Ricardo Piglia’s Plata quemada: The Queer Pietà

Abstract

This study explores Piglia’s fictionalization of the “real” 1965 crime story that serves as the base for his 1997 novel, Plata quemada, and in particular, the author’s choice to invent a homoerotic relationship between the two main characters, Dorda and Brignone. Piglia’s decision can be viewed as a daring attempt at “fake news” inspired by historic events. But more significantly, the invention of an emotional and physical relationship between the two protagonists serves a powerful structural function in the novel. By means of this relationship, Piglia is able to elaborate a modern-day Argentine tragedy that elicits a cathartic reaction in the reader. And while the title of the novel may highlight the climactic act of rebellious socio-economic nihilism, the novel as a whole demands a co-equal high point that culminates in the radically subversive, emotionally charged image of Dorda cradling the dying Brignone, Piglia’s queer pietà.