"Impressive project, begun in 1989 before German reunification, carried out by German scholars on Latin America. Examines the relationship between the universe represented in Latin American novels and the historical reality of the 19th and 20th centuries. Proposes that, from its beginnings, the Latin American novel strove to depict political, artistic, and social realities. This is not to suggest simple mimesis. The novel transforms the reality it seeks to represent, which begs the questions: what is reality and where is it best represented? In the novel, historical writing, journalism, folk traditions, or some other discursive mode?"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.