2666 (Google Books ⧉, Amazon ⧉, Bookshop ⧉)

Places Map

References To Other Books

Direct References

Saint Thomas

At the hotel, when he got back, Pelletier was always on the terrace or at the pool or sprawled in an armchair in one of the lounges, rereading Saint Thomas or The Blind Woman or Lethaea, which were, it seemed, the only books by Archimboldi he’d brought with him to Mexico.

The Romantic Dogs

ALSO BY ROBERTO BOLAﾃ前 The Romantic Dogs Nazi Literature in the Americas

Nazi Literature in the Americas

The Romantic Dogs Nazi Literature in the Americas Amulet

Amulet

Nazi Literature in the Americas Amulet The Savage Detectives

The Savage Detectives

Amulet The Savage Detectives Last Evenings on Earth

Last Evenings on Earth

The Savage Detectives Last Evenings on Earth Distant Star

Distant Star

Last Evenings on Earth Distant Star By Night in Chile

By Night in Chile

Distant Star By Night in Chile

Lüdicke

Then they went back to talking about Archimboldi and Mrs. Bubis showed them a very odd review that had appeared in a Berlin newspaper after the publication of Lüdicke, Archimboldi’s first novel. The review, by someone named Schleiermacher, tried to sum up the novelist’s personality in a few words. Intelligence: average. Character: epileptic. Scholarship: sloppy. Storytelling ability: chaotic. Prosody: chaotic. German usage: chaotic.

The Head

Espinoza, meanwhile, pulled Archimboldi’s latest novel, The Head, out of his bag and started to go over the notes he had written in the margins, notes that were the nucleus of an essay he planned to publish in the journal edited by Borchmeyer.

Railroad Perfection

…and the same thing had been said when Archimboldi came out with Railroad Perfection; a few Berlin professors had even said it when Bitzius was published.

Bitzius

…a few Berlin professors had even said it when Bitzius was published.

The Leather Mask

One night, after they had made love, Pelletier got up naked and went looking among his books for a novel by Archimboldi. After hesitating for a moment he decided on The Leather Mask, thinking that with some luck Vanessa might read it as a horror novel, might be attracted by the sinister side of the book.

The Endless Rose

He had come into contact with Archimboldi’s work, as far as he could recall, at the age of twenty, when he read The Endless Rose, The Leather Mask, and Rivers of Europe in German, books he borrowed from a library in Santiago. The library had only those three and Bifurcaria Bifurcata, but this last he had begun and couldn’t finish.

The Leather Mask

Rivers of Europe

Bifurcaria Bifurcata

Book by Valéry

The weather is good, it’s sunny, you can go out and sit in the park and open a book by Valéry, possibly the writer most read by Mexican writers, and then you go over to a friend’s house and talk.

Testamento geométrico

“It’s Rafael Dieste’s Testamento geométrico,” said Amalfitano. “Rafael Dieste, the Galician poet,” said Espinoza. “That’s right,” said Amalfitano, “but this is a book of geometry, not poetry, ideas that came to Dieste while he was a high school teacher.”

Saint Thomas

When he got to the hotel, Pelletier was on the terrace reading Archimboldi. Espinoza asked him what book it was and Pelletier smiled and answered that it was Saint Thomas. “How many times have you read it?” asked Espinoza.

The Blind Woman

When he sat down next to Pelletier he could see it was not Saint Thomas but rather The Blind Woman, and he asked Pelletier whether he’d had the patience to reread the other book from start to finish. Pelletier looked up at him and didn’t answer.

Lethaea

At the hotel, stretched out on a deck chair beside the empty pool, Pelletier was reading, and Espinoza knew, even before he saw the title, that it wasn’t Saint Thomas or The Blind Woman, but another book by Archimboldi. When he sat down next to Pelletier he could see it was Lethaea, not one of his favorites, although to judge by Pelletier’s face, the rereading was fruitful and thoroughly enjoyable.

The Blind Woman

Lethaea

Testamento geométrico

…and in one of the boxes he’d found a strange book, a book he didn’t remember ever buying or receiving as a gift. The book was Rafael Dieste’s Testamento geométrico, published by Ediciones del Castro in La Coruña, in 1975, a book evidently about geometry, divided into three parts…

Nuevo tratado del paralelismo

Of the books that make up Dieste’s varied but in no way uneven body of work… the closest forerunners of the present book are Nuevo tratado del paralelismo (Buenos Aires, 1958) and more recent works: Variaciones sobre Zenón de Elea and ¿Qué es un axioma?…

Variaciones sobre Zenón de Elea

…more recent works: Variaciones sobre Zenón de Elea and ¿Qué es un axioma? this followed by Movilidad y Semejanza together in one volume.

¿Qué es un axioma?

…more recent works: Variaciones sobre Zenón de Elea and ¿Qué es un axioma? this followed by Movilidad y Semejanza together in one volume.

Movilidad y Semejanza

…more recent works: Variaciones sobre Zenón de Elea and ¿Qué es un axioma? this followed by Movilidad y Semejanza together in one volume.

Viaje, duelo y perdición: tragedia, humorada y comedia

After his side’s defeat he goes into exile, ending up in Buenos Aires, where he publishes Viaje, duelo y perdición: tragedia, humorada y comedia, in 1945, a book made up of three previously published works.

Historia e invenciones de Félix Muriel

…as a short story writer, his most important work is Historia e invenciones de Félix Muriel (1943).

Testamento geométrico

Hanging on the clothesline were the Testamento geométrico and some of his socks and a pair of his daughter’s pants.

O’Higgins Is Araucanian

I remembered a very short book, scarcely one hundred pages long, by a certain Lonko Kilapán, published in Santiago de Chile in 1978, that an old friend, a wiseass of long standing, had sent him while he was living in Europe. This Kilapán presented himself with the following credentials: Historian of the Race, President of the Indigenous Confederation of Chile, and Secretary of the Academy of the Araucanian Language. The book was called O’Higgins Is Araucanian, and it was subtitled 17 Proofs, Taken from the Secret History of Araucanía.

Eating Ribs with Barry Seaman

Years ago he had published a book called Eating Ribs with Barry Seaman, in which he collected all the recipes he knew for ribs, mostly grilled or barbecued, adding strange or notable facts about the places where he’d learned each recipe, who had taught it to him, and under what circumstances.

