Bolaño's Library · Index

All 197 entries

Click a column header to sort. Newest additions first.
175 Georges Perec writer France Tres, "A Stroll Through Literature" — dreams 1 and 57, where Perec is three years old High (bot) 2026-09-10
174 José Martí writer Cuba The Savage Detectives III, García Madero's Sonora diary Medium (bot) 2026-08-30
173 Robert Louis Stevenson writer Scotland The Savage Detectives III, the Sonora desert notebook Medium (bot) 2026-08-30
172 Jean de La Fontaine writer France The Savage Detectives III, García Madero's Sonora desert notebook Medium (bot) 2026-08-30
171 Hypatia writer Roman Egypt The Savage Detectives III, Cesárea Tinajero's notebooks — "the Greek woman's name was Hypatia"; foreshadowed in II, Flora Castañeda's account of Cesárea's black notebooks High (bot) 2026-08-30
170 Heimito von Doderer writer Austria The Savage Detectives II, the borrowed first name of Heimito Künst — the Viennese neo-Nazi in the Stuckgasse garret who shares a Beersheba cell with Ulises Lima Medium (bot) 2026-08-30
169 Carla Rippey writer Mexico (b. United States) The Savage Detectives, as the model for the painter Catalina O'Hara; the cover of Bolaño's first book, Reinventar el amor High (bot) 2026-08-30
168 Juan García Ponce writer Mexico Unverified — per the curator, the model for Juan García Madero, diarist of The Savage Detectives I and III Low (bot) 2026-08-30
167 Horace writer Ancient Rome The Savage Detectives III, Belano on Horacio Guerra, the Santa Teresa dean who is a pocket Octavio Paz — "the poet Horace lived in the age of Octavian Augustus, didn't he?"; Between Parentheses, the column on Satires 1.9 and the bore called Bolanus High (bot) 2026-08-30
166 Archilochus writer Greece (Paros) Between Parentheses, the essay "Exiles"; The Savage Detectives III, García Madero's prosody quiz in the Sonora desert (Lima: "Great poet"; Belano recites him from memory) High (bot) 2026-08-30
165 Sappho writer Greece The Savage Detectives III, "The Deserts of Sonora" — García Madero's poetics quizzes in the Impala, where sapphic verse turns up among the metrical terms he fires at Lima, Belano and Lupe while Alberto's Camaro closes in Medium (bot) 2026-08-30
164 Alcaeus writer Greece (Lesbos) The Savage Detectives III, García Madero's poetic-terminology quizzes in the Sonora desert ("alcaica" among the saturnians, asclepiads and archilochians) Medium (bot) 2026-08-30
163 Asclepiades of Samos writer Greece The Savage Detectives III, García Madero's metrical catechism in the car out of Mexico City — the greater Asclepiad, sixteen syllables, defined at speed while Lupe and the fugitives flee north Medium (bot) 2026-08-30
162 Gnaeus Naevius writer Roman Republic (Campania) The Savage Detectives III, García Madero's poetic-terminology quiz in the car crossing Sonora — asked which poets used the Saturnian, he answers "Livius Andronicus and Naevius. Religious and commemorative poetry." High (bot) 2026-08-30
161 Livius Andronicus writer Ancient Rome (b. Tarentum) The Savage Detectives III, "The Deserts of Sonora" — García Madero's diary, among the poets and verse-terms he recites on the run Medium (bot) 2026-08-30
160 Don DeLillo writer United States The Savage Detectives II, Jacobo Urenda's Liberia testimony — the war photographer López Lobo is "what Don DeLillo is to writers" High (bot) 2026-08-30
159 Julien Sorel writer France (fictional) Between Parentheses, the closing Mónica Maristain interview — "Julien Sorel, our father"; the Proust questionnaire, where he is named favorite fictional hero; The Savage Detectives II, a witness likening Belano to him High (bot) 2026-08-29
158 Antonio Machado writer Spain Unverified — likely Between Parentheses, among the Spanish poets Bolaño invokes in his Catalan-press columns Low (bot) 2026-08-29
157 Azorín writer Spain The Savage Detectives II Medium (bot) 2026-08-29
156 Miguel de Unamuno writer Spain 2666, The Part About the Critics, the Studien journal articles — an essay on the idea of God in Archimboldi and Unamuno High (bot) 2026-08-29
155 Pío Baroja writer Spain Unverified — no named appearance located; belongs to the Spanish novelistic backdrop Bolaño quarrels with in Between Parentheses. Low (bot) 2026-08-29
