Reading Columbus

Christopher Columbus authored over a hundred documents, many of them letters giving testimony on the Discovery to Isabela and Ferdinand. In this first book in English to focus specifically on these writings, Margarita Zamora offers an original analysis of their textual problems and ideological implications. Her comprehensive study takes into account the newly discovered "Libro Copiador," which includes previously unknown letters from Columbus to the Crown.
Zamora examines those aspects of the texts that have caused the most anxiety and disagreement among scholars--questions concerning Columbus's destination, the authenticity and authority of the texts attributed to him, Las Casas's editorial role, and Columbus's views on the Indians. In doing so she opens up the vast cultural context of the Discovery. Exploring the ways in which the first images of America as seen through European eyes both represented and helped shape the Discovery, she maps the inception and growth of a discourse that was to dominate the colonizing of the New World.

About the author

Margarita Zamora is Associate Professor of Spanish at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the author of Language, Authority, and Indigenous History in the Comentarios Reales de los Incas (1988).

Summary

Focusing on the hundreds of letters that Columbus wrote to the King and Queen of Spain concerning his discoveries in the New World, this study analyzes questions concerning the authenticity and authority of the texts attributed to Columbus, and his much-discussed opinions of the Indians.

Product details

• Authors: Margarita Zamora, Zamora Margarita
• Publisher: University Of California Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 29.06.1993
• EAN: 9780520082977
• ISBN: 978-0-520-08297-7
• No. of pages: 264
• Series: Latin American Literature; Latin American Literature and Culture
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > Geography; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; European History, Spain, HISTORY / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies), LITERARY CRITICISM / European / Spanish & Portuguese, HISTORY / Expeditions & Discoveries, Geographical discovery & exploration, Spanish, 17th century, c 1600 to c 1699, Literary studies: general, Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700, History of the Americas, The Americas, Geographical discovery and exploration, Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800, 16th century, c 1500 to c 1599, HISTORY / Europe / Spain