Fernandez De Oviedo's Chronicle of America

by Myers, Kathleen Ann; Scott, Nina M.

• ISBN13: 9780292717039
• ISBN10: 0292717032
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-12-15
• Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr

Summary

Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo (1478-1557) wrote the first comprehensive history of Spanish America, the Historia general y natural de las Indias, a sprawling, constantly revised work in which Oviedo attempted nothing less than a complete account of the Spanish discovery, conquest, and colonization of the Americas from 1492 to 1547, along with descriptions of the land's flora, fauna, and indigenous peoples. His Historia, which grew to an astounding fifty volumes, includes numerous interviews with the Spanish and indigenous leaders who were literally making history, the first extensive field drawings of America rendered by a European, reports of exotic creatures, ethnographic descriptions of indigenous groups, and detailed reports about the conquest and colonization process. Fernández de Oviedo's Chronicle of America explores how, in writing his Historia, Oviedo created a new historiographical model that reflected the vastness of the Americas and Spain's enterprise there. Kathleen Myers uses a series of case studies--focusing on Oviedo's self-portraits, drawings of American phenomena, approaches to myth, process of revision, and depictions of Native Americans--to analyze Oviedo's narrative and rhetorical strategies and show how they relate to the politics, history, and discursive practices of his time. Accompanying the case studies are all of Oviedo's extant field drawings and a wide selection of his text in English translation. The first study to examine the entire Historia and its evolving rhetorical and historical context, this book confirms Oviedo's assertion that "the New World required a different kind of history" as it helps modern readers understand how the discovery of the Americas became a catalyst for European historiographical change.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Introduction: New World, New History and the Writing of America	p. 1
Between Two Worlds: The Life and Writing of Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes	p. 12
A Reader's Guide to a New World History	p. 26
The Historian as actor and Autobiographer: Tierra Firme 1514	p. 41
Eyewitness to America's Wonders: Illustrating a Natural History of the Indies	p. 63
Amazon Women and New World Realities: Documenting an Expanding World	p. 82
Cortes and the Conquest of Mexico: Truth and Multiple Testimonies	p. 98
Native Americans in Oviedo's History	p. 113
Conclusions	p. 136
Appendices
Chronology of Fernandez de Oviedo's Life and Works	p. 139
Map of Hispaniola and Tierra Firme, Ca. 1540	p. 142
Translations of Passages from Fernandez de Oviedo's: Historia general y natural de Las Indias	p. 143
Prologue, Part I, Book 1	p. 145
Book 29, Chapter 6 (Tierra Firme)	p. 152
Book 7, Chapter 16 (The Pineapple)	p. 159
Book 6, Chapter 33 (Amazon Women)	p. 164
Book 33, Chapter 54 (Interview with Juan Cano)	p. 166
Book 29, Chapter 26 (Natives of Tierra Firme)	p. 174
Table. Historia General y Natural Manuscript Locations and Illustrations/Woodcuts	p. 180
Illustrations	p. 188
Notes	p. 271
Bibliography	p. 301
Index	p. 315
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