154 Antonio Gramsci writer Italy Not verified in Bolaño's work; the plausible habitats are the clandestine Marxism tutorials Urrutia Lacroix gives Pinochet and the junta in By Night in Chile, and the roster of philosophers' names in Amalfitano's hanging-diagrams in 2666 Low (bot) 2026-08-29
153 Amado Nervo writer Mexico The Savage Detectives I, San Epifanio's taxonomy High (bot) 2026-08-29
1 Manuel Acuña writer Mexico The Savage Detectives I, San Epifanio's taxonomy High original batch
2 Martín Adán writer Peru The Savage Detectives I, the taxonomy High original batch
3 Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes writer Ancient Greece By Night in Chile, Urrutia reads the Greeks while the city burns Medium original batch
4 César Aira writer Argentina Between Parentheses Medium original batch
5 Rafael Alberti writer Spain The Savage Detectives I, the taxonomy High original batch
6 Vicente Aleixandre writer Spain The Savage Detectives I, the taxonomy High original batch
7 Aristotle writer Ancient Greece 2666 II, diagrams Medium original batch
8 Honoré de Balzac writer France Distant Star, defiled by the "barbaric writers" Medium original batch
9 Juan Bañuelos (model for Julio César Álamo) writer Mexico The Savage Detectives I, the workshop García Madero abandons; also on the Nicaragua trip in Part II High original batch
10 Charles Baudelaire writer France 2666, epigraph High original batch
11 William Blake writer England The Savage Detectives I, the taxonomy (top rank) High original batch
12 José Joaquín Blanco (model for Luis Sebastián Rosado) writer Mexico The Savage Detectives II, Rosado's testimonies High original batch
13 Jorge Boccanera (model for Fabio Ernesto Logiacomo) writer Argentina The Savage Detectives II High original batch
14 Roberto Bolaño (model for Arturo Belano) writer Chile The Savage Detectives, Amulet, Distant Star (narrator), Cowboy Graves High original batch
15 Heinrich Böll writer Germany 2666 I (passing) Low original batch
16 Jorge Luis Borges writer Argentina Nazi Literature in the Americas (the whole book is a Borges pastiche); The Savage Detectives I (taxonomy: "ambiguous"); Between Parentheses (throughout the essays) High original batch
17 André Breton writer France Cowboy Graves, "French Comedy of Horrors" Medium original batch
18 Robert Browning writer England By Night in Chile, via Sordello Medium original batch
19 Michel Bulteau (appears as himself) writer France The Savage Detectives II, his own testimony High original batch
20 Mariana Callejas (model for María Canales) writer Chile By Night in Chile High original batch
21 Ernesto Cardenal writer Nicaragua The Savage Detectives II, the Nicaragua trip Medium original batch
22 Horacio Castellanos Moya writer El Salvador Between Parentheses High original batch
23 Catullus, Ovid, Virgil writer Ancient Rome The Savage Detectives II, Xosé Lendoiro's Latin Medium original batch
24 Paul Celan writer Romania (German-language) Amulet, the prophecy Medium original batch
25 Louis-Ferdinand Céline writer France Amulet, the prophecy High original batch
26 Luis Cernuda writer Spain The Savage Detectives I (taxonomy: "a nymph, and sometimes a true poet"); Woes of the True Policeman High original batch
27 Aimé Césaire writer Martinique (France) Nazi Literature in the Americas, plagiarized by Max Mirebalais Medium original batch
28 G. K. Chesterton writer England By Night in Chile, epigraph High original batch
29 Carl von Clausewitz writer Prussia (Germany) The Third Reich, Udo's theorizing Low original batch
30 José de la Colina (model for José "Zopilote" Colina) writer Mexico The Savage Detectives II, establishment testimonies Medium original batch
31 Julio Cortázar writer Argentina The Savage Detectives II, literary chatter; Between Parentheses Medium original batch
32 Jorge Cuesta writer Mexico The Savage Detectives, the Contemporáneos Medium original batch
33 Dante Alighieri writer Italy By Night in Chile, via Sordello High original batch
34 Rubén Darío writer Nicaragua The Savage Detectives I, the taxonomy ("the queen of the locas") High original batch
35 Robert Desnos writer France Amulet (probable) Medium (placement Low) original batch