The Abridged French Encyclopedia

Fate noticed that three of the four books were dictionaries and the fourth was a huge tome called The Abridged French Encyclopedia, which he’d never heard of, in college or ever.

Animals and Plants of the European Coastal Region

Halder asked what the book was. Hans Reiter told him it was Animals and Plants of the European Coastal Region. Halder said that must be a reference book and he meant a good literary book.

Parzival

Chance or the devil had it that the book Hans Reiter chose to read was Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival. When Halder saw him with it he smiled and told him he wouldn’t understand it...

Animals and Plants of the European Coastal Region

All he carried in his new kit bag were a few items of clothing and the book Animals and Plants of the European Coastal Region.

Lüdicke

Finally he finished his first novel. He called it Lüdicke and he had to roam the backstreets of Cologne in search of someone who would rent him a typewriter, because he had decided that he wouldn’t borrow or rent one from anyone he knew, in other words no one who knew his name was Hans Reiter. Finally he found an old man who owned an old French typewriter and wasn’t in the habit of renting it but would sometimes make an exception for writers.

Lüdiche

A month after both were sent, the Cologne publishing house wrote back to say that despite its undeniable merits, his novel Lüdiche regrettably wasn’t the right fit for their list, but he should be sure to send them his next novel.

Ansky’s notebook

he did make love, although sometimes, in the middle of the act, he went off to another planet, a snowy planet where he memorized Ansky’s notebook. “Where are you?” Ingeborg asked when this happened.

Voyelles

“It smells as strongly as Rimbaud’s ‘Voyelles.’ But everything collapses in the end,” said the essayist.

The King of the Forest

This time, however, by mistake or because she was in a hurry not to miss her flight, she bought a book called The King of the Forest, by someone called Benno von Archimboldi.

Bartleby the Scrivener

reflects with undisguised disappointment on the growing prestige of short, neatly shaped novels (citing titles like Bartleby the Scrivener and The Metamorphosis) to the exclusion of longer, more ambitious and daring works (like Moby-Dick or The Trial):

The Metamorphosis

Moby-Dick

to the exclusion of longer, more ambitious and daring works (like Moby-Dick or The Trial):

The Trial

to the exclusion of longer, more ambitious and daring works (like Moby-Dick or The Trial):

The Savage Detectives

Bolaño, an excellent short story writer and author of several masterly novellas, also boasted, once he had begun 2666, that he had embarked on a colossal project, far surpassing The Savage Detectives in ambition and length.

Amulet

Rereading that novel offers a single unmistakable clue to the meaning of the date 2666. The protagonist of Amulet, Auxilio Lacouture (a character who is herself prefigured in The Savage Detectives), tells how one night she follows Arturo Belano and Ernesto San Epifanio on a walk to Colonia Guerrero, in Mexico City, where the two go in search of the so-called King of the Rent Boys.

Canto nottorno di un pastore errante dell’Asia

“Canto nottorno di un pastore errante dell’Asia,” by Giacomo Leopardi, is quoted in Jonathan Galassi’s translation.

Cabinet of Natural Curiosities

Endpapers: Sea sponges, from Albertus Seba’s Cabinet of Natural Curiosities, courtesy of the National Library of the Netherlands.

Indirect References

Little Books

Of course, he thought, if he ever thought about it at all, that he would be remembered for some of the many small works he wrote and published, mostly travel chronicles, though not necessarily travel chronicles in the modern sense, but little books that are still charming today and, how shall I say, highly perceptive, anyway as perceptive as they could be, little books that made it seem as if the ultimate purpose of each of his trips was to examine a particular garden, gardens sometimes forgotten, forsaken, abandoned to their fate, and whose beauty my distinguished forebear knew how to find amid the weeds and neglect.

Referenced By

Direct References

Year of the Monkey

I just sat down at the table and wandered into the conversation, the one about 2666, the one covering the dog races in St. Petersburg.

Places Referenced

Chihuahua, Mexico

"…who had risked the pass between Chihuahua and Sonora."

Arizona, United States

"…the desert on the border of Sonora and Arizona."

Chile, South America

"Distant Star By Night in Chile"

Avignon, France

"When Pelletier returned from Avignon at the end of 1994, when he opened the door to his apartment in Paris and set his bag on the floor and closed the door,"

Paris, France

"when he opened the door to his apartment in Paris and set his bag on the floor and closed the door, when he poured himself a glass of whiskey and opened the drapes and saw the usual view,"

Place de Breteuil, Paris, France

"and opened the drapes and saw the usual view, a slice of the Place de Breteuil with the UNESCO building in the background,"

UNESCO building, Paris, France

"a slice of the Place de Breteuil with the UNESCO building in the background,"

Madrid, Spain

"Espinoza experienced something similar, though slightly different in two respects. First, the need to be near Liz Norton struck some time before he got back to his apartment in Madrid."

Turin, Italy

"Meanwhile, Morini, who traveled by train from Avignon to Turin, spent the trip reading the cultural supplement of Il Manifesto, and then he slept until a couple of ticket collectors (who would help him onto the platform in his wheelchair) let him know that they’d arrived."

Amsterdam, Netherlands

"In 1995 they met at a panel discussion on contemporary German literature held in Amsterdam, a discussion within the framework of a larger discussion that was taking place in the same building (although in separate lecture halls), encompassing French, English, and Italian literature."

Berlin, Germany

"Mrs. Bubis showed them a very odd review that had appeared in a Berlin newspaper after the publication of Lüdicke, Archimboldi’s first novel."

