The History of the Conquest of New Spain

Abstract

For a work that is so widely read, cited, and used in the classroom — arguably canonical to Latin American history — it is perhaps surprising that there are not more English-language editions in print of The True History of the Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz del Castillo. One reason may be that the Penguin edition, first published in 1963, is so well known and there are so many copies available for just a few dollars. Another may be that the 1908 translation by Alfred P. Maudslay has stood the test of time; it is elegant and accurate, hardly in need of a replacement. A third reason may be that most scholars tempted by the challenge to create a new edition of Díaz’s book surely realize that what is needed is a comprehensive edition, not an abridged edition but a translation of the entire manuscript, complete with introductory essays and notes reflecting the century of Spanish conquest scholarship published since Maudslay.Davíd Carrasco clearly understands all this and responds in this excellent new edition: it costs a little more than a used Penguin but is nonetheless an affordable, attractive paperback. Rather than attempting to replace Maudslay’s translation, Carrasco has simply used it, adding new introductory material. Recognizing the problems built into prior abridgements, Carrasco has made his own well-considered selection from the larger Díaz text.Four features of this edition recommend it for the classroom; I recently used it as a required reading in class and found that all four of these features contributed to its success. The first is Maudslay’s translation, already praised. The second is Carrasco’s 15-page introduction that succinctly, provocatively, and rather brilliantly places The True History into its historiographical context. Carrasco explains the problems that have stemmed from previous abridgements. By cutting Díaz’s narrative off at the fall of Tenochtitlán in 1521 (the original book covers events from 1514 to 1568), prior editions have misled a half-century of readers into seeing the Spanish conquest as over sooner than it really was and Díaz’s account as more triumphalist than it really was. Carrasco cannot take his edition beyond the 1520s and still keep it short enough for classroom usage, but the post-1521 material that he includes amounts to almost a fifth of his whole edition.Third, eight brief essays following the text are designed to guide and stimulate classroom discussion and aid students in crafting book reports or course papers. Rolena Adorno’s essay complements Carrasco’s introduction effectively, providing an intelligent and accessible summary of who Díaz was and how his book is not a “true history” (as Díaz titled it) but an artful work of “polemical argumentation” (p. 394). Adorno’s essay is adapted from her recent book The Polemics of Possession in Spanish American Narrative; similarly Sandra Messinger Cypess here adapts a chapter from her 1991 book La Malinche in Mexican Literature from History to Myth. Five of the essays are by Carrasco, each deftly analyzing a moment or theme in Díaz’s text — from the issues surrounding “human sacrifice” to Cortés cutting a cross into a ceiba tree. There is also an essay by Karen Vieira Powers.Fourth, a relatively minor feature, but one that students in my class much appreciated, is the inclusion of five maps from Maudslay’s original edition with new captions by Carrasco. The editor is to be commended on the thought that has gone into this volume, as is the press for its care in production. All instructors who would use Bernal Díaz in the classroom should seriously consider adopting this fine new edition.