Roberto Bolaño

Born April 28, 1953 · Died July 15, 2003

From Santiago, Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile · Nationality: Chile · Writes fiction and nonfiction

Roberto Bolaño Ávalos (Santiago, 28 de abril de 1953 – Barcelona, 15 de julio de 2003) was a Chilean writer and poet, author of more than two dozen books, among which his novels stand out: The Savage Detectives, winner of the Herralde Prize in 1998 and the Rómulo Gallegos Prize in 1999, and the posthumous 2666.

Quotes

“We never stop reading, although every book comes to an end, just as we never stop living, although death is certain.”
Last Evenings on Earth
“La literatura es un vasto bosque y las obras maestras son los lagos, los árboles inmensos o extrañísimos, las elocuentes flores preciosas o las escondidas grutas, pero un bosque también está compuesto por árboles comunes y corrientes, por yerbazales, por charcos, por plantas parásitas, por hongos y por florecillas silvestres.”
2666: A Novel
“One day I heard that The Eye had left Mexico. I wasn’t surprised that he hadn’t said good-bye. The Eye never said good-bye to anyone. I never said good-bye to anyone either.”
Last Evenings on Earth
“About happiness he said not a word, I suppose because he considered it something strictly private and perhaps, how shall I say, treacherous or elusive.”
2666: A Novel
“¿Cómo reconocer una obra de arte? ¿Cómo separarla, aunque sólo sea un momento, de su aparato crítico, de sus exégetas, de sus incansables plagiarios, de sus ninguneadores, de su final destino de soledad? Es fácil. Hay que traducirla.”
How do you recognize a work of art? How can it be kept apart, even if only for a

Quotes from Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Books by Roberto Bolaño in order

Books by Roberto Bolaño in the order they were published, from The Skating Rink (1993) to Posthumous Stories (2025).

The best Spanish-language novels

If you like Roberto Bolaño

Julio CortázarAlso a Latin American writer who experimented with form and wrote about Paris and the reader's role in a novel, as in *Hopscotch*.
Jorge Luis BorgesReaders of *Nazi Literature in the Americas* often enjoy Borges's invented bibliographies and fictional scholarship.
Enrique Vila-MatasA Spanish-language writer who also blends literary history, fiction and reflection on writers and writing.
W. G. SebaldReaders of *2666* often like Sebald's long, digressive narratives about European history, violence and memory.
Juan Gabriel VásquezA Colombian novelist who writes about political violence and the way it shapes private lives.

Roberto Bolaño

Quotes

Books by Roberto Bolaño in order

Lists with books by Roberto Bolaño

If you like Roberto Bolaño