Extraordinary . . . [Bolaos] greatest work. James Wood, The New York Times

The book that catapulted Roberto Bolao into international literary stardom, By Night in Chile is the final testimony of Sebastin Urrutia LacroixChilean priest and member of Opus Dei, eminent literary critic and failed poetas he is haunted by a shadowy figure from his past. In Urrutias feverish last hours, a deluge of memories pours from him: of hobnobbing with Santiagos most unctuous literati; of undertaking a mission to save Europes decaying cathedrals from existential threat by pigeon excrement; of retreating into Greco-Roman poetry during the darkest chapter of modern Chilean history; of tutoring Augusto Pinochet in Marxist theory, so that the General may better understand his enemies. Throughout he insists, with fracturing conviction, that he was always on the right side of history. A novel about high art and fascism, silence and complicity, and, ultimately, the weight of damnation, Roberto Bolaos By Night in Chile is a deep-cutting satire and a work of devastating moral insight.