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Abstract:
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In this dissertation I offer an analysis of the ideological significance of Juan de Castellanos' writings in light of the epic model provided by Alonso de Ercilla's La Araucana . My main goal is to demonstrate that , unlike Ercilla , Castellanos embraced and manipulated the resources at the disposal of epic poets not only to praise the deeds and defend the rights of the first wave of colonists , but also to challenge the policies of Hapsburg monarchs concerning the administration of the recently established Viceroyalties in the New World . Hence , this dissertation aims to foreground the complexities and ambiguities of a text that bears evidence of an internal ideological fissure that significantly shaped Spain’s political and territorial expansion and contributed to the emergence of a new type of literature . If epic , as has been persuasively argued by Elizabeth B . Davis "was invaluable to the ruling circles of the imperial monarchy , who used it to forge a sense of unity and to script cultural identities during the period of expansion and conquest" (10 ) , then the heroic poems written by Castellanos on behalf of the conquistadors and encomenderos represent the boldest attempt to turn the most prestigious vehicle of Spanish imperial propaganda , epic poetry , into a tool for the expression of colonial political concerns , a project which included but was not limited to the deployment of aggressive practices of poetic imitation , the expression of a new sense of selfhood , and the demarcation of a new sense of patriotism . Nevertheless , from its inception Castellanos' project was also plagued by many contradictions , most of which are the result of his nostalgia for the values and practices commonly associated with the warrior nobility of the feudal era , and by the constraints imposed by simultaneously having to point to and erase the trace of Ercilla's text . |