Queer Exposures: Sexuality and Photography in Roberto Bolaño’s Fiction and Poetry by Ryan Long (review)

Abstract

Queer Exposures is a timely study of Roberto Bolañ o’s fiction and poetry through the lenses of sexuality and photography, two significant but under­ studied themes in the Chilean author’s work. Drawing from queer theory and visual studies, Ryan Long brings a fresh perspective to Bolaño scholarship. Queer characters and homoerotic themes are frequent in his fiction (Ernesto San Epifanio and Piel Divina in The Savage Detectives; Lorenza in Distant Star; Amalfitano in 2666; Amalfitano and Padilla in Woes of the True Policeman; Mauricio Silva in “Mauricio (‘The Eye’) Silva,” among others), as are referen­ ces to photography (“Photos”; “Labyrinth”; Distant Star). While the volume deals with these topics in literal ways, it also does so more figuratively, for example by examining the photographic quality of certain narratives and poems or the way a queer perspective introduces a dif er ent relationship to temporality. The book builds upon the themes of sexuality and photography in Bolaño to illustrate and pursue a mode of reading that resists closure and favors open­ ended interpretations. A key concept explored in the study is that of exposure, a notion taken from Bolañ o’s writings. Exposure translates to intemperie, a word Bolaño uses to signify being out in the open, without shelter, exposed to the ele ments. It is