The main aim of this doctoral thesis is to analyze Ricardo Piglia s work Respiración artificial (1980), in order to find and reflect on the essays hidden in this novel. In addition to a discussion on what an essay is, and a chapter dedicated to the biography of the Argentine writer, we will focus on the following Piglian essays: [1] The historian and historiography; [2] Exile and utopia; [3] Failure; [4] Obsession. Some of these essays, such as Failure and Obsession, are recurring themes in Piglia s work and reappear at other times; however, The Historian and Historiography, Exile and Utopia are unique and original essays that stand out in Respiración artificial. In the final chapter, Essay on Obsession, we will look at issues relating to the Argentine military dictatorship, which runs throughout the novel, albeit in a veiled way. Piglia, who defined himself as a critic and teacher even before he was a writer, permeated his fictional texts with his essayistic work, a style that is already traditional in Argentine literature and of which Piglia is a member, becoming part of the country s literary canon as one of the main writers of recent decades. The thesis does not follow the chronology of the novel, respecting its fragmentary form; instead, it uses its central characters as the axis that unifies the essays: Marcelo Maggi, Vladimir Tardewski, Enrique Ossorio, Don Luciano Ossorio, José Arocena, Emilio Renzi. The main sources analyzed are Respiración artificial, Os diários de Emilio Renzi, other essayistic works, critiques, interviews with the author, as well as archives in Argentina and the USA relating to his personal libraries and diaries.