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Reviews
Cabeza de Vaca's Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
hecubatohim's review against another edition
5.0
"The Relación, while not fiction, possesses most of the attributes of a good novel." -William T. Pilkington.
I couldn't agree more. Though this a translation of a non-fiction text from the mid-16th century, it is written in a way that readers of the 21st century can still relate to. Cabeza de Vaca's retelling of his journey to the modern-day Southwest is not only a (mostly) factual account but inside look into the complexities of Western expansion. On top of this, it challenges many of the notions written about natives in anti-native propaganda of the 18th and 19th century. This book was a part of an English course I took this past spring that focused on travel narratives and was one of the first full stories we read for this class. A great start to that course!
I couldn't agree more. Though this a translation of a non-fiction text from the mid-16th century, it is written in a way that readers of the 21st century can still relate to. Cabeza de Vaca's retelling of his journey to the modern-day Southwest is not only a (mostly) factual account but inside look into the complexities of Western expansion. On top of this, it challenges many of the notions written about natives in anti-native propaganda of the 18th and 19th century. This book was a part of an English course I took this past spring that focused on travel narratives and was one of the first full stories we read for this class. A great start to that course!
ninjamuse's review against another edition
3.0
In brief: A survivor’s account of a failed Spanish colony and his trek across the American Southwest to find other Spaniards. About as casually racist and Eurocentric as you’d expect for the 1500s.
Thoughts: There are three things that really struck me about this book.
First, it reads very much like Marco Polo does, simple sentences, slightly formulaic, and little description beyond “the people of this country go naked and have a strange custom”. This is partly because Cabeza de Vaca can’t write Spanish for anything and had to be simplified, and partly because he’s writing a manual and a map, of sorts, for the King of Spain.
Second, it really was one darn thing after another for him, at least how he tells it. First there’s a shipwreck, then they put in at the wrong spot, then they run out of food and have to eat the horses, and then they have to build a boat but don’t know how, and then their new boats get wrecked….
Third, for all that Cabeza de Vaca goes on about the uncivilized peoples he encounters, with their inexplicable customs and tendency to enslave him*, he also talks about how they’re willing to take him in and give him food when they have little, and how the Spanish should work with and accommodate their cultures rather than slaughtering them. (He also seems to be under the impression they thought he was a god most of the time, however.)
I’m still not sure what I think of the book. It’s curious, and an interesting if incomplete look at the American Southwest in the 16th century, but is it good? Would I recommend it? I guess if you’re interested, go for it. It’s a short read.
*It’s hard to tell from the text whether this is true slavery, most of the time, or just “well, you’re here and if we’re going to feed you, you need to contribute.” All the historical background I’ve read says slavery, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the writers were casually racist too.
6/10
Thoughts: There are three things that really struck me about this book.
First, it reads very much like Marco Polo does, simple sentences, slightly formulaic, and little description beyond “the people of this country go naked and have a strange custom”. This is partly because Cabeza de Vaca can’t write Spanish for anything and had to be simplified, and partly because he’s writing a manual and a map, of sorts, for the King of Spain.
Second, it really was one darn thing after another for him, at least how he tells it. First there’s a shipwreck, then they put in at the wrong spot, then they run out of food and have to eat the horses, and then they have to build a boat but don’t know how, and then their new boats get wrecked….
Third, for all that Cabeza de Vaca goes on about the uncivilized peoples he encounters, with their inexplicable customs and tendency to enslave him*, he also talks about how they’re willing to take him in and give him food when they have little, and how the Spanish should work with and accommodate their cultures rather than slaughtering them. (He also seems to be under the impression they thought he was a god most of the time, however.)
I’m still not sure what I think of the book. It’s curious, and an interesting if incomplete look at the American Southwest in the 16th century, but is it good? Would I recommend it? I guess if you’re interested, go for it. It’s a short read.
*It’s hard to tell from the text whether this is true slavery, most of the time, or just “well, you’re here and if we’re going to feed you, you need to contribute.” All the historical background I’ve read says slavery, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the writers were casually racist too.
6/10