Paris, 1938. The Peruvian poet Cesar Vallejo is in the hospital, afflicted with an undiagnosed illness, and unable to stop hiccuping. His wife calls on an acquaintance of her friend Madame Reynaud: the Mesmerist Pierre Pain. Pain, a timid bachelor, is in love with the widow Reynaud, and agrees to help. But two mysterious Spanish men follow Pain and bribe him not to treat Vallejo, and Pain takes the money. Ravaged by guilt and anxiety, however, he does not intend to abandon his new patient, but then Pain's access to the hospital is barred and Madame Reynaud leaves Paris.... Another practioner of the occult sciences enters the story (working for Franco, using his Mesmeric expertise to interrogate prisoners)-as do Mme. Curie, tarot cards, an assassination, and nightmares. Meanwhile, Monsieur Pain, haunted and guilty, wanders the crepuscular, rainy streets of Paris...

罗贝托・波拉尼奥（Roberto Bolaño，1953—2003）出生于智利，父亲是卡车司机和业余拳击手，母亲在学校教授数学和统计学。1968年全家移居墨西哥。1973年波拉尼奥再次回到智利投身社会主义革命却遭到逮捕，差点被杀害。逃回墨西哥后他和好友推动了融合超现实主义、达达主义以及街头剧场的“现实以下主义”（Infrarealism）运动，意图激发拉丁美洲年轻人对生活与文学的热爱。1977年他前往欧洲，最后在西班牙波拉瓦海岸结婚定居。2003年因为肝脏功能损坏，等不到器官移植而在巴塞罗那去世，年仅五十岁。

波拉尼奥四十岁才开始写小说，作品数量却十分惊人，身后留下十部小说、四部短篇小说集以及三部诗集。1998年出版的《荒野侦探》在拉美文坛引起的轰动，不亚于三十年前《百年孤独》出版时的盛况。而其身后出版的《2666》更是引发欧美舆论压倒性好评，均致以杰作、伟大、里程碑、天才等等赞誉。苏珊・桑塔格、约翰・班维尔、科尔姆・托宾、斯蒂芬・金等众多作家对波拉尼奥赞赏有加，更有评论认为此书的出版自此将作者带至塞万提斯、斯特恩、梅尔维尔、普鲁斯特、穆齐尔与品钦的同一队列。