Language, Authority, and Indigenous History in the Comentarios reales de los Incas (Cambridge Iberian and Latin American Studies)

The Comentarios reales de los Incas, a classic of Spanish Renaissance prose narrative, was written by Garcilaso Inca de la Vega, the son of an Inca princess and a Spanish conquistador. It is filled with ideological tensions and apparent contradictions as Garcilaso attempts to reconcile a pagan New World culture with the fervent Christian evangelism of the period of the discovery and conquest of America. This study of the Commentarios, is original both in adopting the perspective of discourse analysis and in its interdisciplinary approach. Margarita Zamora examines the rhetorical complexities of the Comentarios, and shows how Garcilaso turned to the linguistic strategies of humanist philology and hermeneutics rather than traditional historiography in order to present Inca civilization to the Europeans. Zamora's book reveals how Garcilaso's views of the Incas were shaped by his dual background, his commitment to humanism and Christianity, by the expectations he had of his readers, and by the disruptive practices of his time. The Comentarios reales de los incas, a classic of Spanish Renaissance prose narrative, was written by Garcilaso Inca de la Vega, the son of an Inca princess and a Spanish conquistador. It is full of ideological tensions and apparent contradictions as Garcilaso attempts to reconcile a pagan new-world culture with the fervent Christian evangelism of the period of the discovery and conquest of America. This study of the Comentarios is original both in adopting the perspective of discourse analysis and in its interdisciplinary approach. Margarita Zamora examines the rhetorical complexities of the Comentarios, and shows how, in order to present Inca civilization to Europeans, Garcilaso turned to disciplines other than traditional historiography, and in particular to the linguistic strategies of humanist philology and hermeneutics. Professor Zamora reveals how Garcilaso's views of the Incas were shaped by the dual nature of his background, by his commitment to humanism and Christianity, by the expectations he had of his readers, and by the discursive practices of his time Frontmatter Preface (page ix) I Introduction (page 1) 2 Language and history: Renaissance humanism and the philologic tradition (page 12) 3 Language and history in the Comentarios reales (page 39) 4 Philology, translation, and hermeneutics in the Comentarios reales (page 62) 5 Contexts and intertexts: the discourse on the nature of the American indian and the Comentarios reales (page 85) 6 "Nowhere" is somewhere: the Comentarios reales and the Utopian model (page 129) 7 Epilogue (page 166) Notes (page 169) Bibliography (page 189) Index (page 201) Margarita Zamora. Transferred To Digital Printing 2004; First Published 1988. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 189-200) And Index. If one central concern can be singled out in that eclectic period which comprises the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it is language.