Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is a large, metropolitan city and the capitol of Argentina. It features in several of the stories, most notably in “The Insufferable Gaucho.” The version of Buenos Aires depicted in “The Insufferable Gaucho” is that of wealthy, elitist writers such as the coke-snorting man at the end of the story and more generally, a world of economic excess and, consequently, decline. Manuel Pereda, the main character in the story, prefers the countryside to the large, metropolitan city because he sees the city as corrupt and debased. Buenos Aires is also mentioned in “Alvaro Rousselot’s Journey,” where the city is depicted according to its thriving literary industry which, nonetheless, feels itself inferior to that of Paris or another European capitol.

The Pampas

The Pampas, which comes from the Quechua word for “plain,” are fertile lowlands stretching from Argentina to Uruguay and the south of Brazil...