The Woes of the True Policeman

by Roberto Bolano

Begun in the 1980s and worked on until the author's death in 2003, The Woes of the True Policeman is Roberto Bolaño's last, unfinished novel. The story follows Amalfitano, an exiled Chilean university professor and widower living in Barcelona with his teenage daughter. Driven by political disillusionment and a deep love of poetry, he is forced to flee to Santa Teresa, Mexico, a border town haunted by the murders of women. In this kaleidoscopic and darkly humorous narrative, Amalfitano encounters a cast of characters including a former Spanish Civil War soldier and a forger of Larry Rivers paintings, eventually meeting the mysterious writer and magician Arcimboldi. The novel explores the fragile nature of literature, the roots of memory, and the limits of art.