I was fifteen then and I didn't know whether I was Chilean or Mexican and I didn't care much either way.
-- Narrator (The Airport)

Importance: At the outset of the novel, Bolaño utilizes this quotation to introduce his thematic examination of identity. The first person narrator, Arturo Belano, is caught between his Mexican and Chilean heritages. He claims to be indifferent to his dual ethnicity but as the novella progresses, he vacillates between identifying with one or the other.

From the start, I suspected that it would be hard to get there and just as hard to get back.
-- Narrator (The Airport)

Importance: In “Cowboy Graves” the author enacts Arturo’s trek to Nicanor Parra’s home as a metaphor for the artist’s struggle. In the same manner that the protagonist cannot easily make his way to the poet’s home and must take multiple busses and walk by foot through heaps of garbage, the proverbial...