Quotes from Roberto Bolano

As metáfora são a maneira de nos perdermos nas aparências ou de ficarmos imóveis no mar das aparências. Nesse sentido, uma metáfora é como um salva-vidas. E não se deve esquecer que há salva-vidas que boiam e salva-vidas que vão direto para o fundo. É bom nunca esquecer isso.

At that moment, in spite of the dizziness, I felt like Nietzsche when he had his Eternal Return epiphany. An inexorable succession of nanoseconds, each one blessed by eternity.

I thought you were dying, said Amalfitano. "No, I was dreaming," said Castillo.

When I was an adolescent I wanted to be a Jew, a Bolshevik, black, homosexual, a junkie, half-crazy, and--the crowning touch-- a one-armed amputee, but all I became was a literature professor.

Everything that begins as comedy inevitably ends as mystery.

Everything that begins as comedy ends as a dirge in the void.

Still I kept walking. I walked and walked. And from time to time I stopped and said to myself: Wake up, Auxilio. Nobody can endure this. And yet I knew I could endure it. So I baptized my right leg Willpower and my left leg Necessity. And I endured.

nadie, y menos en literatura, es capaz de no parpadear durante un tiempo prolongado

I started to think about the abyss that separates the poet from the reader and the next thing I knew I was deeply depressed.

These days there's no time to be bored, happiness has vanished somewhere in the world, and all that's left is dismay.

Al contrario, el esfuerzo físico la llenaba de energía, el agotamiento se convertía en vivacidad y gracia, los días eran largos, lentísimos, y el mundo (percibido como un naufragio interminable) le mostraba su cara más vivaz y la hacía tomar conciencia que la suya, naturalmente, también lo era.

Sobre el mercado editorial, bueno, yo creo que es una estafa: un montón de analfabetos funcionales comprando libros de algunos necios. Lo que hoy se entiende por literatura o por mercado editorial es una estafa disfrazada de intenciones políticamente correctas. No tiene nada que ver con la literatura.

Auxilio, they'd say, that's enough bustling around, Auxilio, leave those papers alone, woman, dust and literature have always gone together.

Durante un segundo de lucidez tuve la certeza de que nos habíamos vuelto locos. Pero a ese segundo de lucidez se antepuso un súpersegundo de súperlucidez (si me permiten la expresión) en donde pensé que aquella escena era el resultado lógico de nuestras vidas absurdas.

The Lord's Prayer? asked the inspector. No, oh no, my mind went blank, said the Pápago, I prayed for my soul, I prayed to the Holy Mother, I begged the Holy Mother not to abandon me.

Images,wounds. That is all he can see. And the images are dissolving little by little, like the setting sun, leaving only the wounds.

Only fever and poetry provoke visions. Only love and memory.

Los poetas mexicanos (supongo que los poetas en general) detestan que se les recuerde su ignorancia.

my spirit had become so fragile, I was so devoid of the curiosity that, in former times, had been one of my most salient traits.

No tengo mucho tiempo, estoy viviendo.

This story is very simple, although it could have been very complicated. Also, it's incomplete, because stories like this don't have an ending.

Durante un rato contemplé la máquina de escribir, el libro en donde estaban anotadas las visitas, un recipiente de madera lleno de lápices, clips y gomas de borrar que parecían estar en perfecto orden, lo que me pareció imposible pues nadie en su sano juicio ordena clips (lápices y gomas, sí, pero no clips) [...]

Nothing lasts, the purely loving gestures of children tumble into the void.

I'd love her until the end of time, he thought. An hour later he'd already forgotten the matter completely.