Geo-graphies: The “Zone” as a Politics of Writing and Literary Compilation

Abstract

This article examines the tensions that arise in the relationship between literature and territory within writing and compilation policies. Far from adopting an essentialist or mimetic perspective, it interrogates the aesthetic and political issues that emerge from this construction.
These complex relations—explored through writing, history, literary criticism, and theory—have operated as criteria for literary compilation in Argentina, particularly in the design of collections from the late nineteenth century through the twentieth century. To address the continuities and ruptures of this practice in recent decades, the analysis focuses on two collections published by the State: Leer la Argentina (2005), of national scope, and Identidades Bonaerenses (2024), issued by the Province of Buenos Aires; as well as one collection produced by the publishing market: Leer y Crear (Colihue). These materials reveal diverse didactic and political decisions that attempt to map specific lectios. As will be shown, the corpus under study promotes certain identity markers that shape practices of cultural and literary appropriation. Ultimately, the article argues that intertwining literature and geography constitutes a powerful and persistent cultural strategy in the formation of readerships across different historical contexts.