The Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and the transition between colony and metropolis: historical and literary revisionism

Abstract

The firsts colonial texts of indigenous and mestizo authorship were published in Hispanic América during XVII century. First published book was titled Comentarios Reales (1609) written by Peruvian writer Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (1539-1616), in 1615 it was published Nueva corónica y buen gobierno by the indigenous chronicler Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala (1534- 1615). These works are an important part of the colonial literary corpus, since they were backgrounded at the contact zones. (Pratt, 2010, p.31). These colonial texts written by mestizos or natives present an opposite point of view vis a vis the one reflected by European chroniclers regarding representation of the native life and costumes, and reveal a personal and alternative angle of those people lives. Within this context, the work of the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega can be considered one of the first sources written by a mestizo that opposed the official history of the conquest. The Inca Garcilaso participated actively in the construction and narration of his own history, ending with the peripherical and passive position that the Spanish chroniclers gave him.