Colonial Latin American Literature: A Very Short Introduction

A vivid account of the literary culture of the Spanish-speaking Americas from the time of Columbus to Latin American Independence, this Very Short Introduction explores the origins of Latin American literature in Spanish and tells the story of how Spanish literary language developed andflourished in the New World. A leading scholar of colonial Latin American literature, Rolena Adorno examines the writings that debated the justice of the Spanish conquests, described the novelties of New World nature, expressed the creativity of Hispanic baroque culture in epic, lyric, and satiricalpoetry, and anticipated Latin American Independence. The works of Spanish, creole, and Amerindian authors highlighted here, including Bartolome de las Casas, Felipe Guaman Poma, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, and Andres Bello, have been chosen for the merits of their writings, their participation in the larger literary and cultural debates of their times,and their resonance among readers today.

Rolena Adorno is the Reuben Post Halleck Professor of Spanish and Chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Yale University. Her books include The Polemics of Possession in Spanish American Narrative, winner of the Katherine Singer Kovacs Prize from the Modern Language Association; Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: His Account, His Life, and the Expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez, recipient of awards from the American Historical Association, the Western Historical Association, and the New England Council on Latin American Studies; and Guaman Poma: Writing and Resistance in Colonial Peru. She is a member of the presidentially appointed National Council on the Humanities and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.