Roberto Bolaño's books are suddenly everywhere, which is a fortuitous development for readers who like adventurous fiction. This literary stroke of luck is thanks in good part to the persistence of the estimable and always forward-thinking New Directions publishers. Farrar Straus and Giroux somehow beat out ND for the rights to two of the late Chilean-born novelist's longest and perhaps...

I still remember the day my high school guidance counselor called me into her office and told me that, because of my substandard SAT scores, I'd never get into any of the colleges I'd applied to, and that she wanted me to try Temple University to ensure that I'd receive at least one acceptance (I happened to be an excellent...