Spaces of Madness: Insane Asylums in Argentine Narrative

Spaces of Madness examines the role of the insane asylum in Argentine prose works published between 1889 and 2011. From a place of existential exile at the turn of the twentieth century to a symbolic representation of Argentine society during and immediately subsequent to the Dirty War, the figure of the asylum in Argentine literature has evolved along with the institution itself. The authors studied in Spaces of Madness include Manuel T. Podestá, Roberto Arlt, Leopoldo Marechal, Julio Cortázar, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Juan José Saer, Abelardo Castillo, Ricardo Piglia, and Luisa Valenzuela.