In the