"A language not of this world": Depersonalization and Unintelligibility in Robert Bolaño's "The Part about the Crimes". Issue 1 (2nd January 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tocco, Fabricio
• Is Part Of: Journal of Latin American cultural studies. Volume 30:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 91
• Page End: 105
• Publication Date: 2021-01-02
• Subjects: Depersonalisation -- unintelligibility -- Roberto Bolaño -- 2666; Latin America -- Civilization -- Periodicals; Amérique latine -- Civilisation -- Périodiques; 306.098
• DOI: 10.1080/13569325.2020.1798219
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1356-9325

Abstract

Abstract : The following article deals with the intersections of the linguistic, the literary, and the political in Roberto Bolaño's "The Part about the Crimes", the fourth chapter of his novel 2666 . Building on Italian philosopher Roberto Esposito, Argentinean anthropologist Rita Segato, and American scholar David Kurnick, I propose that Bolaño engages with what I call "symbolic unintelligibility", using it to respond to literary tradition and to the political conflicts of our times.