ABOUT THIS BOOK

Using El lazarillo de ciegos caminantes (the "Guide for Blind Rovers" by Alonso Carrio de Lavandera, the best known work of the era) as a jumping off point for a sprawling discussion of 18th-century Spanish America, Ruth Hill argues for a richer, more nuanced understanding of the relationship between Spain and its western colonies. Armed with primary sources including literature, maps, census data, letters, and diaries, Hill reveals a rich world of intrigue and artifice, where identity is surprisingly fluid and always in question. More importantly, Hill crafts a complex argument for reassessing our understanding of race and class distinctions at the time, with enormous implications for how we view conceptions of race and class today.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Ruth Hill is a professor of Spanish and Andrew W. Mellon Chair in the Humanities at Vanderbilt University.

REVIEWS

"Hill's book not only brings into focus many previously unfathomed layers of Carrio's text but also provides a fascinating glimpse into the underworld of Bourbon officialdom—a world of sexual, social, and occupational intrigues in which racial and class identities were more complex than has generally been appreciated by literary critics. . . . Hill's new book stands as a model of scholarly erudition, historicist methodology, archival research for literary scholars and . . . makes important critical interventions that will set the parameters for all future discussions of Carrio's text and stimulate critical debate beyond."
—Ralph Bauer, Dieciocho: Hispanic Enlightenment— Ralph Bauer, Dieciocho: Hispanic Enlightenment

"A study of great scope, depth and originality. It questions, challenges and surprises, and it cannot be disregarded by any contemporary scholar of Bourbon Spanish-America or of Lazarillo de ciegos caminantes."
—Peter T. Bradley, Bulletin of Spanish Studies— Peter T. Bradley, Bulletin of Spanish Studies

"A must read for scholars interested not only in El lazarillo de ciegos caminantes but also in the material reality of the Enlightenment in colonial Spanish America."
—Mariselle Meléndez, Revista de Estudios Hispanicos— Mariselle Meléndez, Revista de Estudios Hispanicos

"Professor Hill has delivered an extraordinarily rich piece of historical and literary scholarship. Hill offers original readings and throws new light on some of this canonical text's most hotly debated issues. Professor Hill takes up the challenge of reading colonial writing through material culture . . . and she delivers masterfully."
—Karen Stolley, Emory University— Karen Stolley

"Richly detailed, amply documented, and wholly original, this book looks at eighteenth-century Spanish America through the dual prism of literature and history. The real focus, though, is race and class in the Spanish colonies . . . The entire field is richer and more interesting because of [Hill's] efforts."
—David T. Gies, The Virginia Quarterly Review— David T. Gies, The Virginia Quarterly Review

"Hill's book not only brings into focus many previously unfathomed layers of Carrio's text but also provides a fascinating glimpse into the underworld of Bourbon officialdom—a world of sexual, social, and occupational intrigues in which racial and class identities were more complex than has generally been appreciated by literary critics. . . . Hill's new book stands as a model of scholarly erudition, historicist methodology, archival research for literary scholars and . . . makes important critical interventions that will set the parameters for all future discussions of Carrio's text and stimulate critical debate beyond."
—Ralph Bauer, Dieciocho: Hispanic Enlightenment— Ralph Bauer, Dieciocho: Hispanic Enlightenment

"A study of great scope, depth and originality. It questions, challenges and surprises, and it cannot be disregarded by any contemporary scholar of Bourbon Spanish-America or of Lazarillo de ciegos caminantes."
—Peter T. Bradley, Bulletin of Spanish Studies— Peter T. Bradley, Bulletin of Spanish Studies

"A must read for scholars interested not only in El lazarillo de ciegos caminantes but also in the material reality of the Enlightenment in colonial Spanish America."
—Mariselle Meléndez, Revista de Estudios Hispanicos— Mariselle Meléndez, Revista de Estudios Hispanicos

"Professor Hill has delivered an extraordinarily rich piece of historical and literary scholarship. Hill offers original readings and throws new light on some of this canonical text's most hotly debated issues. Professor Hill takes up the challenge of reading colonial writing through material culture . . . and she delivers masterfully."
—Karen Stolley, Emory University— Karen Stolley

"Richly detailed, amply documented, and wholly original, this book looks at eighteenth-century Spanish America through the dual prism of literature and history. The real focus, though, is race and class in the Spanish colonies . . . The entire field is richer and more interesting because of [Hill's] efforts."
—David T. Gies, The Virginia Quarterly Review— David T. Gies, The Virginia Quarterly Review

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Part I
Chapter 1 | Mexico City versus Lima: Pila, Puente, Pan, and Peines
Chapter 2 | Defacing a Bourbon Legend: Pedro, Pardo, Paulino, and Perulero

Part II
Chapter 3 | En Route and in the Loop: Trade, Metals, and Elites, circa 1700–1750
Chapter 4 | Of Gods and Men: Bourbon Blindness and the Post, circa 1750–1800

Part III
Chapter 5 | Before Race: Hierarchy in Bourbon Spanish America
Chapter 6 | The Inca Impostor Unmasked: Culture, Controversy, and Concolorcorvo
Chapter 7 | Trial of the Century: Humor, Rhetoric, and the Law

Epilogue

Notes
Bibliography
Index