SPANISH (AND) SHORT STORIES

"I prefer not to say anything, she wrote, there's no point adding to the pain, or adding our own little mysteries to it. As if the pain itself were not enough of a mystery, as if the pain were not the (mysterious) answer to all mysteries."
—page 103, "Anne Moore's Life," Last Evenings on Earth by Roberto Bolaño

I have been awash in short stories, works translated from Spanish, and typography and book design for the past few weeks. Some of my literary explorations have included more than one of these three categories.

I have greatly enjoyed novels by Spaniards Javier Marías and Juan Goytisolo. I have enjoyed short stories by Chilean exile Roberto Bolaño and Alan DeNiro. I am currently reading Modern Typography by Robin Kinross. Then there are the hybrid articles in recent issues of The Believer, and a few other books, that tie many of these novels and stories together in ways that I could not have imagined prior:

• "The Savage Detective" by Rodrigo Fresán in the March 2007 issue of The Believer—a look at the brilliance of Roberto Bolaño.
• "On the Art of the Disappeared" by Lawrence Weschler in the March 2007 issue of The Believer—an essay on twenty-seven Latin American artists who are attempting to deal with the violence associated with dictatorships, rebel groups, and reactionary militias over the past few decades. Weschler is always a great read, since he is always noticing—and sometimes creating—juxtapositions and associations that others do not, or would not.
• "The Codex Seraphinianus" by Justin Taylor in the May 2007 issue of The Believer—personal and public tales about a mysterious book of art and beautiful, undecipherable text, The Codex Seraphinianus, that little is known about, even though the author/artist is still alive.
• Short stories by Jorge Luis Borges.
• Short essays by Lisa Robertson, in her role as The Office of Soft Architecture.

Now, I just need to figure out what the overlapping and importance of these three categories signify, if anything. I know that something is there, waiting further or deeper discovery. I am just unsure of what it is at this point.