The many faces of power--political, personal, authorial--as revealed in literature are explored in these essays by specialists on modern Spanish-American narrative. Contributors include Jose Carlos Gonzalez Boixo, Sara Castro-Klaren, Rosalia Cornejo-Parriego, Rosemary Geisdorfer Feal, David William Foster, Todd Garth, Sharon Magnarelli, Terry J. Peavler and Peter Standish. They discuss works by Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Julio Cortazar, Jose Donoso, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Alejandra Pizarnik, Juan Rulfo, Macedonio Fernandez, Augusto Roa Bastos, Luisa Valenzuela, and Mario Vargas Llosa.

By thoroughly analyzing the literature chosen, the authors go beyond questions of politically committed writing to include such issues as the dominance of one sex, one belief system, and one individual over another. Because they reveal just how complex and diverse issues of power in literature can be, they significantly broaden an already lively debate. What brings them together here is their shared passion for the subject, their keenness of thought, and their possession of what may be the greatest power of all, that of persuasion.