Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition (Penguin Classics) - Softcover

De Vaca, Alvar Nunez Cabeza

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0142437077 ISBN 13: 9780142437070

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2002

Synopsis

The New World story of the Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca in his own words

This riveting true story is the first major narrative detailing the exploration of North America by Spanish conquistadors (1528-1536). The author, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, was a fortune-seeking Spanish nobleman and the treasurer of an expedition sent to claim for Spain a vast area of today's southern United States. In simple, straightforward prose, Cabeza de Vaca chronicles the nine-year odyssey endured by the men after a shipwreck forced them to make a westward journey on foot from present-day Florida through Louisiana and Texas into California. In thirty-eight brief chapters, Cabeza de Vaca describes the scores of natural and human obstacles they encountered as they made their way across an unknown land. Cabeza de Vaca's gripping account offers a trove of ethnographic information, including descriptions and interpretations of native cultures, making it a powerful precursor to modern anthropology.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

About this title

Synopsis:

This story of survival is the first major narrative of the exploration of North America by Europeans (1528-1536). The author, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, was a fortune-seeking Spanish nobleman and the treasurer of an expedition sent to claim for Spain the vast area of today's southern Unived States. A shipwreck forced him and a handful of men to make the long westward journey on foot from the present day Florida via Louisiana and Texas to California. In order to survive, Cabeza de Vaca joined native peoples along the way, learning their languages and practices, serving them as a slave and later as a physician. The narrative is a trove of ethnographic information, with descriptions and interpretations of native cultures that make it a powerful precursor to modern anthropology.

About the Author:

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was a fortune-seeking Spanish nobleman and the treasurer of an expedition sent to claim for Spain a vast area that includes today's Florida, Louisiana and Texas. He recorded his experiences during the expedition in what is known as CHRONICLE OF THE NARVAEZ EXPEDITION, a first major narrative of the exploration of North America by Europeans (1528-1536).

Ilan Stavans is Lewis-Sebring Professor of Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College. His books include THE HISPANIC CONDITION, ART AND ANGER, and most recently ON BORROWED WORDS (Penguin, August 2002).

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0142437077
• ISBN 13: 9780142437070
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160
• Editor: Augenbraun Harold