In this sprawling and highly informative book, Juan Pablo Dabove contends that both historical and fictional narratives in Latin America often rest on a tension between builders and bandits, lawmen and outlaws, state violence and rebel violence — with a parallel debate about which is which. In his excellent introduction, Dabove describes how the bandit figure emerges in literature from the point of view of the “Lettered City,” a term he borrows from Angel Rama’s famous essay of the same name. Dabove makes clear that he wishes “to focus on the elite perspective of banditry,” meaning that his primary materials are literary texts, usually by recognized canonical writers (p. 38). Hence this study does not consider folktales or ballads (the Mexican corridos, for example), where, as Dabove points out, vivid bandit portraits also appear.
Dabove’s introduction also provides an informed overview of the debate on the social meaning of...
