Peruvian Traditions (Library of Latin America) - Softcover

Palma, Ricardo; Lane, Helen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195159098 ISBN 13: 9780195159097

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2004

Synopsis

Peruvian author Ricardo Palma (1838-1919) was one of the most popular and imitated writers in Latin America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As head of the National Library in Lima, Palma had access to a rich source of historical books and manuscripts. His historical miscellanies, which he called "traditions," are witty anecdotes about conquerors, viceroys, corrupt and lovelorn friars, tragic loves and notorious characters. Humor, irony and word play characterize his collection of over five hundred traditions written between 1872 and 1906, whether describing violent deeds or amorous misadventures. Unlike many of his contemporaries in the second half of the nineteenth century, Palma did not write transparent didactic fictions and defend elite cultural forms. Rather, he reveled in ironic approaches to written sources, political authorities and church institutions as well as popular speech and knowledge. Both fiction and history, Palma's delightful Peruvian Traditions represents a hybrid literary form that constructs historical memory distinct from the dominant literary trends of the time.

About this title

About the Author

Christopher Conway is Assistant Professor of Latin American Literature in the Department of Hispanic Studies at Brown University. Helen Lane, an award-winning translator, has translated the work of Mario Varga Llosa and Octavio Paz. She is the translator of Fray Servando's Memoirs and Marmol's Amalia also for the Library of Latin America series.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195159098
• ISBN 13: 9780195159097
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320
• Editor: Conway Christopher