This essay was originally featured in the accompanying booklet to Francisco Goldman and Natasha Wimmer’s December 4, 2008 discussion of Roberto Bolaño’s 2666, held at the Idlewild bookstore in New York City.

This essay was originally featured in the brochure for Natasha Wimmer and Francisco Goldman’s December 4, 2008 discussion of Roberto Bolaño’s 2666, held at the Idlewild bookstore in New York City.

“He didn’t set out to do this just to prove something, to experiment, or to make some nihilistic statement. As he said many times, writing was for him a radical way of living, and thus he had to find a vital and arresting and, in some ways,…