The Task of the Editor: Conceptual Mapping, Conquest, and Information Management in the Araucana.

This essay addresses the relationship between information practices, literary texts, and empire in the Early Modern period by analyzing an unusual glossary included in early editions of Alonso de Ercilla's epic poem the Araucana (1569–1589). Existing research has focused principally on the poem itse...

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Published in:Hispanic Review Vol. 93; no. 4; pp. 601 - 627
Main Author: Norgaard, Lara
Format: Article
Published: University of Pennsylvania Press Autumn2025
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: The Task of the Editor: Conceptual Mapping, Conquest, and Information Management in the Araucana.
      aug:
        au: Norgaard, Lara
        affil: Harvard University
      su:
        Information resources management
        Glosses & glossaries
        Epic poetry
        Early modern history
        Spanish colonies
        Literature
        Editorial policies
        Americas
      sug:
        subj:
          Americas
          Information resources management
          Glosses & glossaries
          Epic poetry
          Early modern history
          Spanish colonies
          Literature
          Editorial policies
      keyword:
        ALONSO DE ERCILLA
        BOOK HISTORY
        COLONIAL LATIN AMERICA
        INFORMATION PRACTICES
        LARA NORGAARD
        TRANSLATION
      ab: This essay addresses the relationship between information practices, literary texts, and empire in the Early Modern period by analyzing an unusual glossary included in early editions of Alonso de Ercilla's epic poem the Araucana (1569–1589). Existing research has focused principally on the poem itself, only considering Ercilla's glossary, entitled the "Declaración de cosas notables," as a supplementary repository of information, and overlooking that it serves a rhetorical function. An analysis of the relationship between the "Declaración" and the epic demonstrates that the glossary elaborates upon aspects of the poem that align with Spanish imperial goals. Acting as a guide for readers, the "Declaración" directs attention away from more ideologically ambiguous and testimonial moments in the text, augmenting instead a top-down, retrospective narration of conquest and territorial expansion. This glossary thus gestures to a symbiotic relationship between editorial strategies of information management in the metropole and eyewitness testimony in the Americas.
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    language: English
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