ABSTRACT
In this postscript to The Wounded Cardshark (1933), an odd collection of fi ctional chronicles depicting imaginary encounters with distant fi lm stars, the Argentine writer Nicolás Olivari expresses his bitter disenchantment with a U.S. fi lm industry that he clearly reveres. His frustration toward Hollywood centers not on the thwarted attempt to fulfi ll his professional obligations as a “dignifi ed” journalist by gathering supplementary fi rsthand material for his book, but rather on Hollywood’s callous treatment of Latin Americans like himself when they attempt to cross the daunting threshold between local fi lm consumption and international fi lm production. The passage reveals Olivari’s deep discomfort with his own emotional dependence as an intellectual movie fan-the main reason, of course, for his seeking the “assistance” of the studios in the fi rst place. His anxiety is so extreme, in fact, that he feels compelled to break with the book’s fi rstperson narrative to distance himself from the indignity he suffers, signaling the author’s self-estrangement at the very moment he is born as a historical subject outside of the realm of fi lm fantasy.
