Monsieur Pain (Audible Audio Edition) Roberto Bolano Walter Krochmal Audible Studios Books
Download As PDF : Monsieur Pain (Audible Audio Edition) Roberto Bolano Walter Krochmal Audible Studios Books
A disciple of Mesmer is put in charge of curing the hypochondria of a poor South American abandoned in a Paris hospital in the spring of 1938. It seems as though nothing bad could possibly happen, until the hypnotist Pierre Pain becomes embroiled in intrigue which plans ritual assassination of planetary proportions. Only Pierre Pain realizes what is going on behind the scenes, but he is no hero, he is an ordinary man and the least inclined to embark on an adventure of life and death where love, solitude, and the value of the human being is put at risk.
Monsieur Pain (Audible Audio Edition) Roberto Bolano Walter Krochmal Audible Studios Books
i am a big fan of roberto, have read everything by him. but this one is not that good. i feel i have to read all of his early books just in case.Product details
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Monsieur Pain (Audible Audio Edition) Roberto Bolano Walter Krochmal Audible Studios Books Reviews
Some years ago, in either 1981 or 1982, Roberto Bolano wrote a novel called The Elephant Path and entered it for the Felix Urubayen prize for a short novel, awarded by the Toledo City Council. The Elephant Path won the prize and so netted Bolano three hundred thousand pesetas. Bolano enjoyed his victory so much that he re-titled the novel, entered it in another regional competition, and came away with a further hundred and twenty thousand pesetas. Realising that this bout of lucrative competition mania could be spun into a great author-centric yarn, Bolano used it as the basis for `Sensini', a short story later included in his excellent Last Evenings on Earth collection. Now that original story has been reborn again, in English translation, as Monsieur Pain. It's all very meta.
Monsieur Pain begins in 1938 as the Peruvian poet Cesar Vallejo lies stricken in a Paris hospital. Vallejo is hiccupping himself to death. When the doctor's prove baffled by her husband's condition, Madame Vallejo seeks help from the eponymous Monsieur Pain, an acquaintance of her friend Madame Reynaud. Pain is a reclusive bachelor, wounded and traumatised by the First World War, whose meagre government pension allows him to live a threadbare existence while devoting his time to his twin passions of hypnotism and the occult. He is also in love with Madame Reynaud and so agrees to try and help her friend.
Unfortunately for Pain, things quickly go awry. The doctors scoff at Pain's attempts to treat Vallejo and, embarrassed in front of Madame Reynaud, he flees from the hospital. Later that same day a pair of mysterious Spaniards offer Pain an envelope full of cash in exchange for ceasing to treat Vallejo and, believing that his services have already been dispensed with, Pain accepts. Of course, he is shortly summoned back to Vallejo's bedside to try his hypnotic cure once again and so begins a surrealist investigation in to the mystery [or, indeed, absence there of] of Vallejo's illness.
Poor Monsieur Pain is a most ineffectual detective and seems doomed to wander in a dreamlike state through his inept investigations as confrontations fizzle down to nothing and ominous figures loom up at him from the streets of Paris only to disappear without a trace. The mystery that Bolano has crafted seems almost too much even for Pain as he flails about trying to make sense of everything that befalls him. Whether or not someone is out to get Vallejo there is certainly something peculiar afoot in Monsieur Pain as a host of peculiar villains [ranging from Franco himself to rival mesmerists] are certainly at large in the story and so Pain is compelled to bumble around and find where, if anywhere, he fits within the conspiracy jumble. There is certainly some ominous presence hovering over Monsieur Pain even if its exact nature never becomes clear.
Being one of his earliest works, Monsieur Pain doesn't quite live up to the brilliance of 2666 or The Savage Detectives, but it is still an excellent, innovative metaphysical thriller that outlines the directions in which Bolano's literary career would develop [The `Epilogue for Voices' featured here, for example, being clearly echoed in the superb Nazi Literature in the Americas].
The principal audience for this book is readers who have tackled and enjoyed Bolaño's mature novels, most notably "The Savage Detectives" and "2666" -- and who would now like to engage in a bit of literary archeology. If you are such a reader, and want to trace back, to their earliest expression, Bolaño's mature themes, motifs and obsessions, then "Monsieur Pain" will offer you many rewards. Dreams, delirium, labyrinths, assassinations, artists versus fascists, secret histories, alienation, a blurred line between realism and fantasy -- it's all here in a rudimentary state.
But I'm reluctant to recommend this short (134-page) novel to a novice reader. The reason is this Bolaño's strength is in what one critic called his "summative" powers -- his ability to encompass a mass of subjects, to assemble a formidable mountain of prose that draws you into a relentlessly engrossing world.
There are writers who excel at shorter forms (short stories; sonnets) but who fail at more sustained efforts (novels; epic poems). Bolaño may be an example of the opposite -- an author who is most convincing when creating lengthy works of cumulative power, but who may strike you as meandering, indulgent, and unfulfilling, when he invites you on a shorter excursion. I suspect many new readers will find "Monsieur Pain" to be a fragment-like experience without much pay-off. In short, this is not the best of Bolaño.
That is not to say the book lacks felicities apt to please a new reader. If you are comfortable with unconventional fiction, tolerant of detours and ambiguity, and intrigued by what happens when Poe meets Borges meets Paul Auster meets Thomas Pynchon -- then take the plunge.
Among the pleasures of "Monsieur Pain" is how economically Bolaño sketches scene after scene, managing to disorient the reader while generally maintaining narrative equilibrium. For me, the experience of reading "Monsieur Pain" was akin to watching a film noir, one with an experimental bent. One reviewer likened it to to the style and effect of David Lynch. As for his treatment of details, some scenes reminded me of Hitchcock, especially in the way Bolaño "edits" the sights and sounds of a sequence, and the way he uses physical surroundings to echo psychological space, and vice versa. At the very least you are likely to come away impressed by how skillfully the author (who viewed himself principally as a poet) taps into the strange beauty of the world, and conveys this with a sensitive descriptive power.
Bolaño's wizardry with a pen shines through clearly in Chris Andrews' translation. Pierre Pain, the shy narrator, describes a surprise appearance of his romantic interest, Madame Reynaud, at his garret "The light delineating her silhouette had the gray intimacy of certain Parisian mornings." Later that day, called to the bedside of a dying poet, he is struck by how "the silence in the room seemed to be full of holes." The patient's face "displayed the strange disconsolate dignity shared by all those who have been confined in a hospital for some time." Later, anger and resentment seize the narrator, which he describes as "gradually hardening me from within like a carcass being stuffed by a taxidermist." Toward the end of the book he enters the rear of a darkened movie theater, his eyes adjusting to this scene
"An aisle divided the rows of seats, from which the heads of the viewers protruded like nocturnal flowers; they were sparsely scattered, unclassifiable, mostly alone and isolated in their places."
That neatly captures Bolaño's vision of the world.
(Mike Ettner)
After my AP English teacher told us about how Bolano is a fantastic and highly appraised author, I was excited to read this book. I'm sorry to say i was disappointed. Although the book is filled with some quality descriptions and writing, the plot was hazy and I found i didn't really care about any of the characters. Just not my cup of tea.
A small book and worthy of your time. If you have not read Bolano you should. If you have read Bolano you should read Monsieur Pain. It shouldn't be your first Bolano as it is not particularly typical in theme (I suggest '2666') but it shouldn't be missed.
i am a big fan of roberto, have read everything by him. but this one is not that good. i feel i have to read all of his early books just in case.
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