Meetup One Hundred and Forty: Zama

Hey team - After a long, hard winter we are moving next month to, hopefully, sunnier climes. For April we will be reading the first novel in the Argentinian novelist's Antonio di Benedetto's informal trilogy, Zama. Originally published in 1956, the novel is not only considered a major literary work of Argentinean literature, but has also been considered a great American novel. Drawing heavily on the influence of Dostoevsky, the novel follows Don Diego de Zama, a minor official stationed in Paraguay during the late 18th century, while it was still part of the Spanish Empire. He spends his time waiting for a promotion and transfer to Buenos Aires, creating a seemingly unending existential state of inward and outward stasis.

NYRB published a new translation of the novel back in 2016, and at 224 pages, it's not a long read.