MONSIEUR PAIN

New York City, NY: New Directions Books, 2010. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. As New/As New Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: New Directions Books, 2010. Hardcover. As New/As New. First Edition/First Printing. 134 pages. The author's historico-literary novel. Now considered a contemporary classic. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Roberto Bolano's "Monsieur Pain" in a felicitous English translation. Based on real-life figures and events, including the enigmatic eponymous character, who is thought to be Cesar Vallejo, regarded as the greatest Spanish poet of the 20th century by many critics and readers (that is, greater than the usual suspects: Lorca, Borges, Neruda, or Octavio Paz) . Bolano wrote and published the novel when he was in his late 20's and during his long obscurity (in 1981 or 1982) as "The Elephant Path". As such, he mirrors his own desperate life through Vallejo's even more desperate one. He reissued it in 1999 as "Monsieur Pain", and discreetly alludes to its connection with a later work, "Last Evenings On Earth". Its very belated appearance in English is part of an ongoing project to translate and publish Bolano's complete oeuvre, and as such, is not only laudable but noble and necessary. "A hallucinatory masterwork. One of Robert Bolano's most tender and moving novels" (Publisher's blurb) . What exactly is Roberto Bolano's achievement? "He emerged as a writer at a time when Latin America no longer believed in utopias, when paradise had become hell, and that sense of monstrousness and waking nightmares and constant flight from something horrid permeates '2666' and all his work. A writer who worked without a net, who went all out, with no brakes, and in doing so, created a new way to be a great Latin American writer" (Rodrigo Fresan) . The consistently high level of Bolano's virtuosity is almost miraculous when one sees it as having been achieved during a brief and miserable personal life. It was as though he turned to literature not just to complement or complete but to change his life altogether. By the time of his untimely death in 2003 at the age of 50, Bolano was universally regarded as the greatest Spanish-language novelist of our time. "The real thing and the rarest" (Susan Sontag) . An absolute "must-have" title for Roberto Bolano collectors. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing (American) still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. One of the greatest writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ROBERTO BOLANO TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0811217140.