Thèse : Nezahualcoyotl as emblem in the colonial legacy of Mexico
Créateur
- Lee, Jongsoo
- Brotherston, Gordon. Directeur de thèse
Résumé
Nezahualcoyotl, the poet-king of Texcoco (1402–1472), has been described as one of the most important pre-Hispanic indigenous figures in historical as well as literary texts. He has been represented as a peaceful symbol of the Aztec civilization: a prudent, civilized governor and law maker, a poet-king who composed many philosophical songs, and a religious king who rejected human sacrifice by intuiting a Christian-like, unknown god. In these images, Nezahualcoyotl always detested the bloody-thirsty Mexicans who practiced human sacrifice, and somehow anticipated the arrival of Christianity. In my dissertation, I demonstrate, however, that all these images were invented by later historians and literary critics who were heavily influenced by colonial ideology. I show that the peaceful image of Nezahualcoyotl began to appear only in alphabetic texts and that the authors of these texts were either Europeanized Texcocan chroniclers such as Alva Ixtlilxochitl and Juan Bautista de Pomar or Spaniards like Juan Torquemada. They insist that their works were based on pre-Hispanic indigenous oral and pictorial traditions, but by re-examining their original sources and the pictorial and alphabetic texts of other regions such as Mexican Tenochtitlan, I contend that they misinterpreted their original sources. They converted Nezahualcoyotl into a Christian-like, peaceful king in order to present him as precursor to European colonization. I also trace how the peaceful image of Nezahualcoyotl has been repeated in the historical and literary texts through to the present day. I pay special attention to the works of Angel K. Garibay, Miguel León-Portilla, and José Luis Martínez. I show how these scholars have accepted the colonial misinterpretation of indigenous philosophy, culture, history, and the Nahuatl songs attributed to Nezahualcoyotl. I argue that the peaceful image of Nezahualcoyotl was a clear invention of European and Europeanized chroniclers in the 16 th and early 17th centuries, and that later historians and literary critics have reinforced this image by simply following earlier interpretations without examining the original sources.
Informations pratiques
- Description matérielle : 1 vol. (209 p.)
- Ph.D. : Indiana University : Latin American literature : 2000
OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Olivier Jacquot (25 avril 2025). Thèse : Nezahualcoyotl as emblem in the colonial legacy of Mexico. Amoxcalli. Consulté le 11 mars 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/13tc1