Frankfurt, Germany

"…with a little money and possibly a few books sold, in the case of those writers or poets… went home (which was sometimes just a room in Frankfurt or Cologne)…"

Cologne, Germany

"…with a little money and possibly a few books sold, in the case of those writers or poets… went home (which was sometimes just a room in Frankfurt or Cologne)…"

Wilhelmshaven, Germany

"…the Swabian recalled how he had met Archimboldi while he was cultural promoter for a Frisian town, north of Wilhelmshaven, facing the Black Sea coast and the East Frisian islands…"

Buenos Aires, Argentina

"…and followed her back to Buenos Aires and all through the days she was at the hotel or went out to receptions at the German embassy or the English embassy or the Ecuadorean embassy…"

Hamburg, Germany

"Fifteen days later, Espinoza and Pelletier took a few days’ leave and went to Hamburg to visit Archimboldi’s publisher. They were received by the editor in chief, a thin, upright man in his sixties by the name of Schnell…"

Friesland, Netherlands

"…that same young man, who had traveled with his single published book to Friesland in 1949…"

Sicily, Italy

"…if during the saddest stretch of a Sicilian afternoon he hatched a plan to travel to Morocco…"

Morocco, Africa

"…if during the saddest stretch of a Sicilian afternoon he hatched a plan to travel to Morocco, no matter that he made the reservation under the name Archimboldi by mistake…"

Sonora, Mexico

"‘García was a fairly well-known fighter in Sonora,’ said Chucho Flores"

North Africa, Africa

"…thousands of old men, German bachelors, who each day cross the skies alone heading for any of the countries of North Africa…"

Ireland, Europe

"…To get away. To visit Ireland or New York."

Paris, France

"On the plane back to Paris, Pelletier began to think, inexplicably, about the Berthe Morisot book he’d wanted to slam against the wall…"

Madrid, Spain

"‘I’ll shower in Madrid,’ Espinoza answered."

Berlin, Germany

"Then came an assembly of Germanists in Berlin…"

Stuttgart, Germany

"…a twentieth‐century German literature congress in Stuttgart…"

Hamburg, Germany

"…a symposium on German literature in Hamburg…"

Mainz, Germany

"…and a conference on the future of German literature in Mainz."

London airport, London, United Kingdom

"One Friday afternoon they met at the London airport and got a cab to a hotel…"

Foley Street, London, United Kingdom

"…they would always stay at the same place, a small, uncomfortable hotel on Foley Street, near the Middlesex Hospital."

Middlesex Hospital, London, United Kingdom

"…a small, uncomfortable hotel on Foley Street, near the Middlesex Hospital."

Cromwell Road, London, United Kingdom

"As she drove along Cromwell Road, Norton said that maybe that night it would make most sense for her to sleep with both of them."

Peter Pan statue, Kensington Gardens, London, United Kingdom

"Then they went to watch the sun set near the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens."

Bayswater Road, London, United Kingdom

"…and in the opposite direction men with crumpled newspapers or mothers pushing baby carriages headed toward Bayswater Road."

Moscow, Russia

"…but they couldn’t see Mrs. Bubis, for whom they’d brought a bouquet of roses, since she was on a trip to Moscow."

London, England

"He wasn’t from London but a town near Bournemouth."

Bournemouth, England

"He wasn’t from London but a town near Bournemouth."

Bologna, Italy

"During the next conference they attended (“Reflecting the Twentieth Century: The Work of Benno von Archimboldi,” a two‐day event in Bologna packed with young Italian Archimboldians and a crop of Archimboldian neostructuralists from all over Europe)…"

Harmsworth Park, London, England

"… the cab passed Harmsworth Park and the Imperial War Musuem, heading along Brook Drive and then Austral Street and then Geraldine Street, driving around the park, an unnecessary maneuver no matter how you looked at it."

Imperial War Museum, London, England

Brook Drive, London, England

"… heading along Brook Drive and then Austral Street and then Geraldine Street, driving around the park, an unnecessary maneuver no matter how you looked at it."

Austral Street, London, England

"… heading along Brook Drive and then Austral Street and then Geraldine Street, driving around the park, an unnecessary maneuver no matter how you looked at it."

Geraldine Street, London, England

"… heading along Brook Drive and then Austral Street and then Geraldine Street, driving around the park, an unnecessary maneuver no matter how you looked at it."

St. George’s Road, London, England

"A few cars were passing by on St. George’s Road, but the three of them were invisible to anyone traveling in a vehicle at that hour."

Old Marylebone, London, England

"And on the other side of the Thames, on a little street near Old Marylebone, they left the cab and walked for a while."

Charing Cross, London, England

"… as they strolled aimlessly along the streets of Bologna, Espinoza and Pelletier pushing Morini’s wheelchair … then, as they walked, they turned their heads toward the direction of Charing Cross toward the Strand."

River Thames, London, England

"And on the other side of the Thames, on a little street near Old Marylebone, they left the cab and walked for a while."

Garden Row, London, England

"A group of people came from Garden Row singing a song."

Oxford, England

"He had studied at Oxford for a year, and then, incomprehensibly to Espinoza and Pelletier, had moved to London and finished his studies there."

Madrid, Spain

"When he got back to Madrid, Espinoza had a minor breakdown."

Paris, France

"In Paris, Pelletier went looking for them on the Internet, with excellent results."

Berlin, Germany

"During a conference, as Pohl was giving a brilliant lecture on Archimboldi and shame in postwar German literature, the two visited a brothel in Berlin, where they slept with two tall and long‐legged blondes."

Barcelona, Spain

"At some point, Vanessa told Pelletier, they had traveled to Spain. In Barcelona they met up with the Moroccan’s younger brother, who lived with another Frenchwoman, a tall, fat girl."

Hyde Park Gate, London, United Kingdom

"Deeply affected by their reunion, Pelletier, Espinoza, and Norton met at a bar, or rather at the tiny cafeteria (truly Lilliputian: two tables and a counter at which no more than four people fit shoulder to shoulder) of an unorthodox gallery only a little bigger than the bar, located on Hyde Park Gate, very near the Dutch embassy."

Dutch embassy, London, United Kingdom

"…located on Hyde Park Gate, very near the Dutch embassy."

London, England

"…Norton felt a desire for change. To get away. To visit Ireland or New York. She summoned them both to London."

Middlesex Hospital, London, United Kingdom

"For a few minutes they entertained themselves by watching the ambulances coming in and out of Middlesex Hospital, imagining that each sick or hurt person who went in looked like the Pakistani they’d beaten so badly…"

The Strand, California, United States

"… as they strolled aimlessly along the streets … then, as they walked, they turned their heads toward the direction of Charing Cross toward the Strand."

Montreux, Switzerland

"…by train, once the work that had brought the three friends together was finished, into the countryside, toward one of the towns halfway between Montreux and the foothills of the Bernese Alps… When Espinoza came over to the window he thought the houses were the town, certainly not Montreux."

