The Source(s) of Miguel de Unamuno’s ‘El buen bandolero’

Abstract Miguel de Unamuno’s oeuvre comprises a substantial number of texts whose main scope is religion, almost exclusively Christianity. This should come as no surprise in a person who had a very idiosyncratic creed, and whose “agonic” take on faith and transcendence dominated much of his life. Precisely because he was so invested in and knowledgeable about religion, it is surprising to find that he used “el buen bandolero” to refer to “el buen ladrón” (“the good thief”)—the latter being a phrase with long-standing idiomatic status to refer to one of the criminals crucified next to Jesus. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, we trace the origin and potential sources of this collocation, which is anomalous from a phraseological standpoint. Thus, we will identify and document the intertextual genesis of “el buen bandolero” through primary and secondary sources. In addition to unearthing the intertextual roots of Unamuno’s “el buen bandolero,” this study shall also outline the main functions that this phrase has in the author’s literary and non-literary discourse. This idiosyncratic phrase has relevant ramifications within any holistic analysis of Unamuno’s prose and, because of its religious nature, it also reveals itself as a stylistic manifestation of his evasive strain of Christianity.