are narrated by an author, "B.", who is – in a move typical of the author – a stand-in for the author himself. The Return The Return is a collection of twelve short stories, first published in English in 2010, and translated by Chris Andrews. The Insufferable Gaucho The Insufferable Gaucho (El Gaucho Insufrible in Spanish) collects a disparate variety of work. It contains five short stories and two essays, with the title story inspired by Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges's short story The South, said story being mentioned in Bolaño's work. The Secret of Evil The Secret of Evil (El Secreto del Mal in Spanish) is a collection of short stories and recollections or essays. The Spanish version was published in 2007 and contains 21 pieces, 19 of which appear in the English edition, published in 2010. Several of the stories in the collection feature characters that have appeared in previous works by Bolaño, including his alter ego Arturo Belano and characters that first appeared in Nazi Literature in the Americas. Poems The Romantic Dogs The Romantic Dogs (Los perros románticos in Spanish), published in 2006, is his first collection of poetry to be translated into English, appearing in a bilingual edition in 2008 under New Directions and translated by Laura Healy. Bolaño has stated that he considered himself first and foremost a poet and took up fiction writing primarily later in life in order to support his children. The Unknown University A deluxe edition of Bolaño's complete poetry, The Unknown University, was translated from the Spanish by Laura Healy (Chile, New Directions, 2013). It was shortlisted for the 2014 Best Translated Book Award. Themes In the final decade of his life Bolaño produced a significant body of work, consisting of short stories and novels. In his fiction the characters are often novelists or poets, some of them aspiring and others famous, and writers appear ubiquitous in Bolaño's world, variously cast as heroes, villains, detectives and iconoclasts. Other significant themes of his work include quests, "the myth of poetry", the "interrelationship of poetry and crime", the inescapable violence of modern life in Latin America, and the essential human business of youth, love and death. In one of his stories, Dentist, Bolaño appears to set out his basic aesthetic principles. The narrator pays a visit to an old friend, a dentist. The friend introduces him to a poor Indian boy