from the challenge is also a treasure trove of all things Japanese.

Irvine Welsh

Reheated Cabbage (Tales of chemical degeneration).

Within this book, all bar one of the stories have appeared before. The majority having been published in an assortment of magazines and compilations, described by the author, "as toe-curling Scotsploitation & drugsploitation  anthologies that were prevalent in the 90's".

This collection of eight stories, starts with A fault on the line, in which the main character's desire to watch the football at all costs,  results in his wife's legs being ripped off by a speeding train & whilst on the ambulance journey to the hospital, he is working out how he can watch the footie. In the second tale (Catholic guilt), we meet Joe, probably the most homophobic, gay-bashing individual ever to darken the pages of a book, who dies whilst having sex with his mate's sister. The story ends with him condemned to spend eternity buggering men he has known, as penance for his ways. Then we get to the third tale (Elspeth's boyfriend) in which Welsh reintroduces us to Begbie. Francis Begbie is the most psychotically toxic & malevolent character that Irvine Welsh ever created. He first came to my notice in "Trainspotting" where he would lob full pint glasses over a balcony onto the people below, as a prelude to starting a fight. In this tale, it's xmas at his mums house & Begbie ends up nutting his sisters fiancé, for the crime of ------- saving him from choking to death (he slaps him on the back).

"Ah smacks the nut ontae the cunt, n eh faws back, hudin ehs face. Thaire's screams fae the women n the bairns n Joe's ower n ehs goat a grip ay ma airm . --- what ur fuckin daein, Franco? The boy helped ye! Eh saved yir fuckin life!

Eh battered ays oan the back in muh ma's hoose! Nae cunt lays thair hands oan me! In muh ma's hoose, oan Christmas day!

And so on, in the 4th tale, we meet a misogynist, in the 5th, Aliens addicted to embassy cigarettes & speaking with Scottish accents (Midlothian), who want to replace the world's leaders with Scottish thugs. The 6'th, we have two mates carrying around the corpse of an old friend. In the 7'th two guys fight over a girl, then after a pint & a few pills realise their friendship matters more.

Which leads us to the final tale & the only new tale in this collection, "I am Miami". In this story Albert Black, a once puritanical schoolteacher, although now retired & living with his son in Miami, spends his time reading the bible & denouncing all the hedonism & sinfulness around him, alienating himself from his family & pretty much everyone he comes into contact with. This is until one day he bumps into an old pupil, now a successful DJ & through a combination of events (& drugs), he realises how hard he has been on everybody, himself included & that because of his strictness as a teacher, the pupils understood he never gave up on them. So this story ends on a note of redemption, even if it's only because the ex pupils had taken Ecstasy & not their usual Cocaine, which as one of them says, would probably have ended with them kicking the shit out of their old teacher.

I was going to be facetious & state that this book should be translated into English, but that would be doing it & myself a disservice, although a lot is written in the  patois of Welsh's Edinburgh roots, the rhythm of it soon becomes natural & easy to follow & in the process shades in the characters, adding another dimension to them. This is necessary, as to find any redeeming  features in this cast of misanthropic, misogynistic drug & drink addled individuals is going to take every trick in the writer's repertoire. Thankfully Irvine Welsh's tricks bag is full, this book is overflowing with humour, some of it sly, sneaking up on you when you least expect it (Catholic guilt) & some of it coming right up and smashing you in the guts with a baseball bat (The Rosewell incident), but all of it full of zest, full of an energy that screams life. I will add one proviso, if you are the slightest bit shocked or offended by tales of extreme sex, drugs & mindless violence, or of a language that's so caustic it could strip flesh! Do not touch this, for everyone else, this collection of short stories is very dark, very bitter & very, very funny & also when you least expect it, very moving.

Irvine Welsh (Wikipedia)

Irvine Welsh.net

Contemporary Writers