Argentina canon

 To mark my 19th bloggiversary, I've compiled a list of what strikes me as essential prose readings from Argentina. Literarily, Argentina punches well above its weight; I've read as much of as the rest of Latin America combined (partly a function of what's been englished, but also of intrinsic interest). This does not include all of what I've read, or any of what I haven't (in-hand TBRs excepted).

The core (with Honorable Mentions for the annex below):

Jorge Luis Borges: from the 40s, the collections The Garden of Forking Paths, Artifices, & The Aleph (in Collected Fictions) (previously)

Adolpho Bioy Casares, The Invention of Morel & Asleep in the Sun

Silvina Ocampo, Thus Were Their Faces TBR: The Promise (posthumous)

Ernesto Sabato, On Heroes and Tombs (HM The Tunnel)

Julio Cortázar, Hopscotch (HM: some of Blow-Up and other stories; Fantomas vs the Multinational Vampires)

Leopoldo Marechal, Adam Buenosayres (previously)

Roberto Arlt, Seven Madmen

Juan Filloy, Caterva (HM: Op Oloop) (recently elsewhere)

Ricardo Piglia, Artificial Respiration

Manuel Puig, Kiss of the Spider Woman (on a par with other HM works)

Juan José Saer, La Grande (HM: The Witness, The Investigation, Scars)

César Aira, An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, How I Became a Nun, & Varamo 

The annex: no depth without breadth, variety adds dimension; starting with the more familiar names

H. Bustos Domecq: lighter Borges & Bioy Casares collaborations eg Chronicles, Six Problems for Don Isidro Parodi

Norah Lange, People in the Room

Antonio di Benedetto, Zama (exceeded by some stories in Nest in the Bones, eg "Aballay"), The Silentiary

Rodrigo Fresán, The Invented Part so-so pomo but hey BTBA

Sergio Chejfec, The Planets

Andrés Neuman, Talking to Ourselves

on to the lesser known:

Haroldo Conti, Southeaster

Luis Sagasti, Fireflies & A Musical Offering

Carlos Gamerro, The Islands

Pedro Mairal, The Missing Year of Juan Salvatierra

Federico Falco, A Perfect Cemetery

Hebe Uhart, The Scent of Buenos Aires

Sara Gallardo, January

Claudia Piñeiro, Elena Knows

Ariana Harwicz, Die, My Love

Selva Almada: The Wind that Lays Waste TBR: Not a River

Luisa Valenzuela, He Who Searches

Angélica Gorodischer, Jaguar's Tomb

Maria Gainza, Optic Nerve

Luis Chitarroni, The No Variations: Diary of an Unfinished Novel

and in the uncanny genre:

Samanta Schweblin, Fever Dream

Mariana Enriquez, Things We Lost in the Fire

For all my reading, I've still probably only scratched the surface, the itch runs deeper ...

add 9.9: Samanta Schweblin weighs in with Read Your Way Through Buenos Aires [NYT arch]