Ricardo Palma S Tradiciones

Ricardo Palma's Tradiciones is the first comprehensive and critically up-to-date study of Ricardo Palma in English. Its interdisciplinary approach, particularly its examination of gender, radically reinvigorates our understanding of Palma's significance and provides fresh ways of thinking about the intersections between the discourses of sexual politics and populism in the Nineteenth Century

The figure of Ricardo Palma still looms large in Spanish American literature because he preserved Peru's past in delightful narratives that he called "tradiciones," a new genre he invented. His "tradiciones" are widely read in the original language in university and college literature classes throughout the United States; however they are relatively unknown to those who do not read Spanish. This collection makes some of his "tradiciones" available to readers of the English language. Why read them? Because of Palma, Peru and especially Lima, its capital city, will live forever. His "tradiciones" are the door to a fascinating world that the author has portrayed with unusual skill and verve. What is it in the "tradiciones" which explains their popularity? First, they are interesting. There are duels, love affairs, miracles, excommunications and blood shed because of a concept of honor which permeated their lives. Second is Palma's style, which is irreverent, ironic, and light in tone. Many have tried to imitate it. No one has succeeded. Finally, he portrays colonial society in great detail. One might say that if someone wishes to see how society functioned in real life in Peru's past he should read the "tradiciones."

Peruvian author Ricardo Palma (1838-1919) was one of the most popular and imitated writers in Latin America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As head of the National Library in Lima, Palma had access to a rich source of historical books and manuscripts. His historical miscellanies, which he called "traditions," are witty anecdotes about conquerors, viceroys, corrupt and lovelorn friars, tragic loves and notorious characters. Humor, irony and word play characterize his collection of over five hundred traditions written between 1872 and 1906, whether describing violent deeds or amorous misadventures. Unlike many of his contemporaries in the second half of the nineteenth century, Palma did not write transparent didactic fictions and defend elite cultural forms. Rather, he reveled in ironic approaches to written sources, political authorities and church institutions as well as in popular speech and knowledge. Both fiction and history, Palma's delightful Peruvian Traditions represents a hybrid literary form that constructs historical memory distinct from the dominant literary trends of the time.