Cervantes transatlántico / Transatlantic Cervantes by Francisco Ramírez Santacruz and Pedro Ángel Palou

Abstract

Reviewed by: Cervantes transatlántico / Transatlantic Cervantes by Francisco Ramírez Santacruz and Pedro Ángel Palou Elizabeth A. Neary (bio) Francisco Ramírez Santacruz and Pedro Ángel Palou. Cervantes transatlántico / Transatlantic Cervantes. New York: Peter Lang, 2019. 167 pp. ISBN: 978-1-4331-6444-6. Cervantes transatlántico / Transatlantic Cervantes, edited by Francisco Ramírez Santacruz and Pedro Ángel Palou, explores Cervantes's literary works and their connections to the transatlantic world. This bilingual collection (Spanish/English) of essays challenges established assumptions about the separation between the New-World and Old-World literature and provides sophisticated perspectives on the mutual influences between Cervantes and the Americas from early modernity to the present day. The book depicts the Atlantic not as a body of water separating the two literary traditions, but rather a navigable waterway allowing for dialogue and influence across continents. The editors demonstrate their profound dedication to interdisciplinary and transatlantic approaches to literary studies. Ramírez Santacruz is Professor at Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Mexico. He is [End Page 239] a well-established scholar specializing in early modern literature and 20th century Hispano-American literature. He has edited 18 collections of essays. Palou, an eminent novelist and essayist including a highly acclaimed awardwining novel and historic trilogy, is Professor and Chair of the Romance Studies Department at Tufts University. The editors recognize in the introduction that the theme of Cervantes and the Americas is not new in and of itself, but rather has established a fertile reserve for literary inquiry with rich results. Ramírez Santacruz and Palou have carefully selected contributors from different countries. Transatlantic Cervantes is made up of eleven chapters in which scholars of Spanish and Latin American literature reflect on the intersections between Cervantes and elements of the transatlantic world that they see as worthy of further exploration. The diversity of the topics covered in the collection is a product of the careful meditations from each contributing scholar from his, her, or their own methodological and theoretical background. In the introduction the editors ask "¿hemos llegado a un punto muerto en el desarrollo y análisis del tema?" (xi). (Have we arrived at a dead end in the development and analysis of this theme?) The editors and contributing authors of this volume answer this question with a resounding no. This work differs from other volumes of essays written about Cervantes and the Americas in part because it does not focus solely on Don Quixote. While four of the chapters do bring new insights to the influence of Don Quixote in the Americas, others examine "Canto de Calíope," "El celoso extremeño," "Rinconete y Cortadillo," La destruccón de Numancia, and two romances to Hernán Cortes attributed to Cervantes. Additionally, the title of the book employs the term transatlantic omitting America from the title. As the editors state in the introduction, "Decir transatlántico implica entender el Nuevo Mundo no solo como amplificación creativa de la España de Cervantes, sino proponer un horizonte de intercambios y diálogos de ida y vuelta entre los dos continentes a partir de la obra cervantina" (x). (To say transatlantic implies understanding the New World not only as a creative amplification of Cervantes's Spain, but also to propose a horizon of exchanges and back-andforth dialogues between the two continents based on Cervantes's work). The essays by Ignacio Garcia Aguilar and Isabel Lozano-Renieblas remind us that Cervantes was an avid reader of works from the New World beginning early on in his literary career. These two complimentary chapters carefully track bibliographical passages in Cervantes's work and demonstrate [End Page 240] that both by naming New-World authors in "Canto de Calíope" and Viaje del Parnaso, and by mimicking techniques from American writers, there is abundant evidence that Cervantes began to perceive of a new American literature that merited attention in the 17th century. Two of the essays offer new transatlantic interpretations of well-studied Cervantine works. Cory Reed's contribution offers an analysis of the La destruccón de Numancia that suggests that it can be read as an allegory for the Spanish conquest, he asks could...