Literary Futures: Crime Fiction, Global Capitalism and the History of the Present in Ricardo Pigila

Abstract

This chapter narrates Ricardo Piglia’s intellectual and literary formation in the less than serene Argentine sixties and seventies. Arriving back in his home country from Paris where he had studied with Roland Barthes, Piglia seemed set to carry on the long tradition of transferring cosmopolitan knowledge to the Porteño capital. But then, the “Nixon Shock” happened, and the political and cultural ground on which Piglia and his peers stood underwent a seismic shift. In an analysis of his recurring detective, Emilio Renzi, and the recent Nocturno blanco, this chapter examines how Piglia responded literarily by pulling from popular mediums, such as the noir novel, and pitting high political idealism against the lived reality of Argentine life.