Peruvian literature refers not only to the written literature produced in the independent republic of Peru, but also to the literature produced in the Viceroyalty of Peru during the colonial period as well as and all oral artistic forms remaining from the prehispanic period (related to diverse ethnical groups existing before the colony, as the Quechuas, Aymaras or Chankas).

Prehispanic oral tradition

The artistic production of the pre-Hispanic period (especially the forms linked with the Incan Empire) is largely unknown. The literature produced in the central-andean region (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile) consisted of two main poetic forms: (in quechua language) harawis (lirical poetry) and hayllis (epical poetry). Both were recited by a poet, known as the harawec. These forms of poetry were based on daily life and rituals of the time: funerals, celebrations, weddings, fights, wars, etc..

Along with poetry, there were also stories (transmitted orally due to a lack of writing systems in pre-hispanic America) that expressed the cosmology of the Andean world, such as myths of creation or of a deluge. Many of these stories have persisted into the present, thanks to the works of the first cronistas, namely Inca Garcilaso, who rediscovered Quechua poetry, and Guaman Poma de Ayala, who related the myth of the five ages of the world.

This oral manifestations were long unknown until the XXth century. Its inclusion in the "official canon" was a slow process. In his thesis Character of the Literature of Independent Peru (1905), Jose de la Riva Aguero considers this tradition "insufficient" to be an important factor of influence in the formation of the new literary tradition. Years later Luis Alberto Sanchez used certain elements of this tradition and their influence in the national canon (for example, in the work of Melgar) as a base for his theory of a racially mixed literature (Criolla or Creole, of both indigenous and Iberian parentage). To this end, he worked with several historical sources, predominantly in the form of chronicles by authors such as Cieza, Betanzos and Garcilaso.

A real opening to the pre-hispanic tradition rose in the first decades of the XXth century thanks to the work of literary scholars and anthropologists who rescued and compiled oral myths and legends. Among the important names is Adolfo Vienrich with Tarmap Pacha Huaray (Azucenas quechuas, Quechuan lilies, 1905) and Tarmapap Pachahuarainin (Fabulas quechuas, Quechuan fables, 1906), the anthropological and folkloric work of Jorge Basadre in La literatura inca (Incan literature, 1938) and En torno a la literatura quechua (About quechua literature, 1939), the studies of Jose Maraa Arguedas (in particular his translation of a XVIIth century manuscript called Hombres y dioses de Huarochiri, Mens and gods of Huarochiri). Most recent works include Martin Lienhard's La voz y su huella. Escritura y conflicto etnico-cultural en America Latina. 1492-1988 (The voice and the letter. Scripture and cultural-ethnical conflicts in Latin America. 1492-1988, 1992), Antonio Cornejo Polar's Escribir en el aire: ensayo sobre la heterogeneidad socio-cultural en las literaturas andinas (Write in the air. To write in the air: an essay about socio-cultural heterogeneity in the andean literatures, 1994), Edmundo Bendezu's Literatura Quechua (Quechua literature, 1980) and La otra literatura (The other literature, 1986) and Gerard Taylor's work.

It is precisely Bendezu who affirms that this "other literature" (made in quechua) constitutes, from the colony, a marginal system opposed the dominant (of Hispanic vein) and postulates the permanent existence and cover of this four centuries tradition. He talks about a great tradition ("enormous textual mass") marginalized and left in the side by the western (scriptural) system, since this "other" literature is, like Quechua, completely oral.

Discovery and Colonial Literature

Discovery and Conquer

The term literature of the discovery and conquer was Francisco Carrillo, and it is used to designate the period that includes all the works produced during the discovery process and conquer of Peru by the Spaniards. This period starts November 15th of 1532 in Cajamarca with the capture of the last Inca, Atahualpa and ends with the complete desestructuracion of the Incan Empire, the foundation of the city of Lima. The literature related to this period, although not necessarily written during this temporary frame (as it is seen in the last chronists to touch the subject), it is related to the events that predate or develop in this period. The principal literary manifestations of this period are chronicles, letters of discovery and relations. The major literary studies about this period of Peruvian literature include the Enciclopedia historica de la literatura peruana (Historic encyclopedia of the Peruvian literature) by Francisco Carrillo and the many books of Raul Porras Barrenechea about the ancient chronists.

