Catastrophe, ambivalent praises, and liminal figurations in Pedro de Oña's temblor de Lima de 1609
2004; Routledge; Volume: 13; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/1060916042000301511
ISSN1466-1802
Autores Tópico(s)Spanish Literature and Culture Studies
ResumoClick to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Oña was born in the frontier town of Angol (Chile) around 1570, and both his father and older brother died during combats with the Araucan Indians. In 1596 he published his long epic poem Arauco domado ([1596] 1917), by many considered his most important work. The epic sought to continue Alonso de Ercilla's epic cycle about the Araucan wars (La Araucana, 1569–89). However, against Ercilla's ambivalent epic, Oña praises the Spanish Captain García Hurtado Mendoza and denigrates the Araucans as savages. He also published El Ignacio de Cantabria (1629), an elegy to the founder of the Jesuit order, and El Vasauro (1635), a historical poem in 11 cantos devoted to the history of Spain from the dynastic wars in Castile to the final victory over the Moors in Granada in 1492. Oña was widely recognized in Peru and Spain as a distinguished poet. The anonymous author of ‘Discurso en loor de la poesía’ (1608) writes ‘Con reverencia nombra mi discante/ al licenciado Pedro de Oña: España/ pues lo conoce, templos le levante’ (Cornejo Polar [1964 Cornejo Polar Antonio [1964] 2000 ‘Discurso en loor de la poesía’. Estudio y edición edited by J. A. Mazzotti, Lima: Centro de Estudios Literarios ‘Antonio Cornejo Polar’ [Google Scholar]] 2000, 147 vs. 550–53). Salinas y Córdova calls him ‘nuestro famoso Homero’ ([1630] 1957, 173). Lope de Vega also mentions him in his renowned Laurel de Apolo (1630): ‘que por [ser nuestra lengua] en la remota Chile/con fuerza sonora,/las musas despertó de Pedro de Oña,/no con ruda zampoña/ sino con lira grave’ (Vega 1935 Vega Lope de 1935 Poesía épica: Fiestas de Denia. Descripción de la Tapada. La mañana de San Juan en Madrid. La selva sin amor. Laurel de Apolo Madrid: Librería Bergua [Google Scholar], silva II). For more information on his life and works, see Vega (1970), Porras Barrenechea (1952 Porras Barrenechea, Raul. 1952. Nuevos datos sobre la vida del poeta chileno Pedro de Oña. Mercurio Peruano, 33: 524–57. [Google Scholar], 524–57), and Iglesias 1971 Iglesias Augusto 1971 Pedro de Oña. Ensayo de crítica e historia Santiago de Chile: Editorial Andrés Bello [Google Scholar]. ‘… como resuelta de arrasar à Lima’ (Oña 1909, 11.10). Henceforth all notes will be given in the main text within parenthesis. In the absence of modern nomenclature in the original, both pages and octaves have been numbered beginning from the first printed page of the first edition. Within the parenthesis, the octave number is given first and the page number is given last. It is difficult to determine the actual magnitude of the 1609 earthquake, though it seems clear that it was moderately destructive. Manuel de Odriozola's comprehensive Colección de las relaciones (1863) mentions the earthquake of 1606, but does not refer to that of 1609. However, José Toribio Polo remarks in his Sinopsis de temblores y volcanes del Perú (1897) that the earthquakes of 1586 and 1609 were the two gravest experienced by the early colony. Polo cites several prestigious witnesses (such as Carrasco del Saz, whose important but unedited Interpretatio ad aliquas leges of 1620 is said to mention the event) testifying to the gravity of the calamity (1897, 115–20). Viceroy Montesclaros and Viceroy Mendoza y Hurtado did not refer to either of the two in their final accounts or in Mendoza y Hurtado's Advertencias a los Virreyes del Perú … However, the city records register both the 1606 and 1609 earthquakes (in Agüero 1935 Agüero José de la Riva ed 1935 Libros de Cabildos de Lima 15 (1605–9) Lima: Torres Aguirre [Google Scholar], 254–55, 909–10). An extant chronicle confirms the occurrence: ‘Yo vide el año de seiscientos y nueve, sábado a las siete de la tarde en diez y nueve de octubre un temblor que derrocó en un poco de espacio de tiempo más de quinientas casas y no dejó ninguna que no abriesse como una granada. Sólo el daño que hizo en la Iglesia mayor fue tasado en doscientos mil pesos’ (Lewin 1958, 75). For a detailed account of the earthquakes that affected the Viceroyalty, see Polo (1897 Polo José Toribio 1897 Sinopsis de temblores y volcanes del Perú Lima: Imprenta Imperial Sn Pedro [Google Scholar]), Odriozola (1863 Odriozola Manuel de 1863 Terremotos: Colección de las relaciones de los mas notables que ha sufrido esta capital y que la han arruinado: va precedida del plano de lo que fue el puerto del Callao antes que el mar lo inundase en 1746 y de un reloj astronomico de temblores: colectadas arregladas Lima: A. Alfaro [Google Scholar]), and Barriga (1951 Barriga Victor, M 1951 Los terremotos en Arequipa, 1582–1868. Documentos de los archivos de Arequipa y de Sevilla, Biblioteca ‘Arequipa’ Arequipa, Peru: La Colmena [Google Scholar]). In addition, see the recent article on the 1746 Lima earthquake by Charles Walker (1999 Walker Charles 1999 Shaking the unstable empire: The Lima, Quito, and Arequipa earthquakes, 1746, 1783, and 1797 In Dreadful visitations: Confronting natural catastrophe in the Age of Enlightenment edited by A. Johns, New York: Routledge [Google Scholar], 113–44). Native Andeans, like Creole society, had developed symbolic means to cope with the recurrence of earthquakes and other natural phenomena. For a comparative analysis of colonial Peruvians' reactions to these, see Bouysse‐Cassagne (1996 Bouysse‐Cassagne Thérèse 1996 La volonté des lieux. Autochtones et Européens face aux pouvoir des volcans des Andes In Espace, Temps et Pouvoir dans le Nouveau Monde edited by J. Monnet, Paris: Anthropos [Google Scholar], 15–47). The term letrado refers to local public figures who developed in close association with the colonial bureaucratic apparatus. As Angel Rama writes, ‘In the center of every [colonial] city, according to different degrees that achieved their fullest expression in the capital of the Viceroyalty, there was a Lettered City that composed the protective ring of power and was the executor of its orders: a wide variety of religious persons, administrators, educators, professionals, writers and a multitude of intellectual servants, everyone who used the pen was closely associated with the functions of power, and formed … the model country of public servants and bureaucracy’ (1982, 33, my translation). Pedro de Oña's poem is the first—as far as I know—in a long line of unexamined Creole poetic elaborations of earthquake activity in Peru. Though rare, it was by no means unheard of to give a poeticized account of an earthquake. Lucretius had already recorded earthquakes in versified form in his De rerum natura in 50 bc. Closer to Oña's period, the Portuguese Jeronymo Cardozo is said to have composed a now lost Latin poem on the effects of the 1531 earthquake of Lisbon (referenced in Mendonça 1758 Mendonça Joaquim José Moreira de 1758 Historia universal dos terremotos, que tem havido no mundo, de que ha noticia, desde a su creação até o seculo presente. Como uma narraçam individual do terremoto do primeiro de novembro de 1755, e noticia verdadeira dos seus effeitos em Lisbon, todo Portugal, Algarves, e mais partes da Europa, Africa, e América, aonde se estendeu: e huma dissertaçaõ phisica sobre as causas geraes dos terremotos, seus effeitos, differenças, e prognosticos; e as particulares do ultimo Lisbon: A. V. da Silva [Google Scholar]). Famianus Strada recorded the 1581 earthquake in Holland in De bello Belgico (2 December, 1–4). I use the term ‘nervous condition’ to signify the tautness and agitation of discourse within social systems—such as the colonial one—underwritten by the logic of terror. For an extensive discussion of the topic, see Taussig (1992 Taussig Michael 1992 The nervous system New York: Routledge [Google Scholar]). The study of early Creole patriotism has grown considerably over the last fifteen years. A list of some of the most representative scholarship in the field includes Lafaye (1976), Liss (1986 Liss Peggy, K 1986 Orígenes de la nacionalidad mexicana, 1521–1556. La formación de una nueva sociedad Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica [Google Scholar]), Alberro (1992 Alberro Solange 1992 Del gachupín al criollo o de como los españoles dejaron de serlo Mexico City: El Colegio de México [Google Scholar]; 1999 ——— 1999 El aguila y la cruz. Orígenes religiosos de la conciencia criolla. México siglos XVI y XVII Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica [Google Scholar]), Lavallé (1993), Brading (1991 Brading David. 1991 The first America Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press [Google Scholar]), and Mazzotti (1999 ——— 1999 Resentimiento criollo y nación étnica: el papel de la épica novohispana In Agencias criollas: La ambigüedad colonial en las letras hispanoamericanas edited by J. A. Mazzotti, Pittsburgh: Biblioteca de América [Google Scholar]). In 1591 Cárdenas provides one of the first Creole descriptions of the geography, flora, and fauna of the American continent for a European readership. In the chapter ‘Por qué causas sucede en las Indias temblar tan a menudo la tierra’ ([1591] 1988, 92–97), he expounds on the relation between earthquakes and the continent: ‘Si mi intento fuera hazer mención de la destruición y grandes estragos que con los terremotos han sucedido en las Indias de las ciudades y famosas poblazones, que con ellos se han asolado, de los poderosos edificios que se han arruinado, de las cavernas que se han abierto en la tierra y de las maravillosas fuentes que por ellas han salido, bastante materia se avía offrecido para poder alargar la pluma, pero … es más mi intento dar solución y causa destos tan prodigiosos effectos, que más en las Indias que en otra parte del mundo succeden’ ([1591] 1988, 93, my italics). This inscription of a troubled difference within the Creole's discourse partly responds to the heterogeneity inherent to the group's social identity. As Stuart Schwartz and Elizabeth Anne Kuznesof have recently argued, the social class of ‘Creole’ did not originally respond to racially defined categories but to broad social functions (Schwartz 1995 Schwartz, Stuart. 1995. Colonial identities and the Sociedad de Castas. Colonial Latin American Review, 4(1): 185–201. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]; Kuznesof 1995 Kuznesof, Elizabeth Anne. 1995. Ethnic and gender influences on ‘Spanish’ creole society in colonial Spanish America. Colonial Latin American Review, 4(1): 153–68. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). Thus, Creoles often included noble mestizos (of Andean and European descent) and, less frequently, mulattos, both of whom tended to be the product of extramarital unions. This flexibility of the social category of ‘Creole’ resulted in a growing suspicion on the part of peninsulares of the Creole's loyalty, legality, religious orthodoxy, and, eventually, of his political and administrative reliability. As Bernard Lavallé argues, the contractual relation was allegedly established from the very beginning based on notions of dynastic filiation and local sovereignty. Therefore, Creole criticism was ‘mucho más profundo que el que se podría creer surgido de la mera insatisfacción o de una envidiosa frustración ante las ventajas evidentes otorgadas a los peninsulares: el rey infringía los términos del pacto fundador por el que los súbditos de Indias le reconocían como soberano’ (1999, 42). For a discussion of the narratological elements present in early modern narratives of natural disaster, see Ortega Martínez (2001 Ortega Martínez Francisco, A 2001 The anxieties of trauma: Representations of disaster in colonial and contemporary Latin America. An essay in catastrophic reading Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago [Google Scholar], 34–47). Here and elsewhere, I follow the definition of discourse proposed by Prince's Dictionary of Narratology: discourse is ‘the expression plane of narrative as opposed to its content plane or story; the “how” of a narrative as opposed to its “what” ’ (1989, my italics). It might be worth clarifying that this is not the in‐between stage that anthropologist Victor Turner explores as part of all passages from one social status to another (1992 Turner Victor 1992 From ritual to theater. The human seriousness of play 2nd ed, New York: PAJ [Google Scholar], 25–27). A narrative's moral economy comprises several important formal and ideological aspects. In addition to the explicit set of moral principles that governs the focalization of the narrativized world, the concept of moral economy also includes the implicit set of unstated and oftentimes unconscious assumptions about the proper order of such a world; the rhetorical enactment of such principles and assumptions when giving account of the narrativized world; the performative aspects that produce and project such view of the world as normative; and the dynamics of compensation and restoration put in motion to turn back on its feet a world upside down. Finally, a thorough consideration of a narrative's moral economy must also include non‐textual elements such as the text's materiality, composition process, institutional infrastructure, reception circles, etc. As Marcus and Sanford Shepard have argued, the ‘sudden eruption of chaos into a world of blissful tranquility’ is common in pastoral narratives (1986 Shepard Marcus Sanford Shepard 1986 Death in Arcadia: The psychological atmosphere of Cervantes' Galatea In Cervantes and the Pastoral edited by L. H. F. Jiménez, Cleveland: Cleveland State University Press [Google Scholar], 158). For instance, the anonymous author of the 1650 Relación del temblor que Dios Nuestro Señor fue servido de embiar à la ciudad de Cuzco declares that ‘vino de repente un gran temblor, que todos salieron huyendo a las plaças, y calles, llenos de confusión, sin haber adonde acudir, pues ni el marido cuydava de su muger, ni la muger de sus hijos, sino cada cual procurando escapar la vida’ (1651, 3). Response processes to catastrophic events have been studied by anthropologists mostly in terms of material culture. See, for instance, Morren (1983 Morren George 1983 A general approach to the identification of hazards and responses In Interpretations o fcalamity edited by K. Hewitt, London: Allen & Unwin [Google Scholar], 284–97) and García Acosta (2000 García Acosta Virginia 2000 Enfoques teóricos para el estudio histórico de los desastres naturales In Estudios históricos sobre desastres naturales en México edited by V. García Acosta, Mexico City: CIESAS [Google Scholar], 19–32). Viceroy Don Juan de Mendoza y Luna (Guadalajara, 1571 – Madrid, 1628) was the eleventh viceroy of Peru. He came to Lima from New Spain, where he served as viceroy (1603–7). Among other things he distinguished himself in both posts by his administrative efficiency and his enthusiasm for the arts (Latasa Vassallo 1997, 323–639; Miró Quesada 1962, 103–204). El temblor de Lima is dedicated to his firstborn. Oña's observation is subtle but poignant. Montesclaros was accused in the Juicio de residencia after his Mexican post for favoring family and friends over the local elite. Though the Council of Indies found him not guilty, his friends and protectors at the court advised him to be more careful when in Peru (Latasa Vassallo 1997, 2–4). In Peru he quickly developed a reputation as a skillful arbiter and able handler of Creole protestations, listening and responding to local concerns though not always granting their requests. In addition, he was credited with carrying out certain administrative reforms that favored Creoles' interests. However, according to Latasa Vassallo, he had very clear ideas about the role of the viceroy as the king's alter ego, did not hesitate to intervene in local government (audiencias, cabildos, corregimientos, etc.), and was generally suspicious of Creole attempts to augment their power at the expense of royal institutions. For a detailed description of Montesclaros's government, see Latasa Vassallo (1997). Authors often brought several texts together to the press and the result was a bound volume of disparate purposes. However, in this case, I argue that the difference between the two texts cannot be taken to mean unrelatedness. Iglesias (1971 Iglesias Augusto 1971 Pedro de Oña. Ensayo de crítica e historia Santiago de Chile: Editorial Andrés Bello [Google Scholar], 170); Miró Quesada (1962, 95). J. T. Medina says that the piece is of ‘alta entonación y sumamente conceptuosa y acaso una de las mejores obras del poeta chileno’ (‘Noticia preliminar’ in Oña 1909, xiv). A close English translation is as follows: ‘Proud mountains of royal Lima who arrogantly look at the upright peak that is not affected by winter’s anger nor by summer's rigors, reflected in the crystalline waters of your river, which streams down from the snowcapped mountains, if you [proud mountains] have until now carried the Antarctic sky/heaven on your broad shoulders, rejoice, for the happy hour in which a new Olympus has come to replace you in this task has arrived, a new one who holds both the clouds by his grounded foot and Phoebus on his serene forehead, in such a way that Lima's Mountain's horizon has never seen such a summit of intelligence [claro Monte].' Thus, René Jara called Pedro de Oña Chile's first and most important courtly poet: ‘Oña aspiraría a pertenecer al mundo de la aristocracia … y para llegar hasta allá sólo tenía su talento de poeta. Favorecido por el Virrey se convirtió en el poeta de la corte, un profesional que vivía de los favores que brindaba su arte’ (1988, 26–27). He also suggests that Oña wrote Temblor de Lima in tribute for the Viceroy's appointment. Though that might have been true, it does not explain the text nor does it provide a reason for its printing and symbolic consumption. Rather than lamenting Oña's political allegiances, I am interested in exploring the cultural energy that lies beneath the poem. It is, I believe, an interesting entrance into the cultural politics of the time. Nothing could be further from seventeenth‐century poetics than the notion of originality. In fact, imitation did not connote pejorative values. The imperative of originality only appears much later, towards the second half of the eighteenth century (Darst 1985 Darst David, H 1985 Imitatio: polémicas sobre la imitación en el Siglo de Oro Madrid: Orígenes [Google Scholar], 7–44). A variant of those readings that assess colonial texts in terms of aesthetic originality is the probing that seeks the manifestation of a truly American essence. Thus, José Lastarria calls them ‘dos poemas de poco mérito literario, pero tan curiosos como raros en el día’ (17). He further dismisses them because together with historians Lacunza, Ovalle and Molina ‘son los únicos de merito como escritores [chilenos]; pero sus producciones no son timbres de nuestra literatura porque fueron indíjenas de otro suelo; recibieron la influencia de preceptos estraños’ (1885, 17). Both of these terms, originality and Americanness, are the foundations of nationalist historiography. Lima is situated in an undulating valley in the region of the coastal plains, a narrow and elongated stretch of arid land parallel to the Andes. Thus, there are no proud mountains surrounding Lima as the poem claims. Instead, a few small hills stand to the north across the Rimac river, among which the San Cristóbal, San Jerónimo, and Amancays stand out, and a few mountain ridges sprout to the south and connect with the main Andean range (see Pulgar Vidal 1972). Therefore, the phrase ‘Soberbios montes de la regia Lima’ is a hyperbole and can be read in at least two ways. Either the poetic voice refers to the hills (suggesting a resemblance with the Seven Hills of Rome) or they stand in for the city's symbols of power, whether they be patrician Creoles or imposing buildings (e.g. the Casas Reales, the Cabildo, the Cathedral). For more, see Durán Montero (1994, 32–36). To complicate matters, there is a tradition that reads the Andes as part of Lima's architectural set‐up. Thus, Salinas y Córdova writes, ‘De allí se levantan los asperos y groseros edificios de los cerros, y montes, a quienes la region del ayre tiene tan de su parte’ ([1630] 1957, 110). The ambiguity does not affect the proposed reading and for the sake of clarity I will continue to refer to the ‘proud mountains.’ I am grateful to José Antonio Mazzotti for his challenging readings of this passage. Such a connecting gaze could, according to Jean Descola, take place on a clear day of October, like the day the earthquake took place (1968 Descola Jean. 1968 Daily life in colonial Peru, 1710–1820 translated by M. Heron, New York: Macmillan [Google Scholar], 77). Once again, Salinas y Córdova has a thorough description of such interconnectedness, in his second chapter ‘La hermosura que tiene nuestra ciudad de Lima’ ([1630] 1957, 104–18). For Garcilaso's eglogas see Rafael Lapesa, ‘La trayectoria poética de Garcilaso’ (175). I am grateful to Juan Egea for suggesting this line of reflection. Paola and Isabella Uccelli inconvenienced friends and family in Lima to research this and other information for me, a deeply indebted friend. While Oña silences the indigenous genealogy of the Rimac to turn it into a humanist locus amoenus (a move imitated in poems by many Creole poets, including Peralta Barnuevo's Lima fundada, 1732), Garcilaso's Comentarios (1609) locates the important oracle for Pachacamac (the Divine Maker according to him) and tacitly recreates an alternative political history. As such, Garcilaso's project involved the writing of a world that Creoles saw with prejudice and fear. The destruction of the bridge endangered the security of the Indian inhabitants of the Cercado. In a letter to the King, the Viceroy writes, ‘Quando llegué a este reino hallé que el río de Lima, que es de impetuosissimo caudal avia derrivado su puente de que resultava grande estorvo a la comunicación i contrato de los yentes y vinientes a esta ciudad, y lo que más se debe ponderar: conocido riesgo a la vida de muchos, particularmente de estos pobres indios que como menos mirados por ella la aventuraban arrojándose a vadearlo’ (‘Carta de Montesclaros a S.M. Gobierno N. Lima, 11.IV1611. AGI, Lima 36, n. 1, Lib. 4, f. 180–82v, cap. 1.). Reproduced in Latasa Vassallo (1997, 142). The city was only chartered on 18 January 1535 (Durán Montero 1994, 32). Like Balbuena and other Creoles in Mexico, those in Lima were affirming the idea of their city as a spiritual and cultural center. Barco Centenera, for instance, calls Lima ‘Flor del Perú’ and ‘Reyna del Nuevo Mundo’ in his epic poem Argentina y conquista del Río de la Plata (1602). For more, see Mazzotti (1996, 188–90). A similar double meaning takes place with the phrase ‘enhiesta cima’ (‘upright peak’). It might refer to the Andean mountains (whence the river springs) or to the city’s physical and cultural stature. The second possibility effects a self‐reflective move that propitiates a suggestively narcissistic reading (Lima's mountains gazing on Lima's reflection on the river and calling unto themselves to welcome the Viceroy). In that case, being exempted from the rigors of the summer and winter is a clear allusion to Lima's temperate climate and a sign of pastoral. However, a reference to ‘enhiesta cima’ inevitably carries an allusion to the Andes and to the corresponding and rich juxtaposition between Lima/empire (la Regia) and Cusco/Incas (‘Otra Roma en su imperio,’ as Betanzos's Suma y narración [I:16], Acosta's Historia natural [VI:3], and Garcilaso's Comentarios called it). This resonance is even more explicit when we remember that Oña traveled extensively throughout the Andes. He was corregidor in Jaén de Bracamoros in 1596 and in Yauyos in 1608, both districts in the sierra. This familiarity is further illustrated at the beginning of the Temblor de Lima, when Arcelo and Daricio were ‘caminando juntos una tarde de hivierno por estas partes en lo mas llano dela Sierra’ (Oña 1909 Oña Pedro de 1909 El temblor de Lima de 1609 edited by J. T. Medina, Facsimile ed. Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Elzeviriana [Google Scholar], 5). Furthermore, at the beginning of the seventeenth century Lima was a small city with not many impressive buildings. Due to earthquake activity and the scarcity of stones, its architecture was low structured and of ‘humble’ materials such as mud, straw and wood (see Durán Montero 1994 Durán Montero María Antonia 1994 Lima en el siglo XVII: Arquitectura, urbanismo y vida cotidiana Nuestra América Seville: Talleres de Tecnographic [Google Scholar], 29–52). Having said that, any reading of this Canción must take into account the literary traditions that refer to Lima as the New World's axis mundi. See the already cited Mazzotti (1996 Mazzotti José Antonio 1996 La heterogeneidad colonial peruana y la construcción del discurso criollo en el siglo XVII In Asedios a la heterogeneidad cultural edited by J. A. Mazzotti and J. Z. Aguilar, Philadelphia: Asociación Internacional de Peruanistas [Google Scholar]) and Lavallé (1982 Lavallé Bernard 1982 Les Représenatations littéraires de Lima et le problème national au Pérou In Les Villes dans le monde ibérique et ibéro‐américain Paris: CNRS [Google Scholar], 55–63). Nonetheless, in the following pages I will seek a reading that maximizes Andean echoes because I am interested in the awkwardness that ensues when Creole speakers face the imperial–native divide. This awkwardness becomes paralyzing in times of crisis as disaster obstructs the very possibility of Creole self‐representation. Thus, references to the ‘enhiesta cima’ will be read to include the Andean snowcapped summit. Once again, I must thank José Antonio Mazzotti for his careful probing. He writes, ‘Son, lo primero, todos los indios de cuantas naciones hasta aquí se han descubierto pusilánimes e tímidos, que les viene de ser melancólicos naturalmente, que abundan de cólera adusta fría. Los que este hábito o complesión tienen … son muy temerosos, floxos y necios; que les viene súbitamente, sin ocasión ni causa alguna, muchas conjogas y enojos, y que si se les pregunta de qué les viene, no sabrán decir porqué … Todo lo cual da a entender que naturalmente fueron nacidos y criados para servir, y les es más provechoso el servir que el mandar’ (Matienzo [1567 Matienzo Juan de [1567] 1967 Gobierno del Perú edited by G. L. Villena, Paris: Institut Français d'Etudes Andines [Google Scholar]] 1967, 16–19). Also see Lohmann Villena (1966 Lohmann Villena Guillermo 1966 Juan de Matienzo, Autor del Gobierno del Peru Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano‐Americanos [Google Scholar]). Population concentration during pre‐Hispanic times had been sparse and corresponded to land use. Viceroy Toledo (1570–81) carried out a major reordering of the colony, an important component of which was the reduction or grouping and resettling of Andean people modeled on Spanish patterns. Most of the religious orders supported the resettlement program because it made proselytizing easier. It should be emphasized, therefore, that this is the precise meaning of Matienzo's extended humanist theorization of the city as the cradle of civilization into the colonial sphere. The reorganization of Andean social and symbolic landscape was experienced as tremendously violent by native people (Wachtel 1976 Wachtel Nathan 1976 Los vencidos. Los indios del Perú frente a la conquista española (1530–1570) Madrid: Alianza [Google Scholar]; Stern 1993 Stern Steve, J 1993 Peru's Indian peoples and the challenge of Spanish conquest. Huamanga to 1640 2nd. ed, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press [Google Scholar], 76–113). Accordingly, to properly access early colonial humanist texts means to read them as fetishistic emplotments of a traumatic history. For a development of the notion of fetishistic emplotment, see Santner (1992 Santner Eric 1992 History beyond the pleasure principle: Some thoughts on the representation of trauma. In Probing the limits of representation: Nazism and the ‘Final Solution’ edited by S. Friedlander, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press [Google Scholar], 143–54). Garcilaso's sonnet reads, En tanto que de rosa y d'azucena se muestra la color en vuestro gesto y que vuestro mirar ardiente, honesto con clara luz la tempestad serena y en tanto que'l cabello, que'n la vena del oro s'escogió, con vuelo presto por el hermoso cuello blanco, enhiesto el viento mueve, esparce y desordena coged de vuestra alegre primavera el dulce fruto antes que'l tiempo airado cubra de nieve la hermosa cumbre Marchitará la rosa el viento helado todo mudará la edad ligera por no hacer mudanza en su costumbre. (Vega 1986 Vega Garcilaso de la 1986 Poesías castellanas completas edited by Elias L. Rivers, Madrid: Castalia [Google Scholar] , 59) Garcilaso de la Vega Seminar (directed by Mary Gaylord, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University, fall 1997). Henri Weber notes that the carpe diem often functions as a means to seduce the entreated young woman by positing a male voice as the moral master (1956). For a kindred—though more broadly political—reading of Garcilaso's sonnet, see Beverley (1993 Beverley John 1993 Against literature Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press [Google Scholar], 32–38). This was a process that had been sought by the 1570s cultural policies of Viceroy Toledo which justified Spanish conquest on the basis of Inca tyranny. It is important to remark that at the same time—as Irene Silverblatt notes—a radical transformation of native Andean people was taking place with the result that some of them began to consider themselves indios (that is, a colonial subject) along with their more specific ethnic identity (1995, 279–98). In 1608 Francisco de Avila made the ‘discovery’ in San Damian de Checa de Huarochirí, where he served as a priest (Salomon 1991 Salomon Frank 1991 Introdu
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