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I think that Lupe, from Savage Detectives, seems to actually have been a real person and was Bolaño’s prostitute lover, and the story about her life is mostly true. It wasn’t too hard to find out since he wrote a poem about her called Lupe. Any other Bolaño fun facts you know?
He went to Chile to support Allende but got arrested. He was then released only because one of the prison guards was his high school buddy. I think he was lying about this to be honest but I prefer it that way. I like an author who self-mythologizes a bit.
He definitely did go to Chile and got arrested because I think friends and a publisher have confirmed it, but whether it was really friends from high school who got him out who knows. I think he went to high school in Mexico City but dropped out. It’s certainly still possible he knew the guards.
Oh yeah no doubt about him going to Chile. It just seems so Bolaño-esque it's easy to be skeptical, but where's the fun in that