!!! Spanish chronists

In the words of Francisco Carrillo, there were several groups of chronist. The first are the chronists of the conquer and colony, writers and soldiers that are official transcripters of the events that occur during the expeditions (this is a majoritary group) and a small group of nonofficia chronists, whom display in their works particular views of the events. Both groups coexist during the first period of the conquer, between 1532 and 1535. In the first group it is included Francisco de Xerez, personal secretary of Pizarro who wrote the Verdadera relacion de la conquista del Peru y provincia del Cuzco llamada la Nueva Castilla (True relation of the conquest of the Peru and the province of Cuzco, called the New Castile, 1531) and also the Relacion Samano-Xerez (Samano-Xerez Relation, 1528) in which he portray the first trips of Pizarro between 1525 and 1527; Relacion del descubrimiento del famoso rio grande de las Amazonas (Relation of the discovery of the famous great river of the Amazons, 1541-1542) written by Fray Gaspar de Carvajal in which is described the first expedition and cartography of the Peruvian amazon territory, towns and indigenous inhabitants. Pedro Sancho de la Hoz in his La conquista del Peru (The conquest of Peru, 1550) defends the version presented by Xerez reactin to the irruption of the La conquista del Peru llamada la Nueva Castilla (The conquest of Peru, called the New Castile, 1534) of Cristobal de Mena. It is also worth to mention in addition the Noticia del Peru (Notice of Peru, 1535) by Miguel de Estete; the Relacion de muchas cosas acaesidas en el Peru, en suma para atender a la letra la manera que se tuvo la conquista y poblazon destos reinos... (Relation of the many things occurred in Peru, in sum to attend to the letter the way in which the conquest occurred and poblation of these kingdoms..., 1552) by Cristobal de Molina, the Chilean that was the first chronicle to present an identification with the conquered Indian (taken later by Bartolome de las Casas as source) and finally, the chronicle of Pedro Cieza de Leon, known in these days as Cronica del Peru (Chronicle of Peru), published in 4 parts: Parte primera de la Chronica del Peru (First part of the Chronicle of Peru, 1550), El senorio de los Incas (The lordship of Incas, published centuries after written in 1873 but composed between 1548 and 1550), Descubrimiento y Conquista del Peru (Discovery and conquer of Peru, published in 1946) and the fourth part, composed of five books: La guerra de las salinas (The war of the salt-mines), La guerra de Chupas (The war of Chupas), La guerra de Quito (The war of Quito), La guerra de la Huarina (The war of the Huarina) and La guerra de Jaquijaguana (The war of Jaquijaguan, the first three published in 1877, 1881 and 1877 respectively and the last two books were never written, but announced, due to the death of the author).

The formerly described group, although mixed and scattered in time of publication, it has a common characteristic, its origin. These were all, according to the term used by Francisco Carrillo, Spanish chronists. They all write from the perspective of the conqueror whose mission is to civilize and "reveal the true faith" to the Indians. There approach to the history of the societies and Indian civilizations, although an effort to understand them (Betanzos learns quechua for his Suma y narracion de los Incas, Sum and narration of the Incas, 1551) does not excuses itself in the representation of mistaken images, distorting the words of the natives.

!!! Indian chronists

To the former wroup, some literary scholars, have opposed another which is known as the Indians and mestizos chronists. The first were member of regional elites and even of the incan royal family, like Titu Cusi Yupanqui that wrote in 1570 the Relacion de como los espanoles entraron en Piru y el subceso que tuvo Mango Inca en el tiempo en que entre ellos vivio (Relation of who the Spaniards enter Piru and the event that occurred to Mango Inca in the time in which he lived among them), who learned the culture of the Spaniards and used it as a mean to express (through the writing) its not-official vision of their own history (many of them present episodes in the chronicles related to the mitical creation of the world, the different ages of the earth, civil wars between the Incas), their tradition and customs, the conquest and the results of the colonial implantation. Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamaygua writes in 1613 the Relacion de antiguedades deste reyno del Piru (Relation of antiquities of this kingdom of Piru), and Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala in his El primer nvueva coronica y bven govierno (First new chronicle and good government, written between 1585 and 1615, published in 1936) presents the process of destruction of the Andean world (the autor attributes this to the pride of the Incas or a failed communication between the Inca and the first conquerors). They try to explain and present an alternative to the chaotic reality in which they live. The chronicle of Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti is characterized in his attempt to explain the Inca cosmogony, its rudimentary use of Spanish (with a strong presence of quechua), but is not but until Guaman Poma, in its chronicle that is in fact an extensive letter to the king of Spain, Philip III, that it is encountered an explication from the creation of the world to a proposal of a utopic society, divided in four kingdoms. Guaman Poma is a different chronist, a unique moment that not only makes an historical balance but also talks about the colony (criticizing in a hard way the authorities abuses of the priests, corregidors and the mixture between Indians and Spaniards, in words of Luis Alberto Sanchez, this constitutes an j'accuse) to end making suggestions to correct this system. This chronicle is know for its extensive size (the original is 1179 one-side pages long) and its innovating illustrations, that relate the reality which the chronist is describing to us (398 drawings).

