Censura, libros e inquisición en el Perú colonial, 1570-1754

Abstract

With grounding in the reflections of scholars such as Robert Darton, Henri Jean-Martin, and Roger Chartier, scholars interested in the history of books have begun to modify their approaches. They have begun to take into account the factors involved in producing books, the material assistance necessary to support the act of writing, and finally, all that surrounds the world of the reader. Censura, libros e inquisición contributes to this area of inquiry and will also be an important reference for Latin American specialists, who have put little emphasis on the process of book censorship in Spanish America. The majority of the work done in this field has been devoted to reviewing the lists of censored books that arrived from Spain or that were written by well-known authors. When scholars have taken up the question of the Inquisition’s censorship process, they made reference to the pioneering works of Spanish researcher Virgilio Pinto Crespo concering this theme.Thus, the historiographic importance of Guibovich Pérez’s study is not only the emphasis it places on the censorship of books in colonial Peru but also his exacting investigation of the process used by the Inquisition in order to put a halt to the incursion of Protestant ideas into Catholic realms. Throughout the book, the author explains the entire apparatus of control, beginning with the so-called censorship agents, who were in charge of keeping an eye on the texts. He places special emphasis on the qualifying judges of the Inquisition tribunal — the commissaries — who operated in the interior of the viceroyalty. These officials had to have a complete understanding of the prohibited literature that circulated in Spain. The tools these men used to put a stop to the circulation of prohibited books were edicts and catalogues of books that were prohibited and expurgated.Guibovich Pérez’s book marshals scientific rigor and pleasant prose style in the material on colonial Peru, a mining center of importance for the Spanish crown that did not escape surveillance against the introduction of heresies, for which reason the Holy Office of the Inquisition established a seat in Lima. On the other hand, the catalogues of prohibited books did not help much to stop the proliferation of such titles, since there were not enough in circulation to cover all the districts of the viceroyalty of Peru. As far as the edicts go, these took so long to produce that by the time they were pronounced, many times the work was no longer considered “persecuted.” In order to carry out this study, the author consulted a variety of primary archival documents in Peru, Mexico, and Spain.The most significant contribution of the book, and its fundamental argument, consists in demonstrating that the Inquisition’s censorship in Peru was carried out more by controlling the circulation and consumption of books than by controlling production. That is, censorship came into play after the book was printed. In this, Guibovich Pérez breaks with the traditional view that the Inquisition was completely rigid with regard to the application of censorship standards, a view that did not allow for the possibility that readers might, given the conditions of the region, not apply the standards. Finally, because of the importance of its topic, this book is a must-read for researchers interested in the history of books and reading in Latin America.