Bernese Alps, Switzerland

"…into the countryside, toward one of the towns halfway between Montreux and the foothills of the Bernese Alps, where they hired a car…"

Geneva Airport, Geneva, Switzerland

"From the Geneva airport they called Morini’s apartment in Turin."

Geneva, Switzerland

"After they made sure Morini wasn’t at any of the hospitals in or around Montreux, Pelletier and Espinoza took the train to Geneva."

Turin, Italy

"From the Geneva airport they called Morini’s apartment in Turin."

University of Turin, Turin, Italy

"On the fourth day, Pelletier called the University of Turin directly."

Madrid, Spain

"As soon as he got to Madrid Espinoza called Pelletier."

Casa de Campo, Madrid, Spain

"One night he found himself searching for her along the streets of Madrid where the whores went or in the Casa de Campo."

Hotel Helvetia, Montreux, Switzerland

"They returned to Montreux, where they spent the night at the Hotel Helvetia."

Paris, France

"Pelletier, Espinoza, and Norton traveled from Paris to Mexico City, where El Cerdo was waiting."

Mexico City, Mexico

"Pelletier, Espinoza, and Norton traveled from Paris to Mexico City, where El Cerdo was waiting."

Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

"They spent the night in a hotel, and the next morning they flew to Hermosillo."

Santa Teresa, Sonora, Mexico

"They drove into Santa Teresa from the south and the city looked to them like an enormous camp of gypsies or refugees ready to pick up and move at the slightest prompting."

Santiago, Chile

"when he read The Endless Rose, The Leather Mask, and Rivers of Europe in German, books he borrowed from a library in Santiago."

Toulouse, France

"with that slightly repulsive young man they had met in Toulouse, with Dieter Hellfeld and his sudden news about Archimboldi."

Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom

"and behind it an enormous, impenetrable forest, so dark green it was almost black, which it took her a while to recognize as Hyde Park."

Argentina, South America

"When Amalfitano told them he had translated The Endless Rose for an Argentinian publishing house in 1974, the critics’ opinion of him changed."

Chile, South America

"in 1974 he was in Argentina because of the coup in Chile, which had obliged him to choose the path of exile."

Mexico City, Mexico

"Instead, and without saying anything to her two friends, she called Almendro’s number in Mexico City and, after some fruitless efforts (El Cerdo’s secretary and then his maid couldn’t speak English, although both tried) she managed to reach him."

Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

"…then Archimboldi’s departure for Hermosillo, after which he never saw him again."

Turin, Italy

"She thought about Morini, or rather she saw Morini sitting in his wheelchair at a window in his apartment in Turin, looking out at the street and the façades of the surrounding buildings and watching the rain falling incessantly."

Santa Teresa, Sonora, Mexico

"They went to see the crafts market, which had been meant as a trading post for everyone living near Santa Teresa, where craftspeople and peasants from all over the region would bring their goods."

Nogales, Sonora, Mexico

"…cattlemen came from Nogales and Vicente Guerrero and horse dealers from Agua Prieta and Cananea"

Vicente Guerrero, Sonora, Mexico

"…cattlemen came from Nogales and Vicente Guerrero and horse dealers from Agua Prieta and Cananea"

Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico

"…cattlemen came from Nogales and Vicente Guerrero and horse dealers from Agua Prieta and Cananea"

Cananea, Sonora, Mexico

"…cattlemen came from Nogales and Vicente Guerrero and horse dealers from Agua Prieta and Cananea"

Earlimart, California, United States

"…until he decided to go back to Earlimart, California, where he was from, and start a circus of his own."

Bakersfield, California, United States

"…in Bakersfield, not far from Earlimart, where he had his winter quarters."

Santa Teresa–Caborca Highway, Santa Teresa, Sonora, Mexico

"They drank tequila and beer and ate tacos at a motel on the Santa Teresa–Caborca highway, at outdoor tables with a view."

Copenhagen, Denmark

"…in European circuses that crossed the continent from Copenhagen to Málaga."

Málaga, Spain

"…in European circuses that crossed the continent from Copenhagen to Málaga."

Sinaloa, Mexico

"…although sometimes he set up camp in Sinaloa, Mexico, not for long, just so he could travel to Mexico City and sign deals for sites in the south"

Plaza Garibaldi, Mexico City, Mexico

"…the time they spent in Plaza Garibaldi, the return to the hotel where Archimboldi collected his suitcase, the mostly silent trip to the airport"

Tucson, Arizona, United States

"The flight Norton had found was out of Tucson, and despite her protests—she’d been planning to take a taxi—they decided to drive her to the airport."

Rio Rico, Arizona, United States

"They turned off a little after Rio Rico and followed the border on the Arizona side, to Lochiel, where they entered Mexico again."

Lochiel, Arizona, United States

"They turned off a little after Rio Rico and followed the border on the Arizona side, to Lochiel, where they entered Mexico again."

Sonoita, Arizona, United States

"But the dirt road ended in Sonoita and from there they took Route 83 to Interstate 10, which brought them straight to Tucson."

Nogales, Sonora, Mexico

"To get back they took Interstate 19 to Nogales, although they turned off a little after Rio Rico and followed the border on the Arizona side, to Lochiel, where they entered Mexico again."

Phoenix, Arizona

"American tourists from Phoenix, who arrived by bus or in caravans of three or four cars and left the city before nightfall."

Stanford, California

"…with enviable patience, and in English polished at Stanford, El Cerdo once again told her everything that had happened"

Calle Arizpe, Santa Teresa, Mexico

"Although it was late for breakfast he went into a bar on Calle Arizpe that was always empty and asked for something restorative."

England, United Kingdom

"In England at least, women who live on the streets are often subjected to terrible humiliations, I just read an article about it in some magazine or other."

Milan, Italy

"As soon as I got up, early in the morning and with no ticket, I went to the airport and booked a seat on the next flight to Italy. I flew from London to Milan, then I took the train to Turin."

Turin, Italy

"As soon as I got up, early in the morning and with no ticket, I went to the airport and booked a seat on the next flight to Italy. I flew from London to Milan, then I took the train to Turin."

