Roberto Bolano: The Last Interview and Other Conversations

With the release of Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives in 1998, journalist Monica Maristain discovered a writer “capable of befriending his readers.” After exchanging several letters with Bolaño, Maristain formed a friendship of her own, culminating in an extensive interview with the novelist about truth and consequences, an interview that turned out to be Bolaño’s last.

“In many ways … more fun to read than his novels.”   —  Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

Translated for the first time into English by Sybil Perez, Bolaño’s final interview is accompanied by a collection of conversations with reporters stationed throughout Latin America, providing a rich context for the work of the writer who, according to essayist Marcela Valdes, is “a T.S. Eliot or Virginia Woolf of Latin American letters.” As in all of Bolaño’s work, there is also a wide-ranging discussion of the author’s many literary influences. The interviews, all of which were completed during the writing of the gigantic 2666, also address Bolaño’s deepest personal concerns, from his domestic life and two young children to the realities of a fatal disease.

"Given how little biographical information about Bolaño is readily available—and given how the myth(s) around the man proliferate—Roberto Bolaño: The Last Interview is a welcome and handy little volume that anyone interested in the author will likely enjoy.”  —  The Complete Review

The Last Interview Series: Melville House has been publishing a popular series of books called The Last Interview and Other Conversations which celebrates the heroes and innovators of art, politics and literature with a collection of interviews and conversations that span their creative lives.