Beginning with its next issue, The Paris Review will serialize Roberto Bolaño’s “lost manuscript,” The Third Reich. The Wall Street Journal’ Speakeasy blog has a (very short) excerpt. An excerpt of that excerpt–
“Poor man,” I heard Hanna say.
I asked to whom she was referring; I was told to take a closer look without being obvious about it. The rental guy was dark, with long hair and a muscular build, but the most noticeable thing about him by far was the burns—I mean burns from a fire, not the sun—that covered most of his face, neck, and chest, and which he displayed openly, dark and corrugated, like grilled meat or the crumpled metal of a downed plane.
This is that lost book of 2666?
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I don’t think so; I don’t know if that has a name. Apparently there are two others as well, “reportedly titled Diorama and The Troubles of the Real Police Officer” — http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/03/found_in_roberto_bolaos_desk_t.html
This one sounds like an idea mentioned in Nazi Literature in the Americas. Natasha Wimmer: “Natasha Wimmer: I’ve read The Third Reich (and in fact, it looks like I’ll be translating it, though I have yet to sign on the dotted line). It’s about an elaborate board game called The Third Reich (Bolaño was a great fan of war games), it takes place on the Costa Brava, and it pits a German tourist against an enigmatic South American who rents paddle boats on the beach. I loved it”
http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?id=2210
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You think it’s worth subscribing? I still can’t tell whether the serialized novel will be completed within the 1 year subscription cycle. Probably better to just wait for the paperback.
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I think it’s a good magazine in general, and I like the direction its taken. I think they’ll run it over the year (four issues). In folio columns that makes sense; maybe 25-30 pages (= around 50 paperback pages, I’m guessing) = a slim Bolano novle.
Still, Harper’s is much, much less expensive. I’ll probably wait for the novel.
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