This study examines
how Hernán Cortés, first as the author of his
Cartas de relación (1519-1526), and then as the protagonist
of Francisco López de Gómara's Historia de la
conquista de México (1552), defends Spain's conquest
of Mexico. It analyzes how these accounts represent his speech acts,
including some of his key speeches; how they allow him to define
the conquest in different ways to different audiences; and how they
represent him as controlling the speech acts of others, most notably
those of Moctezuma.
Carman argues that these texts, in their attempt to justify the
wars of conquest, do not maintain that the Spanish Empire simply
possesses a "truth" over which falsehoods cannot prevail.
Instead they show an understanding of the "truth" similar
to that of Aristotle, who acknowledges that falsehoods can and often
do prevail. The “truth,” according to these accounts,
requires an artful advocate, like Cortés, who can give it
the form it needs for each new audience and set of circumstances.
By allowing the reader to see through Cortés’s rhetorical
manipulation of others, especially of others who are so alien to
the reader, these histories reinforce the moral and intellectual
hierarchies that are necessary for a society to believe that it
has the right or even the obligation to impose its will on others.
“This book is well written with a clear, persuasive, and
interesting argument. It is a timely contribution that provides
definitions for key terms in the study of rhetoric and conquest
in Colonial Latin America, by focusing on the case of the textual
representations of Hernán Cortés and his conquest
of México.” —Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel,
University of Pennsylvania
“This book is a welcome addition to scholarship and a good
application to the study of the figure of Cortés, created
by himself and humanist historians of the sixteenth century, in
particular Gómara, of the speech act analysis that John
L. Austin theorizes in his How to Do Things with Words.”—Carmen
Y. Hsu, Renaissance Quarterly. For the full review, see
Renaissance Quarterly (2007): 563–64.
“Despite its focus on the character of Hernán Cortés,
Rhetorical Conquests is a useful analysis of some of
the rhetorical means employed by Francisco López de Gómara
in the crafting of his most controversial, but deeply influential
work. Carman's book...is in this sense part of a recent trend
that seeks to revaluate the work of one of the most important
humanist historians of the early colonial period.”—Andrés
I. Prieto, Hispania. For the full review, see Hispania
90.4 (Dec. 2007): 703-04.
"La tesis de Carman sobre Cortés no es nueva, pero
está expuesta de una forma minuciosa como no lo había
sido antes.... su libro es una valiosa contribución a los
estudios coloniales." —Roberto González Echevarría,
Primera Revista Latinoamericana de Libros. For the full
review, see PRL (June/July 2008): 26-27.
"This book's major strength is that it puts the different pieces of the conquest of Mexico together. It continually works to compare and contrast the different accounts of that conquest from its origin with Cortés, with Martyr, Oviedo, among others, and principally with Gómara."—Charles B. Moore, The Latin Americanist
For the full review, see The Latin Americanist 52.2 (June 2008): 85-87.
"Carman's study provides a thoroughly updated discussion of Cortés and Gómara as well as of Renaissance historiography. … he also ties [his argument] to apparently contradictory notions of truth that Cortés invokes throughout his letters. … Carman's analysis engages the reader in a way that contributes to new understandings of the texts." —Galen Brokaw, Calíope 14.1 (2008): 133-35.
"In deploying Gómara/Cortés as an uneasy tandem, Carmen sets up a novel and very productive approach to the procedures by which both Cortés and Gómara bring forth the 'truth' of their accounts. ... Carman's study is indeed illuminating and the conclusions that the book reaches are instructive as well as fully justified in arguing that analysis shows that neither author's truth constitute a 'justification' of the Spanish conquest."—Sara Castro-Klaren, MLN 124.2 (2009): 522-25.
For further reviews, see
Reference and Research Book News Nov. 2006.
Bulletin of Spanish Studies 85 (2008): 238-39, de Juan F. Maura.
Revista de Estudios Hispánicos 42.1 (2008): 180-83, de Raúl Marrero-Fente.
Glen Carman, DePaul University in Chicago, teaches language
and literature. His current research focuses on Bartolomé
de las Casas, Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, and the sixteenth-century
debates over Spain's wars of conquest.
ISBN-13: 978-1-55753-403-3; ISBN-10: 1-55753-403-9
2006. Vol. 35. viii, 250 pp. Paper $43.95
A window in Stanley Coulter Hall publicizing Carman's Rhetorical
Conquests.
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