Fiction and Politics in Respiración Artificial: an inventory of limits

Abstract

This paper presents a series of Ricardo Piglia's standpoints, marked by a concern with the "truth" in fiction; such standpoints, which appear in his narratives are focused on politics. Both, fiction and politics are analyzed and combined with my own viewpoints on literary criticism and politics. Among the series found in the work of the Argentinean writer I have selected the one that appeared to me to be the most important for also understanding the culture of his country: the opposition between fiction and reality, permeated by a certain notion of politics read under the metaphor of the tango. The paper closes with a confrontation between Piglia's words and those by Carlos Gardel.