Switzerland, Europe

"I hadn’t known he was dead, said Norton in her letter, I thought he was still living in Switzerland, in a comfortable asylum, laughing at himself and most of all at us."

Greek Islands, Greece

"I was dreaming I was on vacation in the Greek islands and I rented a boat and I met a boy who spent the whole day diving."

Madrid, Spain

"One day their money ran out, and Imma decided to take to the road again, this time heading south, to Madrid, where she had a brother who had done well for himself under the democracy and whom she planned to ask for a loan."

San Sebastián, Spain

"Alone, Lola killed time writing long letters to Amalfitano in which she described her daily life in San Sebastián and the area around the asylum, which she visited every day."

Mondragón Cemetery, Mondragón, Spain

"Once one of the drivers who picked her up on the highway asked if she wanted to see the Mondragón cemetery and she said she did. He parked the car outside, under an acacia tree, and for a while they walked among the graves, most of them with Basque names, until they came to the niche where the driver’s mother was buried."

Mondragón, Spain

"Then she went to Mondragón. In town she bought some goat cheese and bread and had breakfast in the square, hungrily, since she honestly couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten."

Bayonne, France

"She was in Bayonne for a while. She left for Landes. She returned to Bayonne."

Landes, France

"She left for Landes."

Pau, France

"She was in Pau and in Lourdes."

Lourdes, France

"She was in Pau and in Lourdes. There she would sleep in the most modern building in Lourdes, a functionalist monster of steel and glass that buried its head, bristling with antennas, in the white clouds that floated down from the north."

Paris, France

"Five years after she left, Amalfitano heard from Lola again. The letter was short and came from Paris. In it Lola told him that she had a job cleaning big office buildings. It was a night job that started at ten and ended at four or five or six in the morning. Paris was pretty then, like all big cities when everyone is asleep."

Sant Cugat, Spain

"In those days, Amalfitano was living in Sant Cugat and teaching philosophy classes at Barcelona’s Universidad Autónoma, not far away."

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

"In those days, Amalfitano was living in Sant Cugat and teaching philosophy classes at Barcelona’s Universidad Autónoma, not far away."

Las Ramblas, Barcelona, Spain

"At night she slept in a boardinghouse near Las Ramblas, where foreign workers crammed into tiny rooms."

La Coruña, Spain

"The book was Rafael Dieste’s Testamento geométrico, published by Ediciones del Castro in La Coruña, in 1975, a book evidently about geometry…"

Montero Ríos 37, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

"…on the first page he found a stamp reading Librería Follas Novas, S.L., Montero Ríos 37, phone 981-59-44-06 and 981-59-44-18, Santiago. Clearly it wasn’t Santiago de Chile, … obviously, it was Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia."

Barcelona, Spain

"…books he had chosen in Barcelona before he left."

Buenos Aires, Argentina

"After his side’s defeat he goes into exile, ending up in Buenos Aires, where he publishes Viaje, duelo y perdición: tragedia, humorada y comedia, in 1945…"

Rianxo, La Coruña, Spain

"Born in Rianxo, La Coruña, in 1899."

Gerona, Spain

"…he had met the only Spanish Guyautist, a professor from Gerona, shy and a zealot in his own way."

Chillán, Chile

"…about Luis Vicentini, a powerfully built Italian from Chillán who was defeated by the sad fate of being born in Chile."

Santiago de Chile, Chile

"Clearly it wasn’t Santiago de Chile, the only place in the world where Amalfitano could see himself in a state of total catatonia."

Santa Teresa, Sonora, Mexico

"…how this book had ended up in Santa Teresa in one of Amalfitano’s boxes of books, books he had chosen in Barcelona before he left."

Sonora, Mexico

"…this populous city that stood in defiance of the desert on the border of Sonora and Arizona."

Greece, Europe

"She read books in French about Greece or witchcraft or healthy living."

Italy, Europe

"Then trains came from Italy and from the north of France, and Lola went back and forth like a sleepwalker, her big blue eyes unblinking, moving slowly, since the weariness of her days was beginning to weigh on her."

France, Europe

"One day at noon she took the train to France."

Mexico City, Mexico

"At the hotel, when he got back, Pelletier was always on the terrace or at the pool or sprawled in an armchair in one of the lounges, rereading Saint Thomas or The Blind Woman or Lethaea, which were, it seemed, the only books by Archimboldi he’d brought with him to Mexico."

Santa Teresa, Sonora, Mexico

"They left Santa Teresa very early. First they called Amalfitano and told him they were going to the United States and probably wouldn’t be back all day."

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

"…the sun was still shining in the west, toward Tijuana."

Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

"A faculty colleague, a young professor from Hermosillo who had only recently finished his degree, asked what had made him choose the University of Santa Teresa over the University of Barcelona."

Barcelona, Spain

"asked what had made him choose the University of Santa Teresa over the University of Barcelona."

Buenos Aires, Argentina

"He had met Professor Silvia Pérez in Buenos Aires and then they had seen each other twice in Barcelona."

Colonia Lindavista, Mexico City, Mexico

"The house was in Colonia Lindavista, an upper‐middle‐class neighborhood of one‐ and two‐story houses with yards."

Sonora, Mexico

"Once he asked her: was it true that the water in that part of Sonora stained the teeth?"

Chihuahua, Mexico

"behind which were Chihuahua and New Mexico and Texas."

New Mexico, United States

"behind which were Chihuahua and New Mexico and Texas."

Texas, United States

"behind which were Chihuahua and New Mexico and Texas."

Arizona, United States

"small pickups on their way back from the city market or from cities in Arizona."

Barcelona, Spain

"he reviewed his savings and calculated that with what he had saved, Rosa could go back to Barcelona and still have money to start with."

Prague, Czech Republic

"recollected that in his youth he had attended a conference in Prague"

Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

"he thought about the seer of Hermosillo, Madame Cristina, La Santa."

Ures, Sonora, Mexico

"the old railroad line that had once connected Santa Teresa to Ures and Hermosillo"

Colonia Lindavista, Mexico City, Mexico

"They headed toward Colonia Lindavista, but before they got there the dean’s son suggested they get a drink."

Temuco, Chile

"These pieces were distributed among the Araucanian museums of Temuco, the future Museo Abate Molina of Villa Alegre, and the Museo Araucano of Santiago, which will soon be open to the public."

