Soberbia derrota: el concepto de imitación en el Apologético de Espinosa Medrano y la construcción de la autoridad letrada criolla

The essay analyzes Juan de Espinosa Medrano's Apologético en favor de Góngora emphasizing the role of secular writing, education and interpretation of texts as practices that help consolidate the power of educated Creole elites in the Spanish American viceroyalties. In addition to key ideas such as hybridization, counter-hegemony, Creole selfaffirmation, and westernization, I explore two concepts that played a decisive role in the Spanish American viceroyalties—imitatio (or poetic imitation) and negotiation.