This week we read Robert Bolaño's book, Distant Star. Distant Star covers themes of art, poetry, fascist art, death and revenge. The book opens with our unnamed narrator, who is a poetry student. All is well and peaceful until an odd man, Alberto Ruiz-Tagle, shows up. He was not like the other students; he was well-dressed and clearly had some money of his own. The students noticed that...
"There was something distant and cold about his writing." (11)
Little did they know that Alberto Ruiz-Tagle was also known as Weider, a post-coup pilot in Pinochet's air force. This made me feel like I was reading a mystery book, trying to figure out who this mysterious man was and his purpose.
After some time, the 1973 Chilean coup d'état happens, and the narrator is imprisoned in a concentration camp. After our narrator is freed from the camp, he is told that many poetry students have gone missing, including the beloved Garmendia sisters, who were his favourite in his poetry class. The Garmendia sisters are now dead. - another mystery????
This was shocking to read, as I didn't expect such chaos to ensue, especially after reading about the simple poetry students who were happy and free in their class.
Uncovering the mystery of Weider, the theme of fascist art appears as Weider crates a photography exhibition of Pinochet's death squads. His photos are those of his victims who have died and gone missing. It is hard to say that something so cruel is art. However, in my opinion, photography is an art, just like painting, writing poetry or sculpting. Weider is creating an image and message with his photography. Although his photography is brutal to hear about and sad, Jon mentions in the lecture that maybe he is an artist who has gone too far. Just because Weider's art is distasteful to most of us, it doesn't mean it isn't art. It definitely is an art I don't like.
Revenge follows after Weider's photography exhibition comes to light. Weider's intensity of violence became too much for the repressive Pinochet regime, so he had to disappear.
Later he is hunted and found, the mystery solved.
Through the characters in Distant Star, Bolaño explores Chile's political/cultural environment during/after the Chilean coup d'état. His characters are poets representing real-life exiled people killed or missing during the fascist regime.
After watching the lectures and doing my research, I found that Bolaño was arrested during the coup. This must have led him to create negative feelings about his country, and later these feelings helped make this book. The narrator's life in Distant Star then resembles Bolaño's life. This made me think that maybe Bolaño is our unnamed narrator, and he shares his own experiences and others?
Distant Star follows the story of the exiled, like Bolaño. The poets seek the truth and revenge after the political violence on those in their community.
My questions are:
How did Weider's art make you feel? Do you think Weider's photography is art? Why or why not?
and
Do you think Bolaño's experience during the coup provoked him to write Distant Star? Maybe Bolaño is the unnamed narrator? Why or why not?
What we read here are some consequences not of a revolution but of a coup orchestrated by the CIA, and in some way they have to do with what Bolaño himself experienced, but the most interesting thing, it seems to me, is not directly related with the most directly autobiographical aspects of his life. What does this novel tell you about the function of art, and in particular of a "fascist art" in the midst of the chaos of dictatorial repression? Although it seems like a simple text, it asks us to pay attention to the subtleties that it leaves behind, like clues in a detective plot.
ReplyDeleteHi Alyssa,
ReplyDeleteTo answer your first set of questions, as I asked a very similar question. I consider photography a form of art, just as I would consider sculptures, painting, theatre, music, etc. Therefore, I think Weider’s photography, in its own messed-up way, is a form of art. His art obviously doesn’t make me feel good, as if I were ever to see those published, I would be very disturbed, but art is how one expresses oneself, and this is how Weider expresses himself. His art is very intense and violent but some art is just like that. Some art is very sad, some very violent because art is not conprised of one specific thing it has to be. That is what makes art so expressive and unique.
Hey Alyssa, nice blog this week! To answer your question, I think the core of art is this notion of creation, or to birth something. Sometimes, the subject matter of the art is morally wrong to exceptional degrees, like in this case. But disgusting art is still art. I actually think that when art is presented under crazy circumstances as this, a thought provoking question should be, "who is the author / artist?". As in, his action of exhibiting these photos mean something, but the way we are interpreting it and how it influences us is the real artful part. Therefore, the artist of this "exhibition" extends beyond just Carlos, but rather the people interacting with it. I think I more so mean that the book "Distant Star" is art, because of the way it encapsulates his action of presenting these photos.
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