Santiago, Chile

"the Museo Araucano of Santiago, which will soon be open to the public."

Villa Alegre, Chile

"In Villa Alegre, formerly Warakulen, lie the remains of Abate Juan Ignacio Molina, brought from Italy to his native city."

Puerto Saavedra, Chile

"Then came the prologue, by José R. Pichiñual, Cacique of Puerto Saavedra."

Bologna, Italy

"He was a professor at the University of Bologna, where his statue presides over the entrance to the Pantheon of the Distinguished Sons of Italy, between the statues of Copernicus and Galileo."

North Carolina, United States

"I just went around with my trainer, this old man called Johnny Bird, we went from one town to another in South Carolina, North Carolina, sleeping in these shitty-ass motels."

Lake Huron, Michigan, United States

"This Bobby lived in Jackson Tree, Michigan, and had a cabin on Lake Huron."

Mexico City, Mexico

"Here, in Santa Teresa?' asked Fate. 'No, man, in Mexico City. The arm of the killers is long, very long,' said Guadalupe Roncal."

Harlem, New York City, New York, United States

"The next day Fate met them at a Harlem club and there he was introduced to Ibrahim, a man of average height with a scarred face, who set about describing to him in great detail all the charitable work the Brotherhood did in the neighborhood."

Baychester, New York City, New York, United States

"Fate kept the appointment. Three members of the Brotherhood and a black van were waiting for him. They drove to a basement near Baychester."

Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

"…On the flight here from Hermosillo I wouldn’t have minded if the plane crashed."

Mexico City, Mexico

"…Luckily someone I work with in Mexico City had given me the address of this hotel."

Tucson, Arizona, United States

"…I would head straight back to Tucson, where I would try to catch a red-eye to New York."

Sioux City, Iowa, United States

"…Campbell’s at a college in Sioux City."

Veracruz, Mexico

"“Have you ever been to Veracruz?”"

Little Sioux River, Iowa, United States

"…a bar in a place called Smithland, a kind of country inn near the Little Sioux River."

Tucson, Arizona, United States

"or maybe it would be better to skip the Sonora Resort and just drive straight to the border, to Tucson, where he was sure to find a cybercafé at the airport"

California, United States

"‘Then you should go back to California,’ said Fate"

Chicago, Illinois

"Did you hear that Jimmy Lowell got whacked?' 'I heard something.' 'It was in Paradise City, near Chicago,' said the boss."

Chicago, Illinois

"Chuck Campbell, Sport Magazine, Chicago.' Fate shook the reporter’s hand and told him his name and the name of the magazine he worked for."

Los Angeles, California

"Then they set up a fight against Arthur Ashley, in Los Angeles. Any of you guys see that fight? I did."

Los Angeles, California

"He mentioned the name of a Los Angeles director, Barry Guardini, whom he’d met personally, but Fate had never seen any of Guardini’s movies"

Phoenix, Arizona

"and who had been living in Phoenix for years."

Sierra Madre, California

"he began to think about the Sierra Madre aquifers running toward the city in the middle of the endless night"

Detroit, Michigan

"He woke up when the taxi driver asked him what terminal he wanted. 'I’m going to Detroit,' he said, and he went back to sleep."

Athens, Greece

"The bartender settled across from him and told him that in his day he’d been a fighter. 'My last fight was in Athens, in South Carolina. I fought a white boy. Who do you think won?' he asked."

Harlem, New York City, New York, United States

"…he thought about his mother and what she must have thought about at night in Harlem, not looking out the window to see the few stars shining in the sky…"

Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

"‘His lawyer argued temporary insanity and all he did was eight years in the prison at Hermosillo. When he got out he didn’t want to box anymore’"

Mexico City, Mexico

"Then there was a street in a big Mexican city at dusk, probably Mexico City, a street swept by rain, cars parked along the curb, stores with their metal gates lowered"

Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy

"They headed to the Italian restaurant Piazza Navona, where they ordered three slices of pizza and three small bottles of California wine."

Tucson, Arizona, United States

"In her purse was a ticket for the nine a.m. bus to Tucson, a bus she would never catch."

Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

"…and then they began to talk about a friend who had left the station, gotten married, and gone to live with her husband in a town near Hermosillo, the name of which they couldn’t recall but which they were sure was near the ocean."

Nogales, Sonora, Mexico

"Guadalupe Rojas was employed at the File-Sis maquiladora, recently built on the road to Nogales, some five miles from Santa Teresa."

Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

"I was born in Guadalajara and I studied in Mexico City and then in San Francisco, at Berkeley."

Mexico City, Mexico

"I was born in Guadalajara and I studied in Mexico City and then in San Francisco, at Berkeley."

Central America, North America

"The theory also circulated that the perpetrator might be a Guatemalan or Salvadorean veteran of the wars in Central America, someone desperate to get the money to move on to the United States."

Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

"He made a list of the officers he wanted to work with him. He wrote a report for the Hermosillo office and then he stood out by the vending machine and drank a cup of coffee."

Mexico City, Mexico

"During the day there wasn’t a soul to be seen in El Chile or the surrounding fields soon to be swallowed up by the dump. At night those who had nothing or less than nothing ventured out. In Mexico City they call them teporochos, but a teporocho is a survivor."

Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco, Mexico

"When the police in Ciudad Guzmán were alerted, some officers made a visit to the residence in question, equipped with the necessary warrants, but they found no trace of the alleged boyfriend and killer."

Nogales Highway, Nogales, Sonora, Mexico

"Then she set out along the dark streets of the industrial park. She crossed the Nogales highway and turned down the first streets of Colonia Guadalupe Victoria."

Mexico City, Mexico

"Around this time the Mexico City newspaper La Razón sent Sergio González to write a story on the Penitent."

Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

"So in July 1993, Sergio González flew to Hermosillo and took the bus to Santa Teresa."

Querétaro, Mexico

"…about how those wages were still coveted by the desperate who arrived from Querétaro or Zacatecas or Oaxaca…"

Zacatecas, Mexico

"…about how those wages were still coveted by the desperate who arrived from Querétaro or Zacatecas or Oaxaca…"

Oaxaca, Mexico

"…about how those wages were still coveted by the desperate who arrived from Querétaro or Zacatecas or Oaxaca…"

Nogales, Sonora, Mexico

"On the edge of the city there was always traffic, trucks going to Hermosillo or heading north or on their way to Nogales."

