La Araucana como texto fundacional en el canon hispanoamericano: La novedad, la extrañeza y la otredad
The Araucaniad as a Foundational Text in the Spanish-American Canon: Newness, Strangeness, and Otherness

Summary/Abstract: This paper analyses the epic poem The Araucaniad by Alonso de Ercilla in terms of its foundational role in the canon of Spanish-American literature. Published in three parts in the 16th century, this poem distinguishes itself on the basis of certain aesthetic, ideological, and socio-historical features that help to define both it and the canon to which it belongs. Departing from these features, this analysis identifies three key concepts exhibited in The Araucaniad — newness, strangeness, and otherness — and traces their development from the same up to the works of Spanish-American authors of the 19th and 20th centuries including Gabriel García Márquez, Horacio Quiroga, and Pablo Neruda. In doing so, this paper demonstrates the indelible presence of The Araucaniad in much of Spanish-American literature, thus establishing its legacy as foundational text in that canon. The results of this analysis are threefold: 1) that these concepts of newness, strangeness, and otherness are indispensable in identifying, discussing, and developing a distinctly Spanish- American canon; 2) that the same concepts have their roots in this key text of the Spanish Golden Age of literature, and; 3) that The Araucaniad and its interpretation are crucial in Spanish-American literary discourse given its foundational nature.

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