Distant Star

“[One of] his masterpieces.” —Jonathan Lethem, The New York Times Book Review

Alberto Ruiz-Tagle was once a quiet, unknowable, unpromising member of Chile’s young poetry scene.

But the military coup of 1973 sees Alberto reborn as the new regime’s leading poet, Carlos Wieder. Known for his daring sky poems, penned in smoke high above the cities, Weider’s dazzling trajectory is a cause for astonishment and speculation among his old poetry friends. Where did this monstrous talent suddenly spring from? And how is it connected to the disappearance of the beautiful Garmendia twins?

Told from across the years in exile in Europe, the narrator’s attempts to trace the fate of his old circle will lead him to one last confrontation with the brutality of their generation.

Author Biography

Roberto Bolaño (1953-2003) was the author of The Savage Detectives and 2666, among many other notable works. Born in Santiago, Chile, he later lived in Mexico City, Paris, and Barcelona. His accolades include the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Premio Rómulo Gallegos. He died at the age of fifty and is widely considered to be the greatest Latin American writer of his generation.

Chris Andrews has translated books of prose fiction by César Aira, Roberto Bolaño, Liliana Colanzi, and Ágota Kristóf, among others. He is also the author of How to Do Things with Forms and The Oblong Plot.