36 Antonio Di Benedetto writer Argentina Model for the exiled writer in the story "Sensini" (Last Evenings on Earth); praised in essays High original batch
37 Hernán Díaz Arrieta, "Alone" (model for Farewell) writer Chile By Night in Chile High original batch
38 Philip K. Dick writer United States Between Parentheses; Nazi Literature in the Americas (Zach Sodenstern's science-fiction lineage) Medium original batch
39 Charles Dickens writer England 2666 II, the pharmacist High original batch
40 Denis Diderot writer France Nazi Literature in the Americas, refuted by Fontaine da Souza Medium original batch
41 Rafael Dieste writer Spain (Galicia) 2666 II, the book on the clothesline High original batch
42 Alfred Döblin writer Germany 2666 V, Archimboldi's reading Medium original batch
43 Miguel Donoso Pareja (model for Vargas Prado) writer Ecuador The Savage Detectives II Medium original batch
44 Ignacio Echevarría (model for Iñaki Echavarne) writer Spain The Savage Detectives II, the beach duel High original batch
45 Friedrich Engels writer Germany By Night in Chile, the lessons Medium original batch
46 Hans Magnus Enzensberger writer Germany 2666 I (passing) Low original batch
47 Philip José Farmer writer United States The Spirit of Science Fiction, Jan's letters Low original batch
48 León Felipe writer Spain The Savage Detectives II; Amulet High original batch
49 Macedonio Fernández writer Argentina The Savage Detectives I, the taxonomy High original batch
50 Gustave Flaubert writer France 2666 II, the pharmacist's preferences High original batch
51 Rubem Fonseca writer Brazil Nazi Literature in the Americas, Amado Couto's obsession Medium original batch
52 Carlos Fuentes writer Mexico The Savage Detectives II, literary chatter Medium original batch
53 Darío Galicia (model for Ernesto San Epifanio) writer Mexico The Savage Detectives I and II High original batch
54 Federico García Lorca writer Spain Woes of the True Policeman, the taxonomy Medium original batch
55 Gabriel García Márquez writer Colombia Absent from the novels; the same interview joke, and the satirical speech "Los mitos de Cthulhu" in Between Parentheses Medium original batch
56 Pedro Garfias writer Spain The Savage Detectives II; Amulet High original batch
57 Jean Genet writer France Woes of the True Policeman, Padilla's project Low original batch
58 Pere Gimferrer (model for Pere Ordóñez) writer Spain (Catalonia) The Savage Detectives II, the Madrid book fair High original batch
59 Sergio González Rodríguez (appears as "Sergio González") writer Mexico 2666 IV High original batch
60 Maxim Gorky writer Russia 2666 V, Ansky's notebook Low original batch
61 Günter Grass writer Germany 2666 I (passing) Low original batch
62 Orlando Guillén (model for "El Cojo") writer Mexico The Savage Detectives, passing Low original batch
63 Jorge Guillén writer Spain The Savage Detectives I, the taxonomy High original batch
64 Marta Harnecker writer Chile By Night in Chile, the junta's Marxism lessons High original batch
65 G. W. F. Hegel writer Germany 2666 II Medium original batch
66 Martin Heidegger writer Germany 2666 II Medium original batch
67 Heraclitus writer Ancient Greece 2666 II Medium original batch
68 Homer writer Ancient Greece By Night in Chile, same passage Medium original batch
69 Efraín Huerta writer Mexico The Savage Detectives I Medium original batch
70 Victor Hugo writer France Distant Star, the barbaric writers Medium original batch
71 Vicente Huidobro writer Chile Amulet, the prophecy Medium original batch
72 James Joyce writer Ireland Amulet, the prophecy High original batch
73 Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz writer Mexico The Savage Detectives I Medium original batch
74 Ernst Jünger writer Germany By Night in Chile (the Guatemalan painter's garret); 2666 V (the Romanian castle) High original batch
75 Franz Kafka writer Bohemia (German-language) 2666 II, the pharmacist; Between Parentheses High original batch
76 Immanuel Kant writer Prussia (Germany) 2666 II Medium original batch
77 Osvaldo Lamborghini writer Argentina Between Parentheses Medium original batch
