Si Stendhal aspiraba a una prosa tan reticente como la del Coacute;digo Civil, Piglia aspira a la de un acta policial. Esto es, a no hacer "literatura" sino intentar "el registro estilístico y el gesto metafórico (como lo llamaba Brecht) de los relatos sociales cuyo tema es la violencia ilegal". Así lo declara en el epílogo de Plata quemada. Lenguaje llano, entonces, liso de metáforas. Más bien pedestre: el de la calle, el de la gente incapaz de expresar algo más que una demanda de necesidades primarias. Dinero, ante todo, y simultáneamente sexo, que no necesita del habla. También, la jerga del cronista policial, con las muletillas consabidas, y los lugares no menos comunes de las declaraciones oficiales sobre temas comprometidos. Erigir desde tal premisa una tragedia, en el sentido clásico, es una empresa ardua. Dos coordenadas acotan la narración: el tiempo y la claustrofobia. El tiempo es el auténtico protagonista de esta historia verídica. Es la irrupción de lo imponderable en la afinada cronología delictiva lo que provoca el fracaso de los criminales.

Its fast pace made this 1997 Planeta de Novela winner a natural for the movie screen in 2000. A highly respected Argentine writer and intellectual, Piglia reconstructs a bank robbery that took place in Buenos Aires in 1965, focusing on the thieves and the police investigation that followed. Dorda, a mentally unbalanced assassin; El Nene, a passionate homosexual; Mereles, a cocaine addict; and Malito, their compulsive boss, make up the band of robbers. Their plan: to steal millions and start anew in New York. The plot alternates from the claustrophobic Montevideo apartment where the robbers take cover to the streets where hundreds of police officers finally manage to kill the band. As they hide, the characters recall their memories of poverty, exclusion, mental imbalance, and repression while cultivating their drug addictions. Besides commenting on poverty and marginality, Piglia explores the nature of money in modern society, suggesting the radical idea of a world where it does not reign supreme. This is demonstrated in a scene toward the end, in which the stolen bills burn as they fall from the apartment's window. The issue of homosexuality appears throughout, although it is not used as a political question or as part of an agenda for social change. In fact, you could argue that the novel reinforces the stereotype of the unbalanced gay man who turns to violence. The text is full of Argentine colloquialisms and slang, but most terms can be easily understood in context. A mix of noir and social exploration, this very engaging novel is highly recommended for academic and public libraries, and for general bookstores interested in the major literary trends of Latin America today.
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