Just wanted to say a big thank you to the bolanon who suggested the Third Reich as a summer reading. Seriously, it was a fantastic book. Bolano is probably the only left-leaning author with a real grasp on right wing ideologies and this book was prophetic in seeing a connection between nerd subcultures and nazism. It is such an incredible, modern book, and it is relevant to be read now. Moreover - as always - he goes deep into examining the nature of evil, with the novel becoming genuinely scary in more than one part. It is possibly one of my favorite Bolanos, hands down, and I would recommend it to anyone. In many senses, it is a book that people on this board should read and with which many would relate.
I'll probably read another Bolano before the end of the summer, possibly Distant Star, but this one was incredible! Thank you!
Roberto Bolano - The Third Reich
Pretty interesting. What specifically does he say about these topics?
What else have you read of his? Have you read Amulet or 2666? How does it compare with them?
>2666
>912 pages
I swore to never pick up a longer book again and since I swore that I've read ten of them. Might as well add this one too. Here we go again.
>Prophetic [...] nerd culture and nazis
Care to explain? That sounds very interesting
>just more demonization of the fictitious 'alt right
I see more and more novels where 'muh white supremacists' is hyped. But never antifa, never commies, never Islam or any real existential threat.
It is not an explicit theme, but the main character is a war game champion from Germany who goes on vacation in Spain. Much of the book revolves around a game he plays with a character he mets there, which looks like a re-enactment of WW2. Throughout the whole book the character shows more or less conservatives tendencies, but his political leanings are never discussed until the end. The reader just gets hints, e.g. Udo likes to read Junger and despises the partying atmosphere of holidays, which says a lot.
Having read Nazi Literature in the Americas the theme was probably more visible to me, because there you also have a lot of character with 'conservative tendencies' which Bolano groups under the label of nazism. I my opinion, he talks about nazism as a metaphor for a certain 'conservative' style of thought and a tendency toward idealization (of certain people, of certain moments in time, of certain literature, ecc.) so I would not take this - or nazi literature - as books that are talking about literal nazis, but about a certain mental attitude which is certainly more spread now than it was when he was writing. He also says it in the Third Reich, at a certain point, that one of the character has met "the true nazis which roam the earth" in secret or something like that - I don't remember the exact quote.
But I think this board - and Yea Forums culture in general - would benefit incredibly from reading this guy.
The novel was written in the 80s, so there was not even the slightest trace of 'alt-right'. You're just a pavlovian dog wired to react to certain buzzwords. Leave this place and go to a library for a couple of weeks.
I get what you're trying to get across. What does he say about evil?
No problem Hermano. It's almost like being in a fever dream, isn't it? The familiarity but obscurity that shakes one to the core.
I suggest trying out Nazi Literatures of the Americas if you want to continue the fugue, but Distant Star is great as well.
What does evil have to do with Nazism?
And that is why it has no tangible use in the present world.
Fuck off commie
Go back to breitbart you nonce. Right-wing ideology is the prevailing perpetrators of violence in this day and age.
Harsh but necessary, and you finished it with good advice for the user
"alt-right" is just a buzzword for neo-nazi or fascist lap-dogs.
You got me hyped to read it. Soon. Enjoy Distant Star. It's mesmerizing.
Distant Star is a great next book to follow up Third Reich with. Bolaño is the greatest writer, and probably the most Yea Forums writer we'll ever get.
>spanish
KEK he's good but certainly not a ""great""
>what about muh commies and iszlammmm
Nobody is talking about that you retarded, obsessed NPC nigger. Can you at least try to conjure up an original thought?
>Bolano is probably the only left-leaning author with a real grasp on right wing ideologies
If you actually believe this you're a retard
it's worth it, user. it has a way of sucking you in that makes the pages fly by. plus, its five parts have only a slight relation to each other, so you can put it down for a while and pick it up again later if you can't commit all at once
have a rare bolano on me user!
lol what sort of bullied life have you lived user to care about other's differentiation between a >good and >great author? you're better off arguing about porn stars with those parameters.
user nazism, in a historical sense, was the chosen representative ideology behind those that committed the holocaust. they are as tied together in atrocities as much as communism is with the gulags. the difference between them is a matter of splitting pubic hairs.
this is rich. the vast source materials influencing the alt-right were written in the early 20th and late 19th century, plus the classics. do you even know how literature works user? all of it is a conversation with the past, i.e. re-read dante and harold bloom's anxiety of influence
OP i am glad you enjoyed this book. you picked up much different themes than i did, but i suppose that is the glory of bolano. to me, the work was a much more aesthetic experience, hence calling it the perfect beach read (in the bolanoverse).
care to offer a counter argument retard?