1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910984629203321

Autore

Stavans Ilan

Titolo

A Pre-Columbian Bestiary : Fantastic Creatures of Indigenous Latin America / / Ilan Stavans

Pubbl/distr/stampa

University Park, PA : , : Penn State University Press, , [2022]

©2020

ISBN

9780271088174

0271088176

9780271088198

0271088192

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (116 p.) : 46 illustrations

Altri autori (Persone)

Eko

Disciplina

398.469098

Soggetti

LITERARY CRITICISM / General

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acuecuéyotl -- Amaru -- Azcatl -- Camazot Tzootz -- Chaac -- Chachalaca -- Chapulín -- Chicchán -- Chuen -- Colotl -- Coyametl -- Cuetzpalin -- Dzaby -- Ehecatl -- Hixx -- Huexólotl -- Huitzin -- Iguana -- Imix Cipactli -- Itzpapalotl -- Kay -- Kuntur -- Lama Glama -- Lama Guanacoe -- Mayahuel -- Michin (Nahua) -- Mictlantecuhtli -- Montizon Puskat -- Moyotl -- Nahual -- Oc -- Ocelotl -- Omecihuatl -- Pauahtun -- Tepeyólotl -- Thiuime -- Tlalcíhuatl Toad -- Tochtli -- Toci -- Tonatiuh -- Uturunku -- Utzimengari -- Xiuhtilán -- Xólotl -- Xtabay -- Zulin -- Further Readings -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

An encyclopedic collaboration between award-winning Mexican American scholar Ilan Stavans and illustrator Eko, A Pre-Columbian Bestiary features lively and informative descriptions of forty-six religious, mythical, and imaginary creatures from the Nahua, Aztec, Maya, Tabasco, Inca, Aymara, and other cultures of Latin America.From the siren-like Acuecuéyotl and the water animal Chaac to the class-conscious Oc and the god of light and darkness Xólotl, the magnificent entities in this volume belong to the same family of real and invented creatures imagined by Dante, Franz Kafka, C. S. Lewis, Jorge Luis



Borges, Umberto Eco, and J. K. Rowling. They are mined from indigenous religious texts, like the Popol Vuh, and from chronicles, both real and fictional, of the Spanish conquest by Diego Durán, Bernal Díaz del Castillo, and Fernando de Zarzamora, among others. In this playful compilation, Stavans distills imagery from the work of magic realist masters such as Juan Rulfo and Gabriel García Márquez; from songs of protest in Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru; and from aboriginal beasts in Jewish, Muslim, European, British, and other traditions. In the spirit of imaginative invention, even the bibliography is a mixture of authentic and concocted material.An inspiring record of resistance and memory from a civilization whose superb pantheon of myths never ceases to amaze, A Pre-Columbian Bestiary will delight anyone interested in the history and culture of Latin America.