Böcker av John F. Schwaller

Don Bartolomé de Alva was a mestizo who rose within New Spain's ecclesiastical hierarchy when people of indigenous heritage were routinely excluded from the priesthood. In 1640 and 1641 he translated several theatrical pieces from Spanish into Nahuatl, yet this prodigious accomplishment remained virtually unknown for centuries.Nahuatl Theater, Volume 3 presents for the first time in English the complete dramatic works of Alva, the only known plays from Spain's Golden Age adapted into the lively world of Nahuatl-language theater. Alva's translations-"The Great Theater of the World," "The Animal Prophet and the Fortunate Patricide," "The Mother of the Best," and a farcical intermezzo-represent ambitious attempts to add complex, Baroque dramatic pieces by such literary giants as Lope de Vega and Pedro Calderón de la Barca to the repertory of Nahuatl theater, otherwise dominated by sober one-act religious plays grounded in medieval tradition. The Spanish sources and Alva's Nahuatl, set on facing pages with their English translations, show how Alva "Mexicanized" the plays by incorporating Nahuatl linguistic conventions and referencing local symbolism and social life. In their introductory essays, the editors offer contextual and interpretive information that provides an entrée into this rich material.As the only known adaptations of these theatrical works into a Native American language, these plays stand as fine literature in their own right.

With the Via crucis en mexicano as a starting point, John Schwaller explores the history of the development and spread of the Stations of the Cross, placing the devotion in the context of the Catholic Reformation and the Baroque, the two trends that exalted this type of religious expression.

The Mexica used a solar calendar made up of eighteen months. Panquetzaliztli, the fifteenth month was significant for the fact that it marked the beginning of the season of warfare. John Schwaller offers a detailed look at how the celebrations of Panquetzaliztli changed over time and what these changes reveal about the history of the Aztecs.

Presenting an authoritative translation and analysis of the only surviving original document from the first months of the Spanish conquest, this book brings to life a decisive moment in the history of Mexico and offers an enlarged understanding of the con