Discourses on Colonialism: Bernal Diaz, Las Casas, and the Twentieth-Century Reader
1988; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 103; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/2905341
ISSN1080-6598
Autores Tópico(s)Early Modern Spanish Literature
ResumoThese words of Bernal Diaz del Castillo long have been considered the motto of his historiographic project. Readers have agreed that the somewhat contentious nature of the Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva Espafia is owed to Bernal's desire to correct Francisco Lopez de Gomara's Historia de las Indias y la conquista de Mexico [1552] and to share a spot in the historical limelight with Hernan Cortes. The most recent editors of Bernal's work (Carmelo Salenz de Santa Maria and Miguel Leon-Portilla), answer the question, Why did Bernal Diaz write his history? by emphasizing his polemic against Gomara. When Salenz (Historia de una historia: la cronica de Bernal Diaz del Castillo [Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 1984], p. 50) introduces Bernal Diaz and talks of polemics, he refers to Gomara, Illescas y Giovio: Desde este punto la cronica adquiere cierta vibracion de polemica que le va muy bien; he adds: Polemica desde luego ma's aparente que real, pues no se puede negar que ni don Francisco Lopez de Gomara ni mucho menos la pareja Illescas-Giovio merecen los regafnos de nuestro escritor. He mentions Las Casas only incidentally, noting that Bernal was present at the 1550 Valladolid debate
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