78 Mara Larrosa (model for María Font) writer Mexico The Savage Detectives I and II High original batch
79 Comte de Lautréamont writer Uruguay / France The Savage Detectives I, the visceral realists' scripture High original batch
80 Ursula K. Le Guin writer United States The Spirit of Science Fiction, Jan's letters Medium original batch
81 Fritz Leiber writer United States The Spirit of Science Fiction, Jan's letters Medium original batch
82 Pedro Lemebel writer Chile Between Parentheses High original batch
83 Vladimir Lenin writer Russia By Night in Chile, the lessons Medium original batch
84 Edna Lieberman (model for Edith Oster) writer Mexico The Savage Detectives II High original batch
85 Enrique Lihn writer Chile Distant Star; Between Parentheses; "Meeting with Enrique Lihn" (The Return) Medium original batch
86 Germán List Arzubide writer Mexico The Savage Detectives II, Amadeo Salvatierra High original batch
87 Pierre Louÿs writer France The Savage Detectives I and III, García Madero's reading Medium original batch
88 Thomas Mann writer Germany Amulet, the prophecy High original batch
89 Manuel Maples Arce writer Mexico The Savage Detectives II (Amadeo) and III High original batch
90 Javier Marías writer Spain Between Parentheses Medium original batch
91 Karl Marx writer Germany By Night in Chile, the lessons; 2666 II Medium original batch
92 Vladimir Mayakovsky writer Russia Amulet, the prophecy High original batch
93 Rubén Medina (model for Rafael Barrios) writer Mexico The Savage Detectives II High original batch
94 Herman Melville writer United States 2666 II, the pharmacist High original batch
95 Matthieu Messagier writer France The Savage Detectives II Medium original batch
96 Carlos Monsiváis (appears as himself) writer Mexico The Savage Detectives II, his own testimony High original batch
97 Bruno Montané (model for Felipe Müller) writer Chile The Savage Detectives II High original batch
98 Augusto Monterroso (model for Pancracio Montesol) writer Guatemala The Savage Detectives II, Rosado's and Montero's testimonies High original batch
99 Antonio Muñoz Molina (model for Aurelio Baca) writer Spain The Savage Detectives II, the Madrid book fair Medium original batch
100 Pablo Neruda writer Chile By Night in Chile (in person at Farewell's estate); The Savage Detectives I (taxonomy); Woes of the True Policeman; Between Parentheses; Distant Star High original batch
101 Friedrich Nietzsche writer Germany 2666 II Medium original batch
102 Salvador Novo writer Mexico The Savage Detectives, the Contemporáneos Medium original batch
103 Charles Olson writer United States Nazi Literature in the Americas, Rory Long's master High original batch
104 Gilberto Owen writer Mexico The Savage Detectives, the Contemporáneos Medium original batch
105 Leopoldo María Panero (model for the poet at Mondragón in 2666; possible model for Pelayo Barrendoáin in TSD) writer Spain 2666 II; The Savage Detectives II High / Low original batch
106 Nicanor Parra writer Chile Amulet, the prophecy; also the "Discurso de Caracas" and the essays, where Bolaño declares him the greatest living poet in Spanish; Between Parentheses (several essays); Distant Star (Stein and the Chilean poets) High original batch
107 Cesare Pavese writer Italy Amulet, the prophecy High original batch
108 Octavio Paz writer Mexico The Savage Detectives I (the enemy; the taxonomy) and II (Clara Cabeza's testimony, the Parque Hundido encounter) High original batch
109 Jorge Pimentel and the Hora Zero poets writer Peru The Savage Detectives II, the Peruvians in Paris Medium original batch
110 Plato writer Ancient Greece By Night in Chile, Urrutia's coup reading; 2666 II Medium original batch
111 Sophie Podolski writer Belgium Antwerp; The Savage Detectives I Medium original batch
112 Edgar Allan Poe writer United States Nazi Literature in the Americas, Edelmira Thompson's Poe room High original batch
113 Ezra Pound writer United States Amulet, the prophecy; Nazi Literature in the Americas High / Medium original batch
114 Marcel Proust writer France Amulet, the prophecy High original batch
115 Rodrigo Rey Rosa writer Guatemala Between Parentheses High original batch
