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