Argentina Noir

Cynthia Schmidt-Cruz is Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and Director of the Center for Global and Area Studies at the University of Delaware. Her previous books include Mothers, Lovers, and Others: The Short Stories of Julio Cortázar, also published by SUNY Press.

• Acknowledgments Introduction: Argentina NoirFrom the Whodunit to the Novela Negra: The Poetics of Crime FictionDevelopment of the Genre in ArgentinaAn Overview of Current Practitioners in ArgentinaToward a Characterization of and Approach to the Genre in Argentina 1. Combatting Organized Crime and Institutional Complicity, with a Sentimental SubtextTrafficking Enabled by Institutional CorruptionA Sentimental Cop Goes Up against Human Traffickers: Los hombres te han hecho mal by Ernesto MalloThe Foul Breezes of Buenos Aires: Ciudad Santa by Guillermo Orsi 2. The President and All His Men: Watchdog Journalists Tackle Corruption during the Menem PresidencyThe Menem Presidency and the Neoliberal Era"Novelas menemistas": El vuelo de la reina by Tomás Eloy Martínez and El muerto indiscreto by Rubén Correa 3. Terrorist Attacks on Jewish Buenos Aires and the Mysterious Death of Alberto NismanThe Hapless Investigation of the Attack on the AMIAA Sexy Journalist Cracks an Anti-Semitic Plot: Asalto al paraíso by Marcos AguinisThe Rogue Spy and the Demise of the Special Prosecutor: El fiscal by R. S. Pratt 4. Trouble in the Country Club, or "Los Nuevos Ricos También Lloran"The Gated Community as Emblematic of the Neoliberal EraDisintegration of Family Ties: Retrato de familia con muerta by Raúl ArgemíThe High Cost of Keeping Up Appearances: Las viudas de los jueves by Claudia PiñeiroRegendering the Genre: Betibú by Claudia PiñeiroThe Gated Community: A Disturbing Message 5. The "Other Side": The Urban Poor and the Crime NovelNo Longer a Middle-Class SocietyCollateral Damage of Consumer Society: Puerto Apache by Juan MartiniFatal Attraction: La fragilidad de los cuerpos by Sergio Olguín Conclusion: Social Collapse and Human ConnectionsTerritorialization and TransformationThe Sentimental Subtext NotesWorks CitedIndex

"Schmidt-Cruz's work represents a significant contribution to the field … this is an accomplished study that will be essential reading for scholars of Argentine crime fiction, but that should also hold appeal for those interested in understanding contemporary Argentina, or indeed anyone curious about the power of popular narratives to help illuminate the social and political phenomena of the age." — Bulletin of Spanish Studies"This is a very significant contribution to the field. It is a full and illustrative, as well as authoritative, guide to crime fiction and the novela negra in Argentina in the twenty-first century, with a particular focus on the literature's social and political thematics." — Philip Swanson, author of The New Novel in Latin America: Politics and Popular Culture after the Boom