The captain general's daughter / José Milla ; a translation by RoseAnna Mueller of La hija del Adelantado.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Milla, José, 1822-1882, author.

Contributor:

Mueller, RoseAnna, translator.

Series:

Modern classics series

Standardized Title:

Hija del adelantado. English

Language:

English

Spanish

Subjects (All):

Daughters--Fiction.

Daughters.

Illegitimate children--Fiction.

Illegitimate children.

Mestizos--Guatemala--Fiction.

Mestizos.

Alvarado, Pedro de, 1485?-1541--Fiction.

Alvarado, Pedro de.

Antigua (Guatemala)--Fiction.

Antigua (Guatemala).

Guatemala--History--To 1821--Fiction.

Guatemala.

Genre:

Novels

Novels.

Physical Description:

xxvii, 208 pages ; 21 cm.

Place of Publication:

Montreal : Universitas Press, 2026.

Language Note:

In English, translated from the Spanish.

Summary:

"La hija del Adelantado, translated here as The Captain General's Daughter, is José Milla's first novel. It is also his shortest novel and, according to the noted Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío, it is his best. It is the only one of Milla's historical novels whose title refers to a woman, but it is not directly named for her. Instead, it defines doña Leonor's relationship to her father, Pedro de Alvarado, the captain general of the Kingdom of Guatemala. Leonor provides impetus for the novel, but she is not the main character, and neither is Alvarado, since Milla has many colorful and varied characters who contribute to the novel's several plots. Furthermore, given the time the novel was written, there may have been a necessity to downplay Leonor's role, as she was the result of a union, not a marriage in the eyes of the Catholic Church, and she was of mixed blood, the first mestiza born in Guatemala. Princess Tecuelhuetzin was given to Pedro de Alvarado by Hernan Cortés. Baptized Luisa, she remained Alvarado's lifelong companion. La hija del Adelantado is the first novel in a trilogy in which the author described Guatemala's colonial past, along with El visitador and Los nazarenos. José Milla y Vidaurre (1822-1882) is considered the father of the Guatemalan novel. La Hija del Adelantado is a costumbrista novel. These novels, written during the age of Romanticism, tried to recreate life realistically, describing everyday customs and life through vivid descriptions and the use of colloquial colonial language in their dialog. Milla tried to describe life in Guatemala during the 16th century. The result is a hybrid novel that combines history and fiction. The novel was published in 1866, 45 years after the country's independence, a time when Guatemala was still transitioning from its colonial past to an independent nation. It recreated the life, customs and relationships during Guatemala's colonial history, and it was read in Guatemalan high schools. The character's motivations reflect the social conventions and aspirations of the time and as such it is an important foundational text. The story takes place after Alvarado's return from Spain with his second wife doña Beatriz and his mestiza noble daughter doña Leonor. The book is based on the events that took place in Guatemala between 1536, and the catastrophic end of Guatemala's first capital in 1541. Towards the end it describes Alvarado's death in Guadalajara."-- Provided by publisher.

Notes:

Translation of: La hija del Adelantado.

ISBN:

9781998579075

1998579077

OCLC:

1581189103

Publisher Number:

90104892071