Poesía y poliorcética. El Auto de San Lorenzo de José de Anchieta y la conquista del imaginario indígena

Abstract

AbstractThe conquest and colonization of a territory entails a series of operationsdesigned to eliminate a whole model of culture. After wartime, the colonizationand subsequent disposal of the collective imagination of the conquered space isimposed by the invadors. The operations performed in order to carry out such aremoval occur mainly in the space of discourse. Indeed poetry —or literature ingeneral— is one of the discourses used to execute this operation. This articleaims to establish a connection between the art of war and the colonization of theimagination through poetry. I will try to point out that the two mechanisms ofinvasion cannot be separated if the aim is to control the other effectively.Following this perspective I will analyze El auto de San Lorenzo written inBrazil in the middle of the XVI century by the Jesuit José de Anchieta. This playis precisely one of the most representative evidences of what I will call here atotal conquest.