David Kurnick argues that the controversies surrounding Roberto Bolano's life and work have obscured his achievements-and that The Savage Detectives is still underappreciated for the subtlety and vitality of its portrait of collective life. He explores the novel as an epic of social structure and its decomposition.
Exploring the interplay between theater and narrative fiction, this work delves into the Anglophone novel's evolution during the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. It challenges the conventional views regarding the supposed antitheatrical bias of novels and the divide between the two genres. By employing diverse critical approaches, the book offers a transformative perspective on the history of the novel, promising to reshape readers' understanding of its development.