This essay discusses the notion of intellectual program, in service of an integrated reading of Manuel Rojas' work, as well as the literary praxis it entails. The analysis focuses mainly on two types of essays by the author: those in which he addresses the work of other writers, and those in which he comments on his own work. Throughout the analysis the case is made that Rojas embarks on a labor of the residual, which characterizes his mode of production, at the same time showing the relation he sustain with the literary canon and tradition in which he takes part.