A Little Lumpen Novelita (Una novelita lumpen in Spanish) is a 2002 coming-of-age novel by the Chilean author Roberto Bolaño. In September 2014, New Directions published an English-language translated by Natasha Wimmer. The book is divided into sixteen short chapters, told in first person by the protagonist Bianca, who recalls her childhood, adolescence and early adulthood.
![]() First edition (Spanish) | |
Author | Roberto Bolaño |
---|---|
Original title | Una Novelita Lumpen |
Translator | Natasha Wimmer |
Language | Spanish |
Publisher | Mondadori (Spanish) New Directions (English) |
Publication date | 2002 |
Publication place | Chile |
Published in English | 2014 |
Media type | |
Pages | 128 |
ISBN | 0811223353 |
Il Futuro, a 2013 film directed by Alicia Scherson and starring Manuela Martelli and Rutger Hauer, was based on this novel.[citation needed]
Plot
editThis article needs a plot summary. (February 2024) |
Reception
editIn a starred review, Publishers Weekly's Gabe Habash referred to A Little Lumpen Novelita as "a glittering gem, as maddening and haunting as you'd expect from Bolaño", noting that "even though [it] is not Bolaño's best book, it's still one of the best books of the year." Habash highlights how the book, which is "slightly longer than a chapbook [...,] feels as substantial as a book three times as long, because Bolaño keeps his scope small and frantically explores all the little crawl spaces of the story". Alongside a linear plot, the novel "bends and twists, refusing to be pinned down", which Habash describes as "the book's real draw".[1]
Kirkus Reviews called A Little Lumpen Novelita "a concise but welcome addition to a major writer's canon", highlighting how "its watertight prose (via Wimmer's translation) and themes of criminality and the treatment of women make it of a piece with the writer's grander works".[2]
References
edit- ^ Habash, Gabe (2014-06-02). "A Little Lumpen Novelita by". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on 2022-10-25. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
- ^ "A Little Lumpen Novelita". Kirkus Reviews. 2014-07-22. Archived from the original on 2024-01-15. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
- ^ "A Little Lumpen Novelita". Booklist. 2014-09-01. Archived from the original on 2024-02-03. Retrieved 2024-02-03.