The Novel Roberto Bolano Kept to Himself

“I wrote this book for myself, and even that I can’t be sure of,” he declares in the prologue. Bolaño never sent the original manuscript to publishers because he was sure they “would’ve slammed the door in my face”. It is difficult to imagine that Antwerp would have made it beyond a slush-pile had it not been by the acclaimed author of The Savage Detectives.