An unparalleled encyclopedic collaboration between award-winning Mexican-American scholar Ilan Stavans and illustrator Eko, A Pre-Columbian Bestiary features lively and informative descriptions of forty-six religious, mythical, and imaginary creatures from the Nahua, Aztecs, Maya, Tabascos, Inca, Aymara, and other cultures of Latin America.
From the siren-like Acuecueyotl and the water animal Chaac to the class-conscious Oc and the god of light and darkness, Xólotl, the magnificent entities in this compendium belong to the same family of real and invented creatures imagined by Dante, Franz Kafka, C. S. Lewis, Jorge Luis Borges, Umberto Eco, and J. K. Rowling. They are mined from indigenous religious texts, like the Popol Vuh, and from chronicles, both real and fictional, of the Spanish conquest by Diego Durán, Bernal Díaz del Castillo, and Fernando de Zarzamora, among others. In compiling this playful primary source, Stavans distills imagery from the work of magic realist masters such as Juan Rulfo and Gabriel García Márquez, songs of protest from Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru, and aboriginal beasts in Jewish, Muslim, European, British, and other traditions. In the spirit of imaginative invention, even the bibliography is a mixture of authentic and inventive material.
An inspiring record of resistance and memory from a civilization whose superb pantheon of myths never ceases to amaze, A Pre-Columbian Bestiary will delight anyone interested in the history and culture of Latin America.
