Synopses & Reviews
Bajo el Cielo Peruano: The Devout World of Peralta Barnuevo examines two of Peralta Barnuevo's overtly religious texts as contexts for the rich erudition demonstrated in other literary and historical genres authored by the early eighteenth-century Peruvian writer. This critical edition makes
La Galeria de la Omnipotencia and
Pasion y Triunfo de Christo available in print for the first time in over 260 years. The two major works span the years 1729 to 1738.
La Galeria celebrates the canonization of Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo in a literary tribute, and exemplifies how Peralta textualized the contradictions of viceregal loyalty and a commitment to a distinct American identity. Through an analysis of the trans-Atlantic history of the poetic joust in Hispanic letters, David Slade demonstrates how La Galeria exceeds the restrictions of its formulaic genre by offering a perspective on colonial Peru alternative to that of the official metropolitan discourse. Pasion y Triunfo, written in response to Peralta's crisis of faith, enters theological debates and displays the author's mature erudition, elevated rhetoric, and talent for invoking religion and history to serve literary production. Rebuked by the Inquisition, Peralta mounted a convincing defense to save both himself and the text from censorship.
With the aim of centering Peralta within the canon of Latin American letters, Slade and co-editor Jerry Williams provide examples of problems and critical questions to be addressed when reading or teaching the two texts. They offer La Galeria and Pasion y Triunfo as a challenge to readers to reevaluate Peralta's legacy with respect to how he engaged Enlightenment influences, to teach his writings, and to treat them as an exegesis of religious writings in colonial Peru.
Review
"A careful transcription of the original texts, including detailed annotations that provide readers with information useful to fully understand and contextualize them. . . . With the publication of
Bajo el Cielo Peruano, Slade and Williams have edited and reproduced two useful sources for the study of Creole discourse and intellectual history in Bourbon Peru."
-Colonial Latin American Historical Review
About the Author
David F. Slade is assistant professor of Spanish at Berry College. Jerry M. Williams is professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies at West Chester University.