116 Alfonso Reyes writer Mexico The Savage Detectives I Medium original batch
117 Salvador Reyes writer Chile By Night in Chile, tells the Jünger story High original batch
118 Arthur Rimbaud writer France The Savage Detectives I; everywhere by implication; Between Parentheses High original batch
119 José Rosas Ribeyro (model for Roberto Rosas) writer Peru The Savage Detectives II, Paris Low original batch
120 Jean-Jacques Rousseau writer France Nazi Literature in the Americas Medium original batch
121 Juan Rulfo writer Mexico The Savage Detectives II, literary chatter Medium original batch
122 Bertrand Russell writer United Kingdom 2666 II, Amalfitano's diagrams Medium original batch
123 Marquis de Sade writer France The Savage Detectives II, Simone Darrieux Medium original batch
124 Mario Santiago Papasquiaro (model for Ulises Lima) writer Mexico The Savage Detectives throughout; Amulet; Between Parentheses; The Romantic Dogs (dedications) High original batch
125 Bruno Schulz writer Poland Distant Star, the narrator's reading in the last scene High original batch
126 Marcel Schwob writer France Formal model (with Borges) for Nazi Literature in the Americas; praised in Between Parentheses High original batch
127 Lilian Serpas writer El Salvador Amulet, in person High original batch
128 Robert Silverberg writer United States The Spirit of Science Fiction, Jan's letters Medium original batch
129 Sordello da Goito writer Italy (Occitan) By Night in Chile, the refrain High original batch
130 Alcira Soust Scaffo (model for Auxilio Lacouture) writer Uruguay The Savage Detectives II; Amulet High original batch
131 Baruch Spinoza writer Netherlands The Savage Detectives II, Norman Bolzman Low original batch
132 Stendhal writer France Distant Star, the barbaric writers Medium original batch
133 Alfonsina Storni writer Argentina Amulet, the prophecy Medium original batch
134 Thucydides writer Ancient Greece By Night in Chile, same passage Medium original batch
135 James Tiptree Jr. / Alice Sheldon writer United States The Spirit of Science Fiction, Jan's letters Medium original batch
136 Georg Trakl writer Austria Amulet, the prophecy Medium original batch
137 Leon Trotsky writer Russia 2666 II, Amalfitano's diagrams Medium original batch
138 Mark Twain writer United States The Between Parentheses essay on Huckleberry Finn Medium original batch
139 Concha Urquiza (model for Cesárea Tinajero) writer Mexico The Savage Detectives II and III High original batch
140 Julio Valle-Castillo (model for "one of Cardenal's godsons") writer Nicaragua The Savage Detectives II, Nicaragua Low original batch
141 César Vallejo writer Peru Monsieur Pain (the dying patient); The Savage Detectives I (taxonomy); Amulet; Woes of the True Policeman; Between Parentheses High original batch
142 Mario Vargas Llosa writer Peru Mentioned in The Savage Detectives (reader-reported; I have not located the passage — most likely in the Boom chatter of a Part II testimony); also in interviews (notably the 2003 Playboy México interview) and glancingly in Between Parentheses Medium original batch
143 Paul Verlaine writer France The Savage Detectives I, the taxonomy ("the paradigm" outside Spanish) High original batch
144 Enrique Vila-Matas writer Spain Between Parentheses; a close friendship in print High original batch
145 Xavier Villaurrutia writer Mexico The Savage Detectives, the Contemporáneos Medium original batch
146 Voltaire writer France Nazi Literature in the Americas Medium original batch
147 Walt Whitman writer United States The Savage Detectives I, the taxonomy (top rank); Woes of the True Policeman High original batch
148 Juan Rodolfo Wilcock writer Argentina / Italy Between Parentheses; acknowledged inspiration for Nazi Literature in the Americas High original batch
149 Ludwig Wittgenstein writer Austria 2666 II; The Savage Detectives Medium original batch
150 Wolfram von Eschenbach writer Germany 2666 V, Hans Reiter's boyhood reading Medium original batch
151 Virginia Woolf writer England Amulet, the prophecy High original batch
152 Raúl Zurita (model for Carlos Wieder's sky-writing) writer Chile Distant Star; also "Fatherland" in Cowboy Graves; Between Parentheses High original batch
