Distant Star

Alberto Ruiz-Tagle was once the quiet, unknowable, unpromising member of Chile’s young poetry scene. But the military coup of 1973 sees Alberto reborn as Chile’s leading celebrity poet, Carlos Wieder. Known for his daring sky poems, penned in smoke high above the cities, Weider’s dazzling trajectory is a cause for astonishment and speculation amongst his old poetry friends. Where did this talent suddenly spring from? And, how is it connected to the disappearance of the beautiful Garmendia twins? Told from across the years in exile in Europe, the narrator’s attempts to trace the fate of his old circle will lead him to one last confrontation with the brutality of their generation. TRANSLATED BY CHRIS ANDREWS ‘Roberto Bolaño's universe – huge, interconnected, polyphonic – is formed from the collision of a wicked sense of humour and a vast and white-hot moral fire... His oeuvre is among the great, blistering literary achievements of the twentieth century’ Lauren Groff ‘For stunning wit, brutal honesty, loving humanity and a heart that bleeds into the simplest of words, no other writer ever came close’ Marlon James

Alberto Ruiz-Tagle was once the quiet, unknowable, unpromising member of Chile’s young poetry scene. But the military coup of 1973 sees Alberto reborn as Chile’s leading celebrity poet, Carlos Wieder. Known for his daring sky poems, penned in smoke high above the cities, Weider’s dazzling trajectory is a cause for astonishment and speculation amongst his old poetry friends. Where did this talent suddenly spring from? And, how is it connected to the disappearance of the beautiful Garmendia twins? Told from across the years in exile in Europe, the narrator’s attempts to trace the fate of his old circle will lead him to one last confrontation with the brutality of their generation. TRANSLATED BY CHRIS ANDREWS ‘Roberto Bolaño's universe – huge, interconnected, polyphonic – is formed from the collision of a wicked sense of humour and a vast and white-hot moral fire... His oeuvre is among the great, blistering literary achievements of the twentieth century’ Lauren Groff ‘For stunning wit, brutal honesty, loving humanity and a heart that bleeds into the simplest of words, no other writer ever came close’ Marlon James

"[One] of his best." --Daniel Zalewski, The New Yorker "A masterpiece." -- Los Angeles Times The year is 1971, or perhaps 1972, in Salvador Allende's Chile. Arturo B. is just one of a motley crew of young bohemians attending Juan Stein's poetry workshop at the University of Concepci?n when a mysterious newcomer by the name of Alberto Ruiz-Tagle arrives. Though Alberto's taciturn manner, patrician airs, and cold, distant poetry confound the group, he catches the attention of Veronica and Angelica Garmendia, the twin stars of the workshop. When Chile's government is toppled and replaced by a brutal military dictatorship, many of the young poets--among them, the Garmendia sisters--disappear, and Arturo is horrified to learn that Alberto, now revealed to be Carlos Wieder, an air force pilot and a darling of the new regime, may have something to do with it. Wieder's great ambition is to revolutionize Chilean poetry--to mythologize the new order in a spectacle of verse--and he takes to performing his poems in the skies above the Andes, using the sky as his paper and an old Nazi aircraft as his pen. But when Wieder takes his radical art a step too far, he, too, disappears without a trace. Decades later, Arturo, living in exile in Europe, and still preoccupied by the fates of his old classmates, is presented with an opportunity to track Wieder down--a journey that will lead him to one last encounter with the violence of their generation. A detective novel, a horror story, and a tragicomedy of global proportions, Roberto Bola?o's Distant Star is a haunting tale about the grotesque collisions of high art and politics, of idealism and brutality, and of hopes and reality. With a new introduction by Ben Lerner.

"[One] of his best." --Daniel Zalewski, The New Yorker "A masterpiece." -- Los Angeles Times The year is 1971, or perhaps 1972, in Salvador Allende's Chile. Arturo B. is just one of a motley crew of young bohemians attending Juan Stein's poetry workshop at the University of Concepci?n when a mysterious newcomer by the name of Alberto Ruiz-Tagle arrives. Though Alberto's taciturn manner, patrician airs, and cold, distant poetry confound the group, he catches the attention of Veronica and Angelica Garmendia, the twin stars of the workshop. When Chile's government is toppled and replaced by a brutal military dictatorship, many of the young poets--among them, the Garmendia sisters--disappear, and Arturo is horrified to learn that Alberto, now revealed to be Carlos Wieder, an air force pilot and a darling of the new regime, may have something to do with it. Wieder's great ambition is to revolutionize Chilean poetry--to mythologize the new order in a spectacle of verse--and he takes to performing his poems in the skies above the Andes, using the sky as his paper and an old Nazi aircraft as his pen. But when Wieder takes his radical art a step too far, he, too, disappears without a trace. Decades later, Arturo, living in exile in Europe, and still preoccupied by the fates of his old classmates, is presented with an opportunity to track Wieder down--a journey that will lead him to one last encounter with the violence of their generation. A detective novel, a horror story, and a tragicomedy of global proportions, Roberto Bola?o's Distant Star is a haunting tale about the grotesque collisions of high art and politics, of idealism and brutality, and of hopes and reality. With a new introduction by Ben Lerner.