Colonia Lindavista, Mexico City, Mexico

"They were fifteen and they had gone out to roam the scrub hills where many years later Colonia Lindavista would rise."

Colonia Michoacán, Mexico City, Mexico

"always at Elvira’s apartment in a new building in Colonia Michoacán, on a street of upper‐middle‐class houses where doctors and lawyers, a few dentists, and one or two college professors lived."

Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico

"The other was from Ciudad Juárez, in Chihuahua."

Jalisco, Mexico

"The bigger one was from the state of Jalisco."

Lomas de Poniente, Tamaulipas, Mexico

"For a few days the police looked for Feliciano José Sandoval in Santa Teresa and Lomas de Poniente, the Tamaulipas town he was from."

Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

"the wife spends all her time in Cuernavaca, said Pedro Rengifo."

Colonia Lindavista, Mexico City, Mexico

"In September another dead woman was found, this time in a car in the Buenavista subdivision, past Colonia Lindavista."

Nogales Highway, Nogales, Sonora, Mexico

"The first dead woman of 1994 was found by some truck drivers on a road off the Nogales highway, in the middle of the desert."

San Diego, California

"…the blood samples were lost before they got to Hermosillo, from where they were supposed to be sent to a lab in San Diego."

Mexico City, Mexico

"Fifteen days after his arrival at the Santa Teresa prison, Haas held what could be called his first press conference, attended by four reporters from Mexico City and almost all the print media of the state of Sonora."

Sonora, Mexico

"…César Huerta Cerna, head of the Deputy Attorney General’s Office of Sonora’s Northern Zone."

Europe

"Only swine behave like that, said the inspector. In Europe we’re all swine, answered Haas."

Düren, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

"his worst suffering hadn’t come at the front but at the cursed military hospital near Düren, where his comrades stole not only cigarettes but whatever they could lay their hands on"

Mexico City, Mexico

"…unburden yourself, in Mexico there’s no death penalty, get it off your chest…"

Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

"Five Hermosillo officers from the Special Anti-Kidnapping Group of Sonora’s Policía Judicial searched for incriminating evidence at Haas’s house as well as at his two Santa Teresa stores, paying special attention to the basement of the downtown store, and found traces of blood on one of the blankets in the basement room and on the floor."

Santa Teresa, Sonora, Mexico

"Tell it to your lawyer, said Sergio, I don’t write about the killings in Santa Teresa anymore."

Spain, Europe

"‘I don’t know,’ said Rosa. ‘I’m not Mexican, I’m Spanish.’"

Berkeley, California

"I was born in Guadalajara and I studied in Mexico City and then in San Francisco, at Berkeley."

Stettin, Germany

"as a helper to a farmer who traveled to Stettin to sell his vegetables"

Berlin, Germany

"when his team was stationed near Berlin he gave his notice and headed off, and it didn’t take him long to find Halder in the big city"

Paris, France

"busy as he was with his affairs in Berlin and Paris"

Alexanderplatz, Berlin

"they met at the Stone Virgin Café, a few steps from Alexanderplatz, where Halder and Hans usually arrived first and had something to eat"

Himmelstrasse, Berlin

"Hugo Halder was living on a backstreet near the Himmelstrasse, in a small flat crammed with old furniture and dusty paintings"

Berlin, Germany

"They went by taxi to the Eclipse, a cabaret with the worst performers in Berlin, a group of talentless old women who had found success in the unadorned exhibition of failure..."

Okinawa, Japan

"He said his father had known a Christian monk who lived for fifteen years without ever leaving the island of Endo, a few miles from Okinawa, an island of volcanic rock with no water."

Kutno, Poland

"The first real battle in which Reiter took part was on the outskirts of Kutno, where the Poles were few and poorly armed but showed no inclination to surrender."

Maginot Line, France

"Ahead was the Maginot Line, though they couldn’t see it from where they lay hidden in forests and orchards."

Nancy, France

"In June, after the Somme offensive, they crossed the Maginot Line with few surprises and participated in the siege of a few thousand French soldiers near Nancy."

Normandy, France

"Then the division was quartered in Normandy."

Alsace, France

"The soldier was asleep under an apple tree, in the Alsatian countryside, and a country squire came up to him and woke him with a gentle knock on the legs with his staff."

Romania, Europe

"While he was posted in Romania, Reiter requested and obtained two leaves that he used to visit his parents."

Berlin, Germany

"On both leaves, too, he visited Berlin (on the way to his village) and tried in vain to find Hugo Halder."

Paris, France

"When he asked for Halder’s address, the girl replied, 'He lives in Paris,' with a sigh."

Prut River, Romania

"The 79th Division was attached to the 11th German Army, and a few days later the division’s advance troops crossed the Prut and marched shoulder to shoulder into combat."

Bessarabia, Moldova

"They fought and then they fought some more on the steppes and hills of Bessarabia and then they crossed the Dniester."

Dniester River, Ukraine

"then they crossed the Dniester and came to the outskirts of Odessa."

Odessa, Ukraine

"…came to the outskirts of Odessa…"

Bug River, Ukraine

"fought Russian troops in retreat and then they crossed the Bug and kept advancing."

Dnieper River, Ukraine

"then the division crossed the Dnieper and forged into the Crimean peninsula."

Crimea, Ukraine

"…forged into the Crimean peninsula."

Perekop, Crimea, Ukraine

"Reiter fought in Perekop and several villages near Perekop."

Switzerland, Europe

"Once I was with my family on holiday in Switzerland. We went by ferry from Geneva to Montreux."

Geneva, Switzerland

"We went by ferry from Geneva to Montreux."

Montreux, Switzerland

"We went by ferry from Geneva to Montreux. We spent the night at an inn in Montreux and the next day we returned by ferry again to Geneva."

Lake Geneva, Switzerland

"Lake Geneva is marvelous in summer, although there are perhaps too many mosquitoes."

Lausanne, Switzerland

"In fact there are more than twenty towns, some tiny, like Lausanne, which is bigger than Montreux, or Vevey, or Evian."

