La península metafísica. Arte, literatura y pensamiento en la España de la contrarreforma (review)

Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 289 has disappeaied, but a copy of it was transcribed and intercalated in Columbus's biography by his son Fernando. Also lost, Fernandos book only survives in Alonso Ulloa's much-criticized Italian translation from 1571. All extant versions of Pane's text are based on this flawed and incomplete Italian tianslation, already several steps removed from the indigenous reality that Pané sought to represent . Retranslated into Spanish, Arrom's first edition was published in Mexico in 1974, and its expanded 1988 version is the basis for Susan Griswold's present translation into English. Arrom's distinguished study takes into account the vicissitudes of the text as he tries to ieconstiuct missing and altered information for his goal of providing "a basis for future anthropological , mythological, and linguistic inquiries " (xxix). To coirect Ulloa's "violent italianizations "(xxvii) ofTaino woids, Arrom compares three contemporaneous texts based on Pane's account : excerpts from Columbus's letters, Bartolomé de Las Casas's extiact in Apohgética historia de las Indias, and a summary in Latin from Pietro Martire D'Anghierás De Orbe Novo Decades. These relevant excerpts are reproduced in three appendixes, also translated to modern English from modern Spanish. Detailed footnotes indicate Arrom's doubts and reasons for his translating decisions, as well as other useful information on the many conjectural terms. The placement of all notes and bibliographic information at the bottom ofthe page is a gift to researchers who will want to refer to them frequently and will find them even more interesting than the text itself. Although Arrom highlights the difficulties of working with "long-lost texts" from "long-lost cultures, "(xv) the process of tianslation to English is in no way addressed. Notably absent is any commentaiy from the English translator. Susan Griswold's fine tianslation is described as "highly accessible," and it is, but we should wonder how a text as complex as this one is transformed into a "highly accessible" format. The text is skillfully and conscientiously domesticated, and yet Griswold's role is kept as nearly invisible as possible . The editorial decision to not complicate Arrom's already copious notes and commentary is understandable, but I fear it also reaffirms the supposition on the paît of many English speakeis that their language can unproblematically contain Spanish. The problematic aspects of translation were recognized by Pané himself as he struggled to understand and convey a native reality that would be radically altered in die very act of representing it: And because they have neithei letteis nor writing, they do not know how to tell such fables well. Nor can I write them well. Therefore I believe that I put first what ought to be last and the last fitst. But everything I write, they tell it thus, in the mannet I am writing it [...]. (11) Pané was concerned, as we are today, about the inadequacy of his language to represent the reality ofthe Other. We believe today, as Pané did five centuries ago, that the exotic truth of a world long since extinguished can come to light through our own meticulous inscription. Heather McMichael The University of Arizona La penÃ-nsuk metafÃ-sica. Arte, literatura y pensamiento en L· España de la contrarreforma Biblioteca Nueva, 1999 Por Fernando R. de la Flor Iluminai el centro de un paradigma desde sus márgenes. La metodologÃ-a seguida pot RodrÃ-guez de la Flor es la misma de que hace uso otro gran adicto al barroco y sus males, BenjamÃ-n. Y como en él, la estiategia se revela inevirable tras pocas páginas de lectura. El único modo de ieconstruii la arquitectura de la ruina es fijando la mirada en esos fragmentos definitivamente desprendidos de una totalidad para siempre perdida. El margen y la ruina son puertas paralelas para adentrarse en una ausencia, en ese centro que ya sólo es posible como nostalgia. Es en los lÃ-mites, en las junturas y los excesos donde yace la clave del derrumbe. Por eso desfilan por las 290 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies páginas de La penÃ-nsuk metafisica humildes naturalezas muertas, obra de un monje cartujo...