Territories of History: Humanism, Rhetoric, and the Historical Imagination in the Early Chronicles of Spanish America (Romance studies)

Sarah H. Beckjord's Territories of History explores the vigorous but largely unacknowledged spirit of reflection, debate, and experimentation present in foundational Spanish American writing. In historical works by writers such as Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, Bartolomà ̈ de Las Casas, and Bernal Dí­az del Castillo, Beckjord argues, the authors were not only informed by the spirit of inquiry present in the humanist tradition but also drew heavily from their encounters with New World peoples. More specifically, their attempts to distinguish superstition and magic from science and religion in the New World significantly influenced the aforementioned chroniclers, who increasingly directed their insights away from the description of native peoples and toward a reflection on the nature of truth, rhetoric, and fiction in writing history. Due to a convergence of often contradictory information from a variety of sources--eyewitness accounts, historiography, imaginative literature, as well as broader philosophical and theological influences--categorizing historical texts from this period poses no easy task, but Beckjord sifts through the information in an effective, logical manner. At the heart of Beckjord's study, though, is a fundamental philosophical problem: the slippery nature of truth--especially when dictated by stories. Territories of History engages both a body of emerging scholarship on early modern epistemology and empiricism and recent developments in narrative theory to illuminate the importance of these colonial authors' critical insights. In highlighting the parallels between the sixteenth-century debates and poststructuralist approaches to the study of history, Beckjord uncovers an important legacy of the Hispanic intellectual tradition and updates the study of colonial historiography in view of recent discussions of narrative theory. "Sarah H. Beckjord's Territories of History explores the vigorous but largely unacknowledged spirit of reflection, debate, and experimentation present in foundational Spanish American writing. In historical works by writers such as Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, Bartolome de Las Casas, and Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Beckjord argues, the authors were not only informed by the spirit of inquiry present in the humanist tradition but also drew heavily from their encounters with New World peoples. More specifically, their attempts to distinguish superstition and magic from science and religion in the New World significantly influenced the aforementioned chroniclers, who increasingly directed their insights away from the description of native peoples and toward a reflection on the nature of truth, rhetoric, and fiction in writing history. Due to a convergence of often contradictory information from a variety of sources-eyewitness accounts, historiography, imaginative literature, as well as broader philosophical and theological influences-categorizing historical texts from this period poses no easy task, but Beckjord sifts through the information in an effective, logical manner. At the heart of Beckjord's study, though, is a fundamental philosophical problem: the slippery nature of truth-especially when dictated by stories. Territories of History engages both a body of emerging scholarship on early modern epistemology and empiricism and recent developments in narrative theory to illuminate the importance of these colonial authors' critical insights. In highlighting the parallels between the sixteenth-century debates and poststructuralist approaches to the study of history, Beckjord uncovers an important legacy of the Hispanic intellectual tradition and updates the study of colonial historiography in view of recent discussions of narrative theory." -- Publisher Annotation Sarah H. Beckjord's Territories of History explores the vigorous but largely unacknowledged spirit of reflection, debate, and experimentation present in foundational Spanish American writing. In historical works by writers such as Gonzalo Fernndez de Oviedo, Bartolom de Las Casas, and Bernal Daz del Castillo, Beckjord argues, the authors were not only informed by the spirit of inquiry present in the humanist tradition but also drew heavily from their encounters with New World peoples. More specifically, their attempts to distinguish superstition and magic from science and religion in the New World significantly influenced the aforementioned chroniclers, who increasingly directed their insights away from the description of native peoples and toward a reflection on the nature of truth, rhetoric, and fiction in writing history. Due to a convergence of often contradictory information from a variety of sources-eyewitness accounts, historiography, imaginative literature, as well as broader philosophical and theological influences-categorizing historical texts from this period poses no easy task, but Beckjord sifts through the information in an effective, logical manner. At the heart of Beckjord's study, though, is a fundamental philosophical problem: the slippery nature of truth-especially when dictated by stories. Territories of History engages both a body of emerging scholarship on early modern epistemology and empiricism and recent developments in narrative theory to illuminate the importance of these colonial authors' critical insights. In highlighting the parallels between the sixteenth-century debates and poststructuralist approaches to the study of history, Beckjord uncovers animportant legacy of the Hispanic intellectual tradition and updates the study of colonial historiography in view of recent discussions of narrative theory Sarah H. Beckjord's Territories of History explores the vigorous but largely unacknowledged spirit of reflection, debate, and experimentation present in foundational Spanish American writing. In historical works by writers such as Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, Bartolomé de Las Casas, and Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Beckjord argues, the authors were not only informed by the spirit of inquiry present in the humanist tradition but also drew heavily from their encounters with New World peoples. More specifically, their attempts to distinguish superstition and magic from science and religion in the New World significantly influenced the aforementioned chroniclers, who increasingly directed their insights away from the description of native peoples and toward a reflection on the nature of truth, rhetoric, and fiction in writing history. Due to a convergence of often contradictory information from a variety of sources—eyewitness accounts, historiography, imaginative literature, as well as broader philosophical and theological influences—categorizing historical texts from this period poses no easy task, but Beckjord sifts through the information in an effective, logical manner. At the heart of Beckjord's study, though, is a fundamental philosophical problem: the slippery nature of truth—especially when dictated by stories. Territories of History engages both a body of emerging scholarship on early modern epistemology and empiricism and recent developments in narrative theory to illuminate the importance of these colonial authors' critical insights. In highlighting the parallels between the sixteenth-century debates and poststructuralist approaches to the study of history, Beckjord uncovers an important legacy of the Hispanic intellectual tradition and updates the study of colonial historiography in view of recent discussions of narrative theory.

