Respiración artificial es una crónica argentina de varias generaciones que se retrotrae de 1979 a 1850. Emilio Renzi, un joven escritor, entabla correspondencia con su tío Marcelo Maggi, a quien conocía solamente por los escandalosos relatos familiares. Pero en las cartas descubrirá su faceta de investigador de Enrique Ossorio, un conspirador doble de la época del gobernador Rosas, y sus esfuerzos por desvelar la historia secreta de la estirpe y de la nación bajo la sombra de una nueva dictadura. Respiración artificial se considera la novela de culto de Ricardo Piglia, una obra que lo reafirma como uno de los grandes de la narrativa latinoamericana contemporánea. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION Artificial Respiration is an Argentine chronicle spanning several generations, moving backward in time from 1979 to 1850. Emilio Renzi, a young writer, begins a correspondence with his uncle Marcelo Maggi, whom he knew only through scandalous family stories. In these letters, however, he discovers Maggi’s work as a researcher into the life of Enrique Ossorio, a double agent and conspirator during the era of Governor Rosas, as well as his efforts to uncover the secret history of both the family lineage and the nation, all under the shadow of a new dictatorship. Artificial Respiration is regarded as Ricardo Piglia’s cult novel, a work that firmly establishes him as one of the great figures of contemporary Latin American narrative.