The Savage Detectives

by Roberto Bolaño

There are books for when you’re bored. Plenty of them. There are books for when you’re calm. The best kind, in my opinion. There are also books for when you’re sad. And there are books for when you’re happy. There are books for when you’re thirsty for knowledge. And there are books for when you’re desperate. The latter are the kind of books Ulises Lima and Belano wanted to write. A serious mistake, as we’ll soon see.

He said I shouldn’t leave. No one had ever asked me not to leave the way he asked me.

We talked, we never argued. I would show him my paintings and he would say fantastic, I love them, that kind of thing. I’ve always found that oppressive. I know he meant what he said, but still, I felt oppressed.

No, he said, a friend. His name is Iñaki Echevarne, we had a duel. A fight? I said. No, a duel. And who won? I don’t know which of us killed the other, said Belano. Fantastic! I said. Yes, he said.