Sarah H. Beckjord's Territories of History explores thevigorous but largely unacknowledged spirit of reflection, debate,and experimentation present in foundational Spanish Americanwriting. In historical works by writers such as Gonzalo Fernándezde Oviedo, Bartolomé de Las Casas, and Bernal Díaz del Castillo,Beckjord argues, the authors were not only informed by the spiritof inquiry present in the humanist tradition but also drew heavilyfrom their encounters with New World peoples. More specifically,their attempts to distinguish superstition and magic from scienceand religion in the New World significantly influenced theaforementioned chroniclers, who increasingly directed theirinsights away from the description of native peoples and toward areflection on the nature of truth, rhetoric, and fiction in writinghistory.

Due to a convergence of often contradictory information from avariety of sources-eyewitness accounts, historiography, imaginativeliterature, as well as broader philosophical and theologicalinfluences-categorizing historical texts from this period poses noeasy task, but Beckjord sifts through the information in aneffective, logical manner. At the heart of Beckjord's study,though, is a fundamental philosophical problem: the slippery natureof truth-especially when dictated by stories. Territories ofHistory engages both a body of emerging scholarship on earlymodern epistemology and empiricism and recent developments innarrative theory to illuminate the importance of these colonialauthors' critical insights. In highlighting the parallels betweenthe sixteenth-century debates and poststructuralist approaches tothe study of history, Beckjord uncovers an important legacy of theHispanic intellectual tradition and updates the study of colonialhistoriography in view of recent discussions of narrativetheory.

Historical representation in the Spanish humanist context, Juan Luis Vives Conjecture and credibility in the Historia general y natural de las Indias by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés Vision and voice : The Historia de las Indias by Bartolomé de las Casas History and memory : narrative perspective in Bernal Díaz del Castillo. Explores the unacknowledged spirit of reflection, debate, and experimentation present in foundational Spanish American writing. In highlighting the parallels between sixteenth-century debates and post-structuralist approaches to the study of history, this book uncovers an important legacy of the Hispanic intellectual tradition. Explores the unacknowledged spirit of reflection, debate, and experimentation present in foundational Spanish American writing. In highlighting the parallels between the sixteenth-century debates and post-structuralist approaches to the study of history, this book uncovers a legacy of the Hispanic intellectual tradition.