The Secret of Evil


The Secret of Evil is a collection of short stories and recollections or essays by the Chilean author Roberto Bolaño. The English translation by Chris Andrews was published by New Directions in 2012. The Spanish version was published posthumously and contains 21 pieces, 19 of which appear in the English edition. Several of the stories in the collection feature characters that have appeared in previous works by Bolaño, including his alter ego Arturo Belano and characters that first appeared in Nazi Literature in the Americas.
Some pieces are autobiographical or semi-autobiographical recollections, like "I Can't Read" or "Death of Ulises". Two pieces are essays or speeches previously published in Between Parentheses: "Vagrancies of the Literature of Doom", and "Sevilla Kills Me".

Contents

  • Colonia Lindavista
  • The Secret of Evil
  • The Old Man of the Mountain
  • The Colonel's Son
  • Scholars of Sodom
  • The Room Next Door
  • Labyrinth
  • Vagaries of the Literature of Doom - an essay
  • Crimes
  • I Can't Read
  • Beach - a story composed of a single long sentence, whose opening words are, "I gave up heroin and went back to my town and started on the methadone treatment administered me at the clinic..." This story was claimed to be autobiographical and led people to believe that Bolaño had a heroin habit. this was later refuted by Bolaño's widow as well as his American agent Andrew Wylie.
  • Muscles
  • The Tour
  • Daniela
  • Suntan
  • Death of Ulises
  • The trouble-maker
  • Sevilla Kills Me - an essay
  • The Days of Chaos