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Monsieur Pain

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Brief Description
A major, retrospective launch of Roberto Bolaño's work - now published as a Vintage Classics author for the first time. Paris, 1938. The Peruvian poet Cesar Vallejo lies in hospital, hiccupping himself to death. When the doctors struggle to offer a diagnosis, his wife calls on... Read More
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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A major, retrospective launch of Roberto Bolaño's work - now published as a Vintage Classics author for the first time.

Paris, 1938. The Peruvian poet Cesar Vallejo lies in hospital, hiccupping himself to death.

When the doctors struggle to offer a diagnosis, his wife calls on an acquaintance of her friend Madame Reynaud, the mesmerist and reclusive bachelor Pierre Pain. Pain, in love and eager to impress, agrees to help. But on a night that 'smells of something strange', things soon go awry...

A wonderfully oneiric novella that blends the finest of Edgar Allan Poe with Jorge Luis Borges and Bolaño's truly astonishing alchemical gifts, Monsieur Pain is a gripping noir conspiracy as rich as it is strange.

Translated by Chris Andrews

'A surrealist nightmare, with overtones of Edgar Allan Poe and Raymond Chandler' - The Times

This marvellous little yarn is dark, mysterious and rich in surprises... If you have yet to enter the daringly kaleidoscopic labyrinth that is Roberto Bolaño's imagination, this is a lively place to begin what will be quite an experience' - Irish Times

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781784879464

Publisher: Vintage Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 03 October 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Vintage Classics

Contributors:

  • Translated by Chris Andrews
  • Translated by Chris Andrews

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 11.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 120g

Pages: 160

About the Author

Roberto Bolano (Author) Roberto Bolano was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1953. He grew up in Chile and Mexico City, where he was a founder of the Infrarealism poetry movement. Described by the New York Times as 'the most significant Latin American literary voice of his generation', he was the author of over twenty works, including The Savage Detectives, which received the Herralde Prize and the R mulo Gallegos Prize when it appeared in 1998, and 2666, which posthumously won the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Bolano died in Blanes, Spain, at the age of fifty, just as his writing found global recognition. Chris Andrews (Translator) Chris Andrews was born in Newcastle, Australia, in 1962. He teaches in the department of French, Italian and Spanish Studies of the University of Melbourne. His translation of Roberto Bolano's Distant Star in 2005 won the prestigious Valle-Inclan Prize.

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