Bandit narratives in Latin America : from Villa to Chávez / Juan Pablo Dabove.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dabove, Juan Pablo, author.

Series:

Illuminations (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

Illuminations

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Outlawa--Latin America--History.

Outlawa.

Outlaws in popular culture--Latin America.

Outlaws in popular culture.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (424 pages) : illustrations, tables.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, [Pennsylvania] : University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017.

Summary:

Bandits seem ubiquitous in Latin American culture. Even contemporary actors of violence are framed by narratives that harken back to old images of the rural bandit, either to legitimize or delegitimize violence, or to intervene in larger conflicts within or between nation-states. However, the bandit seems to escape a straightforward definition, since the same label can apply to the leader of thousands of soldiers (as in the case of Villa) or to the humble highwayman eking out a meager living by waylaying travelers at machete point. Dabove presents the reader not with a definition of the bandit, but with a series of case studies showing how the bandit trope was used in fictional and non-fictional narratives by writers and political leaders, from the Mexican Revolution to the present. By examining cases from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela, from Pancho Villa's autobiography to Hugo Chavez's appropriation of his "outlaw" grandfather, Dabove reveals how bandits function as a symbol to expose the dilemmas or aspirations of cultural and political practices, including literature as a social practice and as an ethical experience.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preamble: Porfirio Díaz's Paradox

Introduction

Part I. Banditry, Self-Fashioning, and the Quest for Legitimacy

1. Speculum Latronis: On Villa's Retrato autobiográfico

2. Hugo Chávez, Maisanta, and the Construction of an Insurgent Lineage

Part II. Banditry and the Epic of the Nation

3. The Burning Plains: On Las lanzas coloradas

4. "Bodies for the Gallows": On ¡Vámonos con Pancho Villa!

5. The Andean Western: On Cuentos andinos

6. Borges and the Melancholic Cultor del Coraje

Part III. Banditry and the Latin American Left

7. Dangerous Illusions and Shining Utopias: On Seara Vermelha

8. The Heart of Darkness: On José Revueltas

Part IV. Banditry and the Dilemmas of Literature

9. Borges and Moreira: Inglorious Bastards

10. Language, the Devil, and the (Out)law: On Grande Sertão: Veredas

11. An Abundance of Hats and a Scarcity of Heads: On La guerra del fin del mundo

12. Banditry, Neoliberalism, and the Dilemmas of Literature: On Plata quemada

13. What Is a Bandit?

Notes

Works Cited

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780822982326

0822982323

OCLC:

990411858