Vevey, Switzerland

"…like Lausanne, which is bigger than Montreux, or Vevey, or Evian."

Evian, France

"…or Vevey, or Evian. In fact there are more than twenty towns, some tiny."

Tenochtitlán, Mexico

"the ones who lived in Tenochtitlán and Tlatelolco and performed human sacrifices"

Tlatelolco, Mexico

"the ones who lived in Tenochtitlán and Tlatelolco and performed human sacrifices"

Cologne, Germany

"once she even told him that the previous owner was an English spy, the first (and only) English spy to parachute down near Cologne in 1941 to reconnoiter for a future uprising of the citizens of Cologne, a prospect greeted with incredulity by the actual citizens of Cologne"

Berlin, Germany

"the coat, oh, in Berlin, lied Reiter, before the war, at a shop called Hahn & Förster"

Westerwald, Germany

"one day Ingeborg’s mother and sisters decided to return to the town in the Westerwald where the family had settled"

England, United Kingdom

"the second and last time, she supplied him with clothes and papers, because the Englishman (or Scotsman) was returning to England"

North of France, France

"as if his own coat had flown from its wardrobe on a London street and crossed the Channel and the north of France with the sole intent of seeing him again"

Cologne, Germany

"During this visit, Archimboldi suggested to the reporter that perhaps his luck would change if he moved to another city, a city less devastated than Cologne, a smaller city where no one knew him."

Hamburg, Germany

"A carbon copy he sent to a house in Hamburg that had published books of the German Left until 1933, when the Nazi government not only shut down the business but also tried to send its editor, Mr. Jacob Bubis, to a prison camp, which it would have done if Mr. Bubis hadn’t been a step ahead of them."

Manchester, England

"the leather coats of Mason & Cooper, the Manchester coat makers"

Mexico City, Mexico

"the girl said: 'the Aztecs, the people who lived in Mexico before Cortés came."

Antwerp, Belgium

"Then the paratroopers informed him that Mickey Bittner was in Antwerp just then closing a deal on a shipment of bananas."

Spenglerstrasse, Cologne, Germany

"The money she handed to Archimboldi represented half his monthly pay at the bar on the Spenglerstrasse."

Normandy, France

"After the first wave comes a second wave. The bombs fall and make craters in the earth. The forests are set ablaze. The undergrowth, the main cover in Normandy, begins to disappear."

Italy, Europe

"The paratroopers themselves had always fought in the west, in Italy, France, one of them in Crete, and they had that cosmopolitan air of veterans..."

France, Europe

"The paratroopers themselves had always fought in the west, in Italy, France, one of them in Crete, and they had that cosmopolitan air of veterans..."

Crete, Greece

"The paratroopers themselves had always fought in the west, in Italy, France, one of them in Crete, and they had that cosmopolitan air of veterans..."

Yellow Nightingale, Cologne, Germany

"They agreed to meet at eight at a bar near the station and when he left the secretary winked at him. The bar was called the Yellow Nightingale."

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

"so that year, at Christmas, he traveled with his wife to Tegucigalpa, a city that to Popescu, an admirer of contrasts and the bizarre, seemed divided into three clearly distinct groups or clans:"

Paris, France

"Death surprised him in a Paris hospital, asleep on a bed of roses."

Seine, Paris, France

"“No,” said Popescu, “you’d better throw this one in the Seine. And make sure he stays in!”"

Hamburg, Germany

"When the baroness turned eighty, this very question was asked of her in Hamburg literary circles."

Rodez, France

"the youthful old lady told him she had been a hairdresser in Rodez until she got married."

Berlin, Germany

"she visited her family’s country estate, with her friends, the golden youth of Berlin, ignorant and proud, whom Archimboldi watched from the distance, from a window of the house, as they got out of their cars, laughing."

Bavaria, Germany

"“From Bavaria?” the youthful old lady wanted to know."

Jamaica, Caribbean

"after these near-death letters he received postcards from Jamaica or Indonesia, in which the baroness, in a steadier hand, asked whether he’d ever been to America or Asia."

Tucson, Arizona, United States

"Four days later they were on a plane to Los Angeles, where they caught a connecting flight to Tucson, and from Tucson they drove to Santa Teresa in a rental car."

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

"One morning they went to Tijuana, to the German consulate."

Paderborn, Germany

"“Do you live in Mexico? What part of Mexico are you calling from?” “I live in Germany, meine frau, in Paderborn, and I own an auto repair shop and a few properties.”"

Hamburg, Germany

"When Archimboldi left his sister, he went on to Hamburg, where he planned to catch a direct flight to Mexico."

Frankfurt, Germany

"While she waited at the Frankfurt airport for the flight to L.A., she went into a bookshop and bought a book and a few magazines."

Europe

"… are full of clever observations and from them one gets a rather decent idea of the Europe of his day, a Europe often in turmoil, …"

Görlitz, Germany

"… whose storms on occasion reached the shores of the family castle, located near Görlitz, as you’re likely aware."

Hamburg, Germany

"Suddenly the park lights came on, although there was a second of total darkness, as if someone had tossed a black blanket over parts of Hamburg."

Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico

"There is reason to think that this physical center is the city of Santa Teresa, faithful reflection of Ciudad Juárez, on the Mexican-U.S. border."

Colonia Guerrero, Mexico City, Mexico

"on a walk to Colonia Guerrero, in Mexico City, where the two go in search of the so-called King of the Rent Boys."

Bucareli, Mexico City, Mexico

"I followed them: I saw them go down Bucareli to Reforma with a spring in their step and then cross Reforma without waiting for the lights to change, their long hair blowing in the excess wind that funnels down Reforma at that hour of the night, turning it into a transparent tube or an elongated lung exhaling the city’s imaginary breath."

Reforma, Mexico City, Mexico

Avenida Guerrero, Mexico City, Mexico

"Then we walked down the Avenida Guerrero; they weren’t stepping so lightly any more, and I wasn’t feeling too enthusiastic either. Guerrero, at that time of night, is more like a cemetery than an avenue, not a cemetery in 1974 or in 1968, or 1975, but a cemetery in the year 2666, a forgotten cemetery under the eyelid of a corpse or an unborn child, bathed in the dispassionate fluids of an eye that tried so hard to forget one particular thing that it ended up forgetting everything else."