La Historia De Espana Chapter 30

[Joy Wida]

Un relato ameno, personal, a ratos irnico, pero siempre nico, de nuestra accidentada historia a travs de los siglos. Una obra concebida por el autor para, en palabras suyas, divertirme, releer y disfrutar; un pretexto para mirar atrs desde los tiempos remotos hasta el presente, reflexionar un poco sobre ello y contarlo por escrito de una manera poco ortodoxa.

A lo largo de los 91 captulos ms el eplogo de los que consta el libro, Arturo Prez-Reverte narra los principales acontecimientos ocurridos desde los orgenes de nuestra historia y hasta el final de la Transicin con una mirada subjetiva, construida con las dosis exactas de lecturas, experiencia y sentido comn. La misma mirada con que escribo novelas y artculos -dice el autor-; no la eleg yo, sino que es resultado de todas esas cosas: la visin, cida ms a menudo que dulce, de quien, como dice un personaje de una de mis novelas, sabe que ser lcido en Espaa aparej siempre mucha amargura, mucha soledad y mucha desesperanza..- Arturo Prez-Reverte

An entertaining, personal, and sometimes ironic but always unique tale of Spain's turbulent history throughout the centuries. A work conceptualized by the author to, in his words, "entertain me, re-read and enjoy; a pretext for looking back through time from the very beginning until the present, reflecting a little about it, and telling it in writing in an unorthodox way."

Throughout the 91 chapters plus the epilogue of the book, Arturo Prez-Reverte narrates the main events from Spain's origin and up through the end of the Transition with a subjective view, made up of precise measures of reading, experience, and common sense. "The same view with which I write novels and articles," says the author, "... I didn't choose it myself; it's the result of all those things: as one of my novel's characters says it, it's the vision, harsh yet frequently sweet, of someone who knows that being lucid in Spain has always entailed bitterness, loneliness, and despair." -Arturo Prez-Reverte

Arturo Prez-Reverte sabe cmo retener al lector a cada vuelta de pgina..-The New York Times Book Review Arturo Prez-Reverte consigue mantener sin aliento al lector..-Corriere della Sera No solo es un esplndido narrador. Tambin maneja con pericia diferentes gneros..-El Mundo Hay un escritor espaol que se parece al mejor Spielberg ms Umberto Eco. Se llama Arturo-Prez-Reverte..-La Repubblica Su sabidura narrativa, tan bien construida siempre, tan exhaustivamente detallada, documentada y estructurada, hasta el punto de que, frente a todo ello, la historia real resulta ms endeble y a veces hasta tpica..-Rafael Conte Su estilo elegante se combina con un gran manejo de la lengua espaola. Prez-Reverte es un maestro..-La Stampa Prez-Reverte tiene un talento endiablado y un slido oficio..-Avant-Critique Un repaso equidistante por los tres aos de contienda [...] donde defiende la importancia de la memoria y la necesidad de no olvidar lo que fueron aquellos tres aos de barbarie..-Antonio Lucas, El Mundo (sobre La guerra civil contada a los jvenes) La capacidad de sntesis y la ecuanimidad crtica del autor abonan un trabajo de lectura obligatoria..- Sergio Vila-SanJun, La Vanguardia (sobre La guerra civil contada a los jvenes)

The History of the Conquest of New Spain is a subject inwhich great interest is felt at the present day, and the Englishpublic will hail these memoirs, which contain the only true andcomplete account of that important transaction.

The author of this original and charming production, to whichhe justly gives the title of 'The True History of the Conquestof New Spain,' was himself one of the Conquistadores; one whonot only witnessed the transactions which he relates, but whoalso performed a glorious part in them; a soldier who, for impartialityand veracity, perhaps never had his equal. His accountis acknowledged to be the only one on which we can placereliance, and it has been the magazine from which the mosteloquent of the Spanish writers on the same subject, as well asthose of other countries, have borrowed their best materials.Some historians have even transcribed whole pages, but havenot had sufficient honesty to acknowledge it.

The author, while living, was never rewarded for the greatservices he had rendered his country, and it is remarkable that,after his death, his very memoirs were pillaged by court historians,to raise a literary monument to themselves.

Most of the other writers on the conquest, particularly theSpanish, have filled their works with exaggerations, to createastonishment and false interest; pages are filled with so termedphilosophical remarks, which but ill supply the place of the intelligentreader's own reflections. Bernal Diaz differs widelyfrom those writers, for he only states what he knows to be true.[Pg iv]The British public, fond above all others of original productions,will peruse with interest and delight a work which has so longbeen the secret fountain from which all other accounts of theconquest, with the exception of those which are least faithful,have taken life.

