Through the investigation of works by contemporary Spanish and Spanish-American writers—Roberto Bolaño, Abilio Estévez, Lucía Etxebarria, Ray Loriga, and Antonio José Ponte—this project explores subjects that get lost due to shifts toward totalizing economic and/or political systems. Through close textual analysis, it examines who these lost subjects are, why they get lost, and what the ramifications of being lost are for their respective societies and the world at large. The time period that the plots of these works cover (1968 to present) is one marked by socio-economic shifts, responsible for spurring the alienation of the subjects of these texts. In Chile, Pinochet's coup shattered ideals for a new generation; in Cuba, the collapse of the Soviet Union left the island isolated; while in Spain, Spaniards come to grips with the disturbing memories of schism provoked by the Civil War and isolation induced by the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.