The book Nazi Literature in the Americas, written by Robert Bolaño, is a collage of biographies written about fake American authors with far right-wing views. For the most part these biographies are independent of one another with very little connection between them. Bolaño uses these independent stories to show different aspects and qualities of these right-wing actions and beliefs. In this essay we will explore how Bolaño uses these authors to both reveal what he considers to be the nature of right-wing beliefs while also using them to also promote realism within this novel.
Upon completing this novel, if the reader is not careful he or she will easily believe that all of these biographies are of real authors. Bolaño has skillfully crafted each of these stories to make them seem believable to the average person. He does this in numerous ways. For one, Bolaño makes most of the characters near the beginning of the book live fairly normal and uneventful lives. He also develops these first few characters more than his other characters. By doing this, …show more content…
These people do not have the authority to do much but they facilitate the execution of certain orders without doing any killing or directly causing any harm to anyone. One example of this was Amado Couto. Not only did this author write numerous books he also worked with “death squads, kidnapping, participating in torture and witnessing the killing of certain prisoners.” (116) Now a key thing from this quote is that he did not actually kill the prisoners himself. Bolaño puts in numerous fascists who are just commoners that hold no political power, but still actively embrace and help commit these dreadful actions. This shows Bolaño’s belief that anyone, even commoners can be dangerous when they identify with the right-wing
Upon completing this novel, if the reader is not careful he or she will easily believe that all of these biographies are of real authors. Bolaño has skillfully crafted each of these stories to make them seem believable to the average person. He does this in numerous ways. For one, Bolaño makes most of the characters near the beginning of the book live fairly normal and uneventful lives. He also develops these first few characters more than his other characters. By doing this, …show more content…
These people do not have the authority to do much but they facilitate the execution of certain orders without doing any killing or directly causing any harm to anyone. One example of this was Amado Couto. Not only did this author write numerous books he also worked with “death squads, kidnapping, participating in torture and witnessing the killing of certain prisoners.” (116) Now a key thing from this quote is that he did not actually kill the prisoners himself. Bolaño puts in numerous fascists who are just commoners that hold no political power, but still actively embrace and help commit these dreadful actions. This shows Bolaño’s belief that anyone, even commoners can be dangerous when they identify with the right-wing