An NYRB Classics Original First published in 1956 Zama is now universally recognized as one of the masterpieces of modern Argentine and Spanishlanguage literature. Written in a style that is both precise and sumptuous weirdly archaic and powerfully novel Zama takes place in the last decade of the eighteenth century and describes the solitary suspended existence of Don Diego de Zama a highly placed servant of the Spanish crown who has been posted to Asuncin the capital of remote Paraguay. There