Synopses & Reviews
Accompanying Columbus on his second voyage to the New World in 1494 was a young Spanish friar named Ramandoacute;n Panandeacute;. The friarandrsquo;s assignment was to live among the andldquo;Indiansandrdquo; whom Columbus had andldquo;discoveredandrdquo; on the island of Hispaniola (today the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic), to learn their language, and to write a record of their lives and beliefs. While the culture of these indigenous peopleandmdash;who came to be known as the Taandiacute;noandmdash;is now extinct, the written record completed by Panandeacute; around 1498 has survived. This volume makes Panandeacute;andrsquo;s landmark
Accountandmdash;the first book written in a European language on American soilandmdash;available in an annotated English edition.
Edited by the noted Hispanist Josandeacute; Juan Arrom, Panandeacute;andrsquo;s report is the only surviving direct source of information about the myths, ceremonies, and lives of the New World inhabitants whom Columbus first encountered. The friarandrsquo;s text contains many linguistic and cultural observations, including descriptions of the Taandiacute;no peopleandrsquo;s healing rituals and their beliefs about their souls after death. Panandeacute; provides the first known description of the use of the hallucinogen cohoba, and he recounts the use of idols in ritual ceremonies. The names, functions, and attributes of native gods; the mythological origin of the aboriginal peopleandrsquo;s attitudes toward sex and gender; and their rich stories of creation are described as well.
Review
andldquo;[This book] is important for the way in which it anticipates some of the main issues concerning the production of Latin American literature.andrdquo;andmdash;Roberto Gonzandaacute;lez Echevarrandiacute;a, author of Myth and Archive: A Theory of Latin American Narrative
Review
andldquo;[This is a] highly accessible English translation. . . [of] the earliest work dealing exclusively with the indigenous inhabitants of the New World.andrdquo;andmdash;Patricia Seed, Rice University
Synopsis
Accompanying Columbus on his second voyage to the New World in 1494 was a young Spanish friar named Ramon Pane. The friar's assignment was to live among the "Indians" whom Columbus had "discovered" on the island of Hispaniola (today the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic), to learn their language, and to write a record of their lives and beliefs. While the culture of these indigenous people--who came to be known as the Taino--is now extinct, the written record completed by Pane around 1498 has survived. This volume makes Pane's landmark
Account--the first book written in a European language on American soil--available in an annotated English edition.
Edited by the noted Hispanist Jose Juan Arrom, Pane's report is the only surviving direct source of information about the myths, ceremonies, and lives of the New World inhabitants whom Columbus first encountered. The friar's text contains many linguistic and cultural observations, including descriptions of the Taino people's healing rituals and their beliefs about their souls after death. Pane provides the first known description of the use of the hallucinogen cohoba, and he recounts the use of idols in ritual ceremonies. The names, functions, and attributes of native gods; the mythological origin of the aboriginal people's attitudes toward sex and gender; and their rich stories of creation are described as well.
Synopsis
The first book written in the Americas in a European language, giving Pane’s fifteenth-century account of the native inhabitants he encountered during the Spanish conquest of the Antilles.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [68]-70) and index.
About the Author
“[This book] is important for the way in which it anticipates some of the main issues concerning the production of Latin American literature.”—Roberto González Echevarría, author of Myth and Archive: A Theory of Latin American Narrative“[This is a] highly accessible English translation. . . [of] the earliest work dealing exclusively with the indigenous inhabitants of the New World.”—Patricia Seed, Rice University