Coming to prominence during the tropical booms of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Putumayo has long been a site of mass immigration and exile, of subjugation and insurgency, and of violence. By way of a study of literature of and on the Putumayo by Latin American as well as US and European writers, Colombia's Forgotten Frontier explores the history and enduring significance of this Amazonian border zone, which has been visited both physically and imaginatively by figures such as Roger Casement, Jose Eustasio Rivera, and William Burroughs. Travel writing, testimony, diaries, letters, journalism, oral history, songs, photographs, and 'pulp' fiction are all considered alongside more conventional forms such as the novel. Whilst geographically peripheral, the Putumayo has played a central role in Colombia and beyond, both historically and, crucial to this study, culturally, producing a literature of extreme experience, marginality, and conflict.

The first literary geography of this fascinating region of Colombia Explores the work of figures such as William Burroughs and Roger Casement An interdisciplinary book that will be essential reading for scholars in Latin American Studies, postcolonial studies and travel writing studies

About the Author
Lesley Wylie is an Associate Professor of Latin American Studies at the University of Leicester and has published widely on the subject of plants across Latin American culture.

Reviews
Colombia's Forgotten Frontier is a well-researched and readable book that constitutes an important addition to the literary and historical scholarship not only on the Colombian Putumayo, but also on the broader Amazon region. * Journal of Latin American Studies, Volume 46 *



Book Information
ISBN 9781846319747
Author Lesley Wylie
Format Hardback
Page Count 262
Imprint Liverpool University Press
Publisher Liverpool University Press