How do you recognize a work of art? How can it be kept apart, even if only for a moment, from its critics, commentators, its indefatigable plagiarists, its defacers and its final destiny in solitude? Simple — just translate it.

¿Cómo reconocer una obra de arte? ¿Cómo separarla, aunque sólo sea un momento, de su aparato crítico, de sus exégetas, de sus incansables plagiarios, de sus ninguneadores, de su final destino de soledad? Es fácil. Hay que traducirla.

Original text (Spanish)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Entre Paréntesis (2004) edited by Ignacio Echevarría, p. 223

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Roberto Bolaño (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.