Later, the hegemony of Creole oligarchy in the Peruvian society favored the abandonment of indigenous forms in favor of European ones. Then the neoclassicists arose like Manuel Asencio y Segura and Felipe Pardo y Aliaga. They held themselves almost until the end of the XIX century. At this time, the romantic current was imposed thanked to the works of Carlos Augusto Salaverry and Jose Arnaldo Marquez, among others. The general crisis following on from the War of the Pacific gave rise to Modernism, whose best exponents were Jose Santos Chocano and Jose Maria Eguren. Thereafter, the Avant-garde current emerged strongly impelled by the magazines Colonida and Amauta. Amauta was founded in 1926 by Jose Carlos Mariategui, the prominent socialist essayist, and included among its collaborators the influential poet Cesar Vallejo. Meanwhile the Indigenous current in poetry was reborn thanks to Luis Fabio Xammar. The avant-gardist writers were fragmenting in different lyric proposals such as the ones of X. Abril, A. Hidalgo, Sebastian Salazar Bondy, Carlos German Belli, and others. They opened new and diverse expressive fields.

In the 19th century, Peruvian prose moved from costumbrismo (Manuel Ascensio Segura and Ricardo Palma) to Modernismo (Manuel Gonzalez Prada and Jose Santos Chocano).

In the 20th century, indigenismo reached some of its culminating moments with Ciro Alegria, Jose Maria Arguedas, and Manuel Scorza. Also from the 50's urban realism developed with the works of Julio Ramon Ribeyro and Sebastian Salazar Bondy (whose most important works were his plays). Without leaving the realistic approach, Mario Vargas Llosa and Alfredo Bryce Echenique incorporated new narrative techniques. Some of the most notable names in poetry are Emilio Adolfo Westphalen, Jorge Eielson, Carlos German Belli, Antonio Cisneros, Washington Delgado, Marco Martos, Carmen Olle and in narrative: Miguel Gutierrez, Gregorio Martinez, Alonso Cueto, Guillermo Nino de Guzman, among others.

Today, Jaime Bayly (several of whose works, including No se lo digas a nadie, have been adapted for the screen) is one of a group of younger contemporary writers.

References

Basadre, Jorge. Literatura Inca. Paris: Desclee, de Brouwer. 1938.
Carrillo, Francisco. Enciclopedia historica de la literatura peruana. Tomo 1: Literatura Quechua clasica (1986); Tomo 2: Cartas y cronistas del Descubrimiento y la Conquista (1987); Tomo 3: Cronistas de las guerras civiles, asi como el levantamiento de Manco Inca y el de Don Lope de Aguirre llamado "la ira de Dios" (1989); Tomo 4: Cronistas del Peru Antiguo; Tomo 5: Cronistas que describen la Colonia: Las relaciones geograficas. La extirpacion de idolatrias (1990); Tomo 6: Cronistas Indios y Mestizos I (1991); Tomo 7: Cronistas Indios y Mestizos II: Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala (1992); Tomo 8: Cronistas Indios y Mestizos III: El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (1996); Tomo 9: Cronistas de convento, cronistas misioneros y cronistas regionales (1999). Lima: Horizonte.
Cornejo Polar, Antonio [y] Cornejo Polar, Jorge. Literatura peruana, Siglo XVI a Siglo XX. Berkeley-Lima: Latinoamericana. 2000.
Cornejo Polar, Antonio. Escribir en el aire: ensayo sobre la heterogeneidad socio-cultural en las literaturas andinas. Lima: Horizonte. 1994.
Cornejo Polar, Antonio. La formacion de la tradicion literaria en el Peru. Lima: CEP. 1989.
Guaman Poma de Ayala, Felipe de. El primer nueva coronica y buen gobierno. 1615/1616. København, Det Kongelige Bibliotek, GKS 2232 4°. Autograph manuscript facsimile, annotated transcription, documents, and other digital resources.
Lienhard, Martin. La voz y su huella. Escritura y conflicto etnico-cultural en America Latina. 1492-1988.. Lima: Horizonte. 1992.
Porras Barrenechea, Raul. Los cronistas del Peru (1528-1650). Lima: Sanmarti Impresores. 1962.
Porras Barrenechea, Raul. Las relaciones primitvas de la conquista del Peru. Lima: s/e. 1967.
Sanchez, Luis Alberto. La literatura peruana, derrotero para una historia espiritual del Peru. Buenos Aires: Guarania. 1950.
Sanchez, Luis Alberto. Nueva historia de la literatura americana. Lima: Edicion del autor. 1987.
Peruvian-literature

Other pages about Peruvian literature

-Comentarios Reales de los Incas -El Peru (book) -Marco Martos Carrera -Nueva Cronica y Buen Gobierno -Peruvian literature

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