176 Troubadour poetry movement 12th–13th c., Occitania By Night in Chile, the "Sordello, which Sordello?" refrain High original batch
177 Symbolism / Decadence movement 1857–1900s, France Through its figures rather than by name: Baudelaire's epigraph to 2666, Verlaine in the taxonomy, Louÿs as García Madero's reading, Schwob behind Nazi Literature in the Americas High (figures), Low (named as a movement) original batch
178 Modernismo movement 1888–1916, Spanish America The Savage Detectives I, the taxonomy: Darío as "queen of the locas" High original batch
179 Futurism (Russian) movement 1912–1930, Russia Amulet, Mayakovsky in the prophecy; 2666 V, the Soviet literary world of Ansky's notebook Medium original batch
180 Ultraísmo movement 1918–1925, Spain/Argentina Background of The Savage Detectives's exile poets: Garfias was a signatory, Borges its Buenos Aires importer Low (context, not named) original batch
181 Creacionismo movement 1916–1930s, Chile/Paris Via Huidobro in the Amulet prophecy Low (context, not named) original batch
182 Estridentismo movement 1921–1927, Mexico The Savage Detectives II (Amadeo Salvatierra's testimony) and III (the Sonora archive); the movement Cesárea Tinajero is written into High original batch
183 Surrealism movement 1924–1966, Paris Cowboy Graves ("French Comedy of Horrors": the Clandestine Surrealist Group in the sewers); Amulet (Remedios Varo, Desnos); Lautréamont everywhere as the canonized ancestor High original batch
184 The Contemporáneos movement 1928–1931, Mexico The Savage Detectives, as the Estridentistas' cosmopolitan rivals: Villaurrutia, Novo, Cuesta, Owen Medium original batch
185 Generation of '27 movement 1927–1939, Spain The Savage Detectives I, the taxonomy distributes its members (Cernuda, Guillén, Aleixandre, Alberti); Lorca in Woes of the True Policeman; its exiles (Garfias, León Felipe adjacent) populate Auxilio's Mexico High original batch
186 Négritude movement 1930s–1950s, Paris/Caribbean Nazi Literature in the Americas, the Max Mirebalais entry: a Duvalierist plagiarist strip-mining Césaire Medium original batch
187 Socialist realism movement 1934 onward, USSR 2666 V, the Ansky notebook: Ivanov's hack career and the purge of the avant-garde Medium original batch
188 Black Mountain / Projective Verse movement 1948–1957, USA Nazi Literature in the Americas, Rory Long as Charles Olson's apostate disciple High original batch
189 The antipoetry line movement 1954 onward, Chile Amulet (Parra in the prophecy); the essays, where Bolaño declares Parra the greatest living poet in Spanish High original batch
190 The Boom movement 1960s–1970s, Latin America The Savage Detectives II literary chatter (Cortázar, Fuentes, Rulfo as precursor, Borges as god; Vargas Llosa reader-reported); the essays for García Márquez and Vargas Llosa High original batch
191 Magical realism / "macondismo" movement 1967 onward, everywhere The essays, above all the speech "Los mitos de Cthulhu": the industry of imitation as Bolaño's declared enemy High (essays) original batch
192 The novísimos movement 1970, Spain The Savage Detectives II, the Madrid book fair, through its members' models: Gimferrer (Ordóñez), Panero (Barrendoáin?) Medium (context) original batch
193 Hora Zero movement 1970 onward, Peru The Savage Detectives II, the Peruvian poets' Paris commune (Roberto Rosas / Rosas Ribeyro) Medium original batch
194 The electric poets (Manifeste électrique) movement 1971, Paris The Savage Detectives II, Ulises Lima seeking out Bulteau and Messagier Medium original batch
195 Infrarealism movement 1975–, Mexico City The real movement behind everything: fictionalized as visceral realism throughout The Savage Detectives and Amulet; documented in Bolaño's own manifesto and the essays High original batch
196 CADA / escena de avanzada movement 1979–1985, Chile Model-context for Distant Star: Zurita's sky-writing and body art, inverted into Wieder High (as model) original batch
197 American science fiction (the genre community) movement 1926 onward, USA The Spirit of Science Fiction, Jan's letters to Sheldon, Le Guin, Silverberg, Leiber; the Ivanov subplot of 2666 Medium original batch