Ricardo Piglia (November 24, 1941 in Adrogué, Argentina – January 6, 2017 in Buenos Aires) was an Argentine author, critic, and scholar best known for introducing hard-boiled fiction to the Argentine public.
Born in Adrogué, Piglia was raised in Mar del Plata. He studied history in 1961-1962 at the National University of La Plata.
Ricardo Piglia published his first collection of fiction in 1967, La invasión. He worked in various publishing houses in Buenos Aires and was in charge of the Serie Negra which published well-known authors of crime fiction including Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, David Goodis and Horace McCoy. A fan of American literature, he was also influenced by F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Faulkner, as well as by European authors Franz Kafka and Robert Musil.
Piglia’s fiction includes several collections of short stories as well as highly allusive crime novels, among them Respiración artificial (1980, trans. Artificial Respiration), La ciudad ausente (1992, trans. The Absent City), and Blanco nocturno (2010, trans. Nocturnal Target).
Piglia resided for a number of years in the United States. He taught Latin American literature at Harvard as well as Princeton University, where he was Walter S. Carpenter Professor of Language, Literature, and Civilization of Spain from 2001 to 2011. After retirement he returned with his wife to Argentina.
In 2013 he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; he died of the disease on January 6, 2017, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
(Wikipedia)
Piglia on Genre, Truth, and Money
Money is, after all, one of the most powerful fictions that structure social relations.
- Piglia, Ricardo. Money to Burn. Trans. Amanda Hopkinson. London: Granta, 2003.
Piglia Questions
The following questions are taken from your blog posts…
Did you empathize with the gang? If you did, what did you feel when we got little details about the officials that got killed by our main characters? Did it make you feel conflicted?
What do you think happened to Malito? Which of the speculated endings for him is the most plausible?
The characters
What did you all think of the relationship between The Kid and The Gaucho? Did it make you feel more sympathy for them or change your view of them individually?
Where the hell is Malito? Is he a Traitor?
Do we think that Dordo’s role in the crime would be treated differently if it was committed at a different time and location?
Why do you think the Kid “embarked on a path of crime (pg. 74)” despite his wealthy parents and privileged upbringing? Do you think it had to do with an adolescent’s tendency for rebellion or adrenaline? Or perhaps he was rebelling against the expectations placed on him by his family and society?
Did you empathize with any of the characters at the end of the book?
Did you find yourself conflicted about empathizing with the characters? Could you see yourself in any of them?
Do you think that these guys were entirely bad?
How do you feel about the characters in this book?
Did some of you actually find the characters redeeming?
Would you have viewed their actions differently if Piglia had made the characters have remorse for those they killed?
How does the novel’s ambiguous portrayal of truth impact your comprehension of the characters’ motivations?
What do you think happened to Malito? in the epilogue they mention different possible endings- do you believe one of them or believe something else entirely?
How did you feel about the characters? Would you want them to get a diffrent ending, even after all the terrible things they did?
Which relationship had the greatest impact on you when reading? Or alternatively, which dynamic seemed the most complicated to you?
Did you have a favourite character in this novel or someone you strongly hated? If so, who?
What was your favourite character and why?
Do you think it is appropriate to adjust the level of glamour in a character and to what extent should they be seen as complex entities rather then perfect beings we would always root for? Or does not having someone to root for ruin the book for you?
This book shows the criminals in a very human light, but can their actions be justified?
Did you empathize with the characters or would you hate them for their criminal acts? Why?
Women
What are your opinions on the women in the novel? Do you think they were as complex as the heist members?
What are your thoughts on how women in the story are depicted?
Reflecting on the portrayal of women in « Money to Burn » and its critique of the 1960s societal norms, how do you see this theme echoing in today’s society? Have we moved the needle, or are we stuck in a loop?
The epigraph
The epigraph of the novel wrote “After all, what is robbing a bank compared to founding one?- Bertolt Brecht “ I believe the novel suggests that society’ has double standards about crimes. What do you think about this quote and its relationship with the novel, why is one a crime but not the other?
The money
How did you feel about their act of burning money? How did it affect your perception of their crimes?
Did the book change how you view the role of money and capitalism in society?
What other way could the robbers have chosen to deliver a message? Do you think the burning of money communicated what the robbers wanted to say?
Money isn’t just at the center of this novel, it’s a necessity for us to survive in the society. Often, money is associated with more negative terms. So what does money mean to you?
When did we as a society start prioritizing money over the value of a human life? And what should truly be held more in value: money or morals? And how do you interpret the meaning of money in this novel?
Why is burning money so taboo? Why have we, as a society, deemed paper more valuable than human lives? Why is it then that the crowd is furious?
What did you think the burning of the money symbolized? Can be general, or for a specific character.
What are your thoughts on the symbolism associated with the burning of the money? How might it have changed your perception of the characters?
If they did not steal for the money, then why did they do it? Why did they go through all of this?
The ending of the book involves the burning of all the stolen money. What do you think this act symbolizes?
Government involvement and corruption
Do we think that all of the inside contacts within the police and border security etc that were involved in the robbery will face any consequences? If not, why?
What is your perspective on the topic of criminality being a systemic problem? Did this book evoke the same thoughts for you?
The narrative
Did you enjoy the fictional or the true parts more? Did you feel they blended together well or did they contrast each other in their message?
Would you have rather seen a different perspective of the events in the book and if so, who’s?
What was the “initial” thought on this book? I am asking about the impression of this book. What did you feel right after finished reading this book?
What did you like the most or the least about this story?
What are your thoughts on how Piglia makes use of fiction to tell a true story?
How much do you all think that embellishment of stories effects the truthfulness of the story being told. How much is too much and is there sweet spot?
What effect did the structure of this book have on your experience with it?
Why do you think Piglia chose to include the money-burning scene when it is not confirmed that it occurred?
How does Piglia use language and narrative structure to create suspense and tension throughout the novel? What effect does this have on the reader’s experience?
What relationship does our culture have with stories in literature, the news, or social media, in your opinion?
Why did Piglia go from the robbers, to the witnesses, to the newspaper excerpts, to pedestrians ? Why not follow just the robbers?
Do you think that Piglia alters the story to the point that it changes how true it is?
What do you think about this book’s method of story telling?
Violence
How does violence manifest in society, the gang, and the authorities?
Was there anything that infuriated you about this book? Or am I alone in this rage of hatred? What do you think about the ethics behind writing this story the way Piglia did?
What did you think about the amount of action/killing in the story?
Surrounding the depictions of violence in the novel, what effect did they have on you and what purpose do you think they served in the overarching ideas of the novel?
Other
What did you think when the money was burned? What do you think it symbolized?
What did you think of the crowd’s reaction to Dorda’s capture? Justified or not?
If a heist of this size occurred nowadays, how would the public react? Do we think this is a timeless novel that almost denounces everyone involved in such things? I felt that nobody was the ‘good guy’ in the story, did you all share that feeling?
Were you able to enjoy the book even through its disturbing nature?