In respect of its originality, it may vie with any work ofmodern times, not excepting 'Don Quixote.' The author seemsto have been born to show forth truth in all its beauty, and heraises it to a divinity in his mind. Can anything be more expressiveof an honest conscience than what he says in his own preface:"You have only to read my history, and you see it is true."

The reader may form a general idea of this work from thefollowing critique, which Dr. Robertson, the historian, passesupon it: "Bernal Diaz's account bears all the marks of authenticity,and is accompanied with such pleasant navet, withsuch interesting details, with such amusing vanity, and yet sopardonable in an old soldier, who had been, as he boasts, in ahundred and nineteen battles, as renders his book one of themost singular that is to be found in any language."

One circumstance, and that very justly, he is most anxiousto impress on your mind, namely, that all the merit of the conquestis not due to Cortes alone; for which reason he generallyuses the expression "Cortes and all of us."

This is an allowable feeling in our old soldier, and it must beremembered that the greater part of the men who joined Corteswere of good families, who, as usual on such expeditions, equippedthemselves at their own expense, and went out as adventurersof their own free choice.

With respect to our author's style of writing, it is chieflycharacterized by plainness and simplicity, and yet there arenumerous passages which are written with great force and eloquence,and which, as the Spanish editor says, "could not havebeen more forcibly expressed, nor with greater elegance." Somereaders may at first feel inclined to censure our author for goinginto minute particulars in describing the fitting out of the expeditionunder Cortes; for instance, his describing the qualitiesand colours of the horses; but all this, it will be seen, was of theutmost importance to his history, and of the horses he wasbound to take special notice, for they performed a conspicuouspart in the conquest. The honest old soldier even devotes a[Pg v]couple of his last chapters to the whole of his companions inarms, in which he mentions them all by name, describes theirpersons, their bravery, and the manner in which they died.

To conclude these few remarks on this work, I must observe,that it not only surpasses Cortes' despatches in completeness,but also in truth and navet. He represents the whole toyou with a simplicity truly sublime; at times he astonishes witha power of expressing his sentiments peculiar to himself, andwith a pathos that goes to the very heart.

The excellent Torquemada, in speaking of him in his voluminouswork entitled 'Monarchia Indiana,' says, "I saw andknew this same Bernal Diaz in the city of Guatimala; he wasthen a very aged man, and one who bore the best of reputations."Quoting him in another passage, he has, "Thus says BernalDiaz del Castillo, a soldier on whose authority and honesty wecan place reliance." He was a man devoted to his religion,and it must be particularly borne in mind that the Catholicfaith was never stronger than at that time; yet we find him theleast superstitious of all the Spanish historians on the Conquest,and, in the 34th Chapter, he has shown a mind superior to thetimes in which he lived.

If we contemplate the period in which the conquest of NewSpain took place, we can easily imagine that Cortes considered[Pg vi]it imperative on him to plant his religion among the Indiansby the power of the sword, if he could not by kind remonstrances;and we are often reminded of Joshua in the OldTestament. The Spaniards themselves certainly entertainedthat idea; for in the edition of Cortes' despatches published atMexico in 1770, his sword is termed, "Gladius Domini etGideonis:" yet the Spaniards were not the cruel monsters theyhave generally been described during those times. As far asthe conquest of New Spain is concerned, they were morehumane than otherwise; and if at times they used severity, wefind that it was caused by the horrible and revolting abominationswhich were practised by the natives. We can scarcelyimagine kinder-hearted beings than the first priests and monkswho went out to New Spain; they were men who spent theirlives under every species of hardship to promote the happinessof the Indians. Who can picture to his mind a more amiableand noble disposition than that of father Olmedo? He wasone of the finest characters, Dr. Robertson says, that ever wentout as priest with an invading army!

We may have become exceedingly partial to a work whichhas now been constantly before our eyes for the last two years,yet we can scarcely imagine that any one could take up avolume, whether a novel or a history, which he would perusewith more delight than these memoirs.

With regard to the translation, which is from the old editionprinted at Madrid in 1632, we have acted up to the author'sdesire, and have neither added nor taken anything away, andhave attempted to follow the original as closely as possible.To the original there is not a single note, and particular carehas been taken not to overburden the translation with them.In the spelling of the names of the Indian chiefs, the townships,and of the provinces, we have mostly followed Torquemada,who is considered more correct on this point, for he lived fiftyyears in New Spain, was perfect master of the Mexican language,and made the history of that country his peculiar study.[Pg vii]

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