In orbit: Roberto Bolaño

Authors

  • Adnan Mahmutovic Stockholm University
  • Friðrik Sólnes Jónsson

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22439/asca.v49i1.5465

Abstract

Chilean author Roberto Bolaño (1953-2003) has achieved considerable critical and commercial success among a global English readership. Breaking into the US market, which has an important mediating role for the international circulation of texts, is a rare feat for a non-Anglophone author and requires some explanation. This paper looks at the rise of Bolaño in terms of major theories on world literature. We find that his success fits into a combination of explanatory models (Casanova, Moretti, Thomsen), but it also reveals interesting mismatches and problematic aspects that show a need to update existing theories. Our analysis, which focuses on the treatment of Bolaño in the American market, shows a great need for transnational forms of analysis across linguistic barriers.

Author Biographies

Adnan Mahmutovic, Stockholm University

Adnan Mahmutovic holds a PhD from Stockholm University (2010) and MFA in creative writing from City University of Hong Kong (2012). He is currently Associate Professor in English Literature and Creative Writing at the Department of English, Stockholm University. His books include Ways of Being Free: Authenticity and Community in Selected Works by Rushdie, Ondaatje, and Okri (Rodopi, 2012), Thinner than a Hair (Cinnamon Press, 2010) and How to Fare Well and Stay Fair (Salt Publishing 2012). His work ranges from postcolonial studies, narratology, creative writing theory and practice, to comics studies. He has recently organized two conferences on comics, edited a special issue of ImageText focusing on the works of Grant Morrison (June 2015) and is currently co-editing a volume on the theme of future in comics as world literature (McFarland Press, forthcoming 2016).

Friðrik Sólnes Jónsson

Friðrik Sólnes Jónsson holds an MA in literature from Stockholm University. He has done academic and creative works on Icelandic culture, including “Ferðasaga” (2013), prologues in Icelandic and English for comic artist Hugleikur Dagsson, segments on literature for “Orð um bækur,” a literary program on Rás 1, the Icelandic national radio. His current research involves a diachronic examination of fiction about Mexico in English and identifies a cluster of traditions that can be traced from the interwar novels of Greene, Lawrence, Lowry and Huxley, to contemporary works.

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Published

2017-01-29

How to Cite

Mahmutovic, A., & Jónsson, F. S. (2017). In orbit: Roberto Bolaño. American Studies in Scandinavia, 49(1), 101–124. https://doi.org/10.22439/asca.v49i1.5465

Issue

Vol. 49 No. 1 (2017)

Section

Articles