Despite all of the characters’ previous attempts to avoid the issue of the persistence of violence in human society, in this part Bolano seems intent on illuminating all the various manner of violence humans continue to perpetuate against each other. At the end of The Part about Fate, Bolano seems to be struggling with what a human being at the end of the 20th century should do in the face of violence. Oscar Fate provides the reader with a very imperfect answer.

Almost out the blue, it occurred to me that I owned another book (which I have not read completely) that struggles with the problem of violence: Rising Up and Rising Down, by William T. Vollmann. I only own the one volume condensed version of the book. If you aren’t familiar with Rising Up and Rising Down, Vollmann writes for seven volumes documenting violence throughout the history of humankind and attempts to develop a moral calculus about violence. I’d be interested if anyone who is familiar with Rising Up and Rising Down as any thoughts about Vollmann’s approach to the problem of violence compared to Bolano’s treatment thus far.

Translation: A pilgrim is a traveler who visits a religious place, almost always for religious motives.

No doubt that this was on purpose.

Anyway. I mention it because I had the same thought that you had in relation to Lily Burk: the killings of girls and women of Santa Teresa can never get the same sort of attention.

As for being consumed with seemingly trivial things–the hot items, the current hip meme, the best Pilates, or whatever–I kind of feel the same way. But I also think it’s inevitable and not all bad. It’s a defense mechanism of sorts, in a way. There’s a somewhat fine line that needs to be walked here. Care too much and you risk obsession, living in fear, risk of restrictions on freedom, despondency, etc, etc. Care too little, or be too overwhelmed to care enough, and you risk lawlessness or at least a denial of justice in cases where perhaps some sort of justice could be had. And so on. To relate this to my comments from last week (to Matt’s post): there’s a strong desire not to live in fear, even when there’s plenty to be scared off. We don’t want the bastards to get us down, at least not too much, as that’s handing them a victory of sorts.

Anyway. I love your stuff Maria, both here and on Wallace-l. You’re awesome.

I do love having company on this book!!

It’s kind of like the mysterious, dreamlike quality of the first sections describes the very ruses we use every day in order to deal with the impossibility of what we’re being told now.

Michael, that’s a pretty great catch about the attempted murder foiled by Lalo Cura. There aren’t many guys trying to save women in Santa Teresa … I guess it would be crazy to try.