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Unpublished Roberto Bolaño novel to be serialized

It’s been a good couple of weeks for posthumous manuscripts seeing publication. Last week, word broke about a magazine editor who had discovered a cache of unpublished Dashiell Hammett stories. This week, there is news that an unpublished novel by the late Chilean novelist Roberto Bolaño will be serialized in The Paris Review. The manuscript, which appears to have been composed in the 1990s, is a “buoyant,” “funny” story titled … um … The Third Reich. The Wylie Agency, which represents the late author’s work, is quoted in the Guardian as saying that the new book, which appeared in Spanish last year, was complete upon its discovery, and had clearly been “meticulously corrected” by hand.

From the Guardian:

The Third Reich is the story of Udo Berger, who is taking a holiday on the Costa Brava before a big war-gaming tournament, and who finds himself drawn into a battle with an enigmatic local, El Quemado (The Burned One). The Wylie Agency has described the book as “one man’s descent into nightmare.” But the author’s long-time translator Natasha Wimmer has suggested a cheerier read, saying the novel has been a joy to work on, “mostly because Bolaño seems to have had such fun writing it. It’s a buoyant novel, ominous at moments but mostly just funny.”

The Paris Review is set to serialize the novel in four instalments, beginning in its Spring 2011 issue.

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