Roberto Bolano's "The Savage Detectives" discussion
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The Savage Detectives
the cabbage detectives
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Comments on the Interviews
This is some funny ish. I actually apologized to the brussel sprouts I had for dinner while reading #20 & #21 on my phone...New Orleans and vegetables, this has the makings of a Pulitzer.
Mary wrote: "This is some funny ish. I actually apologized to the brussel sprouts I had for dinner while reading #20 & #21 on my phone...New Orleans and vegetables, this has the makings of a Pulitzer."Thanks, Mary! I do agree that talking to my vegetables gives me a better vibe about eating them. And I think, just maybe, they feel - and taste - a little less bitter about it too.
I am very curious to see what happens in New Orleans. Mañana, maybe.
Jim wrote: "I am very curious to see what happens in New Orleans. Mañana, maybe. "Me too - with everyone we have writing, I have high hopes. :)
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Ian wrote: "What means Perdido Jay Rubin?"Perdido = lost
Damn, i'm in a rush again, but i had time to quickly sneak to read an interview, and post 11- hahahaha! Nice, Ian!
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Come on, Trav, keep up. Post 11 is so yesterday.
Ok, damn you all, now my stomach muscles are sore, and it's all the Cabbage Detective Interviews fault!Like Jim Neurons-on-stilts rightly said, juices of all colors flying everywhere!
Message 20 is making people look at me all funny again.
By the end of this week, i guess i might be writing to y'all from a cubicle in the local madhouse.
Do you think one can die from too much laughter?
Post 23 - the Victual Realists! :):):)Oh, that's just priceless.
See, this is what happens when journalists rely on translators....
And thank you, Ian, for providing us with Don Juan's précis on the Victual Realists. Beautifully stated :)
Post 24 - Traveller - such a moving depiction of the struggles the Cabbage Detectives went through in their efforts to weather the juicer storm.This is probably my favorite part:
Then it dawned on me- the Tomatoes and the Tomatoistas! We might have been expending all our energies fighting a group who oppressed fruit, not vegetables! It all depended, i realized, on whether semantically speaking, we were going to class tomatoes as fruit or vegetables. Jim was a scientist (A scientist with poetic leanings) and i had a strong feeling that he might support my stance that they are fruit, since scientifically speaking they are fruit. ...but what would the poets say? They might decide that poetically speaking, tomatoes were vegetables. We were poised on the edge of a potential rift that could cause deep divisions within our movement.
But so many to choose from! :)
Ha Ha! These "interviews" are priceless. They've definitely gone off in a crazy direction, haven't they? I would jump in, but I'm completely lost so I will just enjoy it from afar. Way too much for me to comment on, but nice job Traveler, Mary, Jim, Ian, Chris, Steve & Stephen! You are all so creative!
Jenn(ifer) wrote: "Way too much for me to comment on, but nice job Traveler, Mary, Jim, Ian, Chris, Steve & Stephen! You are all so creative!..."Thanks, Jenn!
Traveller wrote: "Ok, damn you all, now my stomach muscles are sore, and it's all the Cabbage Detective Interviews fault!
Thanks, Trav, and no pain, no gain as some say. I will get back to the interviews shortly, when Neurons-on-strike gets back in harness. With a caffeine assist, and maybe a smoothie chaser.
By the end of this week, i guess i might be writing to y'all from a cubicle in the local madhouse.
Do you think one can die from too much laughter?..."
Death by laughter, or by contemplation of Neurons, or just too many colors - and the unspeakable horrors of those icky stains?... These are the age-old questions, the endless spiral of the fevered mind that gets us...where, exactly? To New Orleans? I think not. I could only urge my friend Traveller to live! Live for a brighter, more color-sensible day. A day when every creature can walk, crawl, or just sit and grow in safety, free from the fear of machines and tummies. Control your laughter and live! And fight for Cabbage Freedom - our cause is just. Skip a meal for Freedom! Or at least say you are sorry to those you eat, and mean it.
OMG, Jim Neurons-on-stilts... you have me in stitches with post 25, the tears are running down my cheeks... Omygolly i haven't laughed this much and this hard in a long long time!! ROFLHahaha - the research grant!!! Hahaha!
Wasn’t this all just semantics, or a scientific game of some kind, probably just to get grant funding? And how could all those plants follow the sun in their growth, and the fruits and vegetables ripen to taste so good, unless they could think and feel just as we did? After all, we were all sun worshipers in our own way - how could it be otherwise?
Brilliant!
Post 26 - Awesome, Steve! Er, I mean Esteban...For true wisdom, no better source than the wall of el baño. Visceral realism, indeed.
Jim seemed disoriented, muttering and waving a pineapple in the air. LMBO!
You guys are really nailing the 'feel' of these interviews. I think i know which interviewee Steve is parodying. Hehe, and he's even throwing some poetry into it! (post 26)
I love where you all are taking this. It's funny to see where a story with multiple authors can head. I have to say, it's with a nervous finger that I hit the "post" button myself, even though I'm just at the periphery. All I hope for is consistency with the greater vision. Oh, and credit for a faithful transcription of el baño scrawl.Seems like there are plenty of tangents you creative types can take. Hope to see more! I'm sure other interviewees would be welcome, too, isn't that right Don Juan?
Traveller wrote: "OMG, Jim Neurons-on-stilts... you have me in stitches with post 25, the tears are running down my cheeks... Omygolly i haven't laughed this much and this hard in a long long time!! ROFLAhhh, you bring tomato-red blush to my cheeks and tears to my eyes, oh brilliant and lovely Trav Viajero...
"Hahaha - the research grant!!! Hahaha!..."
He knows whereof he speaks, oh ravishing one.. And desperate times call for desperate measures. I think I read that on the wall of el baño.
Tomatoes are fruit!Tomatoes are fruit!Tomatoes are fruit! Hahaha.
Traveller wrote: "Tomatoes are fruit!Tomatoes are fruit!Tomatoes are fruit! Hahaha."Lovely wisdom and lilting tones. Poetry as visceral art! And you can eat it too!
Steve wrote: “We rule the fruit/veggie to-mah-to.”
Some - I am one - can get hung on words and look in vain for true meaning. Others - our fascist brothers and sisters - can steamroll their way to power, and crush (or slash) any words that get in the way.
A scary thought for a troubled time.
Steve wrote: "I have to say, it's with a nervous finger that I hit the "post" button myself..."I am familiar with the problem. But we don't make mistakes - we just have happy accidents!
Gotta run, but I look forward to further Detective Wisdom soon...
Mary wrote: "My co-worker just ask me why I was laughing so much and I said "visceral realism" and he looked freaked out"Pfft... what a philistine."
maybe you should just have told him "fuck labels"( my philosphy exactly Esteban) and he would have been equally freaked out,but he would have understood.
I too have thouroughly enjoyed these wildly imaginative stories and spent most of yesterday( and at work even) writing one of my own to contribute.
I am just figuring out the technical details of posting it. It somehow got way too long, so I am aiming for the first half now, more to follow unless I am booed out of this thread.
I think we're really getting into this now. Don't be nervous, Steve, you're doing great! When we started off, i didn't have a clue.. now i think one must just ramble on, and we're getting momentum with an actual story now - i think you guys are doing wonderful stuff! Mary, post 27 is brilliant!
Poor Jim! Why is he coming out the underdog here! I think i should make sure i show my support of you, Jim, in our mutual fruit battle!
I wonder where Ian is..- he should have woken up by now.
haha Magdelanye I will use that later when he no doubt asks me another stupid question again. I think it's funny that Jim somehow turned out the be a psycho...Kris started it. Poor pineapple ;-p
msg 29 - Traveler, the suspense is killing me! (ps, I will now eat my fruits and vegetables respectfully
Ay dios mio! We're left hanging on cliffs at this point with messages 27-29. Nicely done Mary, Magdelanye, and Viajero! Now get busy with the next installments. We can't have our characters about to crash a car with pineapple flying everywhere, living lives with spies listening in, and wondering whether the hot, dark, and wet substance is blood. At least not for long we can't.
Can I get the car back under control? Will the car flip dramatically and lead us into a strange Lord of The Flies/Survivor type existence? Will Jim and the pineapple settle down? And the tofu, oh the poor innocent tofu! What part of the country are we in now en route to N.O? Ohhh the suspense...
Mary wrote: "Can I get the car back under control? Will the car flip dramatically and lead us into a strange Lord of The Flies/Survivor type existence? Will Jim and the pineapple settle down? And the tofu, o..."Heh, well, i was waiting for someone to continue the chain, and build on that, and then i was going to build on whatever was posted next, otherwise we're going to end up with a very mixed up story. Luckily Magdelanye's story is different enough not to cause confusion - very imaginative, Magdelanye! ..but for my part i was just passing the ball on there.
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Post 30 and 31.[Oops!-] I was going to point out that tomato juice is not dark, but that would spoil the story, and anyway, it was all a haze...Maybe that was red wine that had spilt over Viajero's arm. ;)Very nicely picked up, Ian! Viva tomatoes!
Posts 27-31 - Awesome, everyone! Thanks for the spirited defense, Traveller! You are such a great friend.. Mary, Ian, Magdelanye - all of them are fabulous.I think I am coming to my senses now, with the pineapple out of the picture. At least an hour, maybe two before I have something more to put up - starting with a muse on tofu and pineapples, from what I can see now.
But Ian has the ball rolling, and I will adapt to the story as it develops, so please do carry on as you will!
I'm out of it for today. I'll have a look later what Jim, Ian and the rest have concocted for us, and if the thread has not burnt out by tomorrow, perhaps give it another last go for the week until weekend. :) [Must get off of GR - i'm not getting anything else done!]
Post 30 - I was so hoping it would be tomato juice. Nicely resolved, Ian!Posts 31-35 - It's not mandatory, but I like when a story about poets features poetry.
Laughing ... On .... Train ....Must .... Get ..... Home .... To ... Laptop ... For .... Better .... Reading .... & .... Commenting.....
Kris wrote: "Laughing ... On .... Train ....Must .... Get ..... Home .... To ... Laptop ... For .... Better .... Reading .... & .... Commenting....."
I hope my profound poetry is not amongst the things that you find a laughing matter, Kris! :P
;)
I will not speak for that hack who calls himself Le Graye! Oi, the upstart!
Post 40 has me spurting stuff out all onto my keyboard...No no no- it's not what you might be thinking...
I think it will take me a while to catch up! You folks have been very busy. :)
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No no no- it's not what you might be thinking..."
I couldn't let post 38 go unanswered. You seemed to be casting nasturtiums on my manhood.
Ian wrote: "You seemed to be casting nasturtiums on my manhood.."Brilliant punnery! I bow before you.
Post 25: Oh Jim, how perfectly you capture the humanity, the angst, the uncertainty, the existential dilemma of fruits and vegetables.....Post 26: Esteban, I am glad to see that you brought some good, leftist, common sense to the discussion. Down with fascism! Don't let fruit-n-veg semantics derail you from what is really important.
Post 27: Mary, I am first wondering how the Frolic Room is! Action-packed post - you could cut the tension with a knife if Viajero would just let go of it. (I do love how the pineapple became a fetish object for Jim, and Jay's tofu outburst is classic.
Post 28: Magdelanye - poor, lonely, acolyte-less Sir Ian (although, all things considered, it may be best that he has some time to himself....)
Post 29: (BTW, I am concerned that Viajero and Don Juan seem to have ended up institutionalized. I can see that the pressure, in the end, would take quite a toll.) Brilliant follow up to Mary's post - what a cliff-hanger!
Post 30: Brilliant resolution to the crash. I also like the fact that the tomato farm was such an inspiration to Don Juan, Viajero, and Mary - some classic poetry in this thread.
Seriously, I laughed very hard at several points today, to the alarm of passersby and fellow passengers on the train. Brilliant work, everyone! I love how many voices are included, too. It will be interesting to see where this goes next.
Post 43: uh-oh Ian - I'm worried about Jim's reaction when he sees this one...
Post 44 -- The Tofu Solution!! Brilliant, Jim. I just hope you hang onto the memory immediately after the crash.Oh, and I loved this: "And what a revelation! The word itself - pineapple. Amazing word, that. I mused, and I pondered. Was it a pine, or an apple, or a yellowish fruit encased in prickly pain? Well, of course! It was all three! Somehow, it transcended all the issues that had divided us. Everything was disguised, of course. It didn’t grow on pines. It wasn’t an apple, not like other apples at least. It inflicted pain on all who would eat it. But that last was the secret I had sought! Feel the pain, justify the gain. If I bled for it, I could eat it without remorse. "
And pineapple lungers!!! :)
Post 45: Oh Mary, so very sad, and lonely. And with the Piña Colada Song as well?????(Not a criticism - just processing the pain while trying to remove the ear worm. :) )
#44 has me lmao Jim! My pineapple!
post 47 - surely, it's a sign!!!
Thanks so much for the kind words, Kris and Mary!I have searched in vain for Pineapples Anonymous. Tried to kick the habit with tofu injections. Tomatoes may hold the answer, but I will have to see what happens next. Only then can my story become clear, especially to me.
Awesome posts, everyone! I need some time for digestion, but look forward to the next meal!
Post 49: I sense a reunion.... :)
Incorrigible -- sounds about right :)