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Sailing to Paradise: nautical language and meaning in Columbus's Diario de abordo and Cervantes's Persiles y Sigismunda (I-II)

2007; American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese; Volume: 90; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

2153-6414

Frank A. Domínguez,

Philippine History and Culture

Two Spanish works bracket the early period of Spanish exploration, conquest, and settlement spanning about a hundred years. Columbus's Diario de abordo (1492) is a factual account of the first voyage to America, while Cervantes's Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda (1617) is a fictional account of a pilgrimage to Rome. Both texts describe ships and their journeys to and from islands, and both contain accounts of storms at sea and shipwreck. But the texts differ in their use of chronology, and the ways they describe and resolve situa tions that occur during the voyage. The two vastly different narrative styles arise not only from the different genres to which they belong, but from the writers' perceptions of the universe and their protagonists' places in it. This paper analyzes these differences through the use of language describing time, ships, and sailing. The European discovery of America in the late-fifteenth century led to an increase in the number of published and unpublished texts written about sea travel, natural disasters, and encounters with indigenous populations.1 Two Spanish works that bracket the long sixteenth century of Spanish exploration, conquest, and settlement exemplify this interest. Columbus' s Diario de abordo (1492) is a factual account of the first voyage to America as sum marized by Bartolom? de las Casas.2 Cervantes ' s Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda ( 1617)3 is the first modern Spanish work of fiction to dedicate half of its narrative to travel by ship. While recognizing that the authors are writing in different genres,4 this essay analyzes the descriptions of time, ships, and sailing in the two works to show that both Columbus and Cervantes manipu late words on paper with the purpose of telling a story in time; both suspend the narrative progression of their story to describe ships and their journeys to and from islands;5 and both contain accounts of storms at sea and shipwreck6 that reveal their authors' perceptions of the universe.