A Question About the Critics

March 8, 2013 7:05 PM

Would you happen to know to whom or what, if anyone or thing, Manuel Espinoza, the Spaniard, and Jean-Claude Pelletier, the Frenchman, from the first section Roberto Bolaño's novel *2666*, are allusions to?

The English Liz Norton's name seems to be an allusion to Burnt Norton, the first poem of T.S. Eliot's The Four Quartets. It also highlights the four character structure of this section.

The wheelchair-bound Italian Piero Morini seems to be an allusion to F.T. Marinetti and *The Futurist Manifesto* (which Bolaño mentions in another novel), the result of an ideology which exalts "the beauty of speed" and aims "to glorify war."

posted by slowlikemolasses to writing & language (5 answers total)

I think you're overreading a bit here. As far as I can see these names are basically just playing up the fairly generic national stereotypes, rather than making allusions that are this cryptically specific. Eliot as well as Bolaño liked the name "Norton" for its ur-English sound; and Morini doesn't even sound that much like Marinetti (nor does the character resemble him in the least). Or at least if other readers and critics of Bolaño have made a good argument for this kind of connection, I haven't heard about it — and I'd be interested in hearing the evidence for it.
posted by RogerB at 9:30 PM on March 8

I know there was an essay somewhere on the IRL identities of characters in The Savage Detectives, but I can't seem to find it again. There could be something to that effect written about 2666 by now as well. But somehow I don't think the roman-a-clef game is as prominent in 2666 (though it might just be me not getting the references), and maybe it'd be more productive to think of types than specific individuals.

And although it's been a while since I've read 2666, I thought maybe you could consider reading the critics' personalities with a theory lens. They could be representing different academic traditions within European academia, for example.

If there is an answer to your question, though, I'd really like to hear it!
posted by ipsative at 2:27 AM on March 9

Seeing Martinetti, via Morini, as a changed man after a crippling accident isn't much of a stretch.
posted by slowlikemolasses at 4:56 PM on March 9

Actually, I think Norton refers to the Norton Anthology and the idea of an anglicized canon. I think Bolaño laughed at the idea of the Americans deciding what should be included in this massive anthology as any sort of canon. I wrote about this idea on my site. I also think that Espinoza refers to Spinoza and that philosopher's convoluted nationality. "Morini" is also a problematic name (quoting myself here):

The Morini were a tribe in the Roman Empire that occupied a part of what is now French Flanders (the arrondissements near the border of Belgium). The descendents of Morini speak a difficult Dutch dialect called West-Vlaams (West Flemish). Morini is also the name of a large European target-pistol manufacturer that was originally founded in Italy but later moved to an Italian-speaking region of Switzerland. Both of these Morinis (the Roman tribe and the gunmaker) experience a shift, although they retain a language. In a way, Espinoza starts out studying Spanish and then shifts his focus to a German writer (Jünger) before
discovering another German writer (Archimboldi) with an Italian name.
posted by mattbucher at 1:37 PM on April 25 [1 favorite]

I just read part of Hopscotch again so this is why this comment is so late. Have you considered examining whether Morini could also be an allusion to Morelli, Cortázar's fictional literary theorist?
posted by ipsative at 11:54 AM on May 5