IX. LITERATURE |
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Scholars have long disputed the relationship between historical writing and literature. Although poetry is by definition a genre based on principles quite different from those governing historiography, epic poems since Homer represent a particular subgenre in which many features of both meet. To be sure, an epic poet may deliberately suppress, invent, or significantly alter the facts, an artistic freedom denied to the historian, but personal perspectives and interpretations have also played a role in historical writing, and were certainly in evidence in writing about the New World. It is undeniable that in their time many epic poems were written and read as historical works. |
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IX.1. Juan de Castellanos. Elegías de varones illustres de Indias. Madrid, 1589. Castellanos (1522-1607) went to the New World about 1540. He began his career as a soldier, but in 1544 he became a priest and spent the remainder of his life serving as a parish priest in New Granada. Castellanos may be considered the clearest example of a New World poet-chronicler, since he originally wrote a history in prose, but later decided to turn it into a long poem of over one hundred thousand lines, an enterprise that took him some fifteen years. Castellanos meant his work to be a poem of artistic merit and a chronicle of real historical value, and he takes pride in his having consulted extensive sources, both written and oral–he actually knew personally many of the men about whom he wrote. In a poem of such great length, however, the result is necessarily uneven. |
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IX.2. Gabriel Lasso de la Vega. Cortés valeroso, y Mexicana. Madrid, 1588. Lasso de la Vega (1559-ca.1615) served as a soldier in France and Italy before settling in Madrid, where he gained certain stature as a poet. His poem seems to have originated from a genuine admiration of Cortés, but both the son and grandson of the conquistador were involved in the project, perhaps as financial sponsors. Although highly hyperbolic in his praise of Cortés’s actions, Lasso’s long epic poem remains close to the facts. At times, however, a curious mixture of fact and fiction typical of the genre occurs, as Cortés’s determination prevails not only over the Mexicans, but also over their allies–Pluto, Neptune, and other ancient mythical gods who plot against him. |
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IX.3. Alonso de Ercilla y Zuñiga. La Araucana. Madrid, 1590. |
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IX.4. Pedro de Oña. Arauco domado. Lima, 1596. The son of a conquistador, Oña (1570?-1643?) was born in Chile. He was commissioned by Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza’s family to write this poem, one aim of which was to improve upon Don Diego’s portrayal in La Araucana. After having had some serious differences with Don Diego, Ercilla had been condemned to death by him, a sentence later commuted to permanent exile. Ercilla took literary revenge by stressing the heroic behavior of the Araucanos while criticizing and obscuring the role of Don Diego, the commander of the Spanish army. After the tremendous success of La Araucana, Oña set out to rewrite the epic history of the Arauco wars emphasizing the role of Don Diego, who becomes the sole and distinguished protagonist of his poem. He is portrayed as the exemplary leader of an army which embodies all the political and the religious ideals of the Spanish Empire, whereas the Araucanos are depicted as the uncivilized pagans who by providential design are punished for their sinful and hedonistic lifestyle. |
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IX.5. Martín del Barco Centenera. Argentina y conquista del Río de la Plata. Lisbon, 1602. Barco (b. 1535) went to the New World in 1572 and remained there for over twenty years. He served as a priest in a number of places in South America, but his reputation was tainted by frequent accusations of dissipated living. Barco’s poem, written as an imitation of Ercilla’s La Araucana, is a poorly organized account narrating his own experience in the Rio de la Plata region. It does, however, provide useful data about the expeditions in which the author took part. Unfortunately, the narrative is marred by constant references to mythical places and fictional creatures which the author seems to accept with utter credulity, and literary historians agree on the practically non-existent literary value of the poem. Barco’s major legacy was the name Argentina, which he created as a Latin adjective equivalent to the Spanish “platense” (“silvery”) by which the land was known. Its constant use by Barco gave it common currency, and it eventually became the name of the region and then the country. |
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IX.6. Rodrigo de Valdés. Poema heroyco hispano-latino panegyrico de la fundacion, y grandezas de la muy noble y leal ciudad de Lima. Madrid, 1687. Valdés (1609-1682) was born and educated in Lima. His Poema heroyco is a long poem of five hundred and seventy-two four-line stanzas. The adjective “hispano-latino” in its title refers to its highly unusual linguistic character. Responding to a Baroque fashion that applauded artistic wit, the poem is written in a language that can be read both as Latin and as Spanish. In his dedication to King Charles II, the editor of the poem, Francisco Garabito de Leon, the author’s nephew, states that the author’s purpose was to write a useful book for the study of the Latin language, by singling out cognates between that language and Spanish. The poetic merit of Valdés’s work is dubious at best, but the Poema sheds light on many aspects of the founding of Lima and also provides vivid descriptions of events. |