Brings eighteenth-century Peruvian texts back into print
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 Galería de la Omnipotencia and Pasión 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 Galería 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 Galería exceeds the restrictions of its formulaic genre by offering a perspective on colonial Peru alternative to that of the official metropolitan discourse. Pasión 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 coeditor Jerry Williams provide examples of problems and critical questions to be addressed when reading or teaching the two texts. They offer La Galería and Pasión 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.
