The polemics of possession in Spanish American narrative / Rolena Adorno.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Adorno, Rolena.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Spanish American fiction--To 1800--History and criticism.

Spanish American fiction.

Civilization.

Latin America--Civilization--16th century.

Latin America.

Latin America--Civilization--17th century.

Spain--In literature.

Spain.

Imperialism in literature.

Colonies in literature.

Literature.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xix, 428 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, [2007]

Summary:

"In this book on early Latin American narrative, Rolena Adorno argues that the core of the Spanish American literary tradition consists of the writings in which the rights to Spanish dominion in the Americas and the treatment of its natives were debated. She places the works of canonical Spanish and Amerindian writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries within this larger polemic and shows how their works sought credibility within the narrative system itself, rather than in the irretrievable historical events that lay outside it."

"The triumph of the narrative mode over historical content is further revealed in Adorno's demonstration of how these authors and their historical protagonists have been polemically reinvented up to the present day. Adorno traces the elaboration and persistence of colonial-era debates cast in narrative form to arrive at a new understanding of the role the "polemics of possession" plays in the history of Latin American literature and thought."--Jacket.

Contents:

The polemics of possession in Spanish American narrative

Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala and the polemics of possession

Fray Bartolomé de las Casas : polemicist and author

Councilors warring at the royal court

Historians of war and princely warriors

The encomendero and his literary interlocutors

The conquistador-chronicler and his literary authority

The Amerindian : studied, interpreted, and imagined

The narrative invention of Gonzalo the Warrior

The narrative reinvention of the conqueror "captive"

From Guancane to Macondo : literary places and their predecessors

Seeing ghosts: the longevity of "serpents in sandals."

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 383-413) and index.

Katherine Singer Kovacs Prize, Winner, 2007

Other Format:

Online version: Adorno, Rolena. Polemics of possession in Spanish American narrative.

ISBN:

9780300120202

0300120206

OCLC:

123232364

Publisher Number:

9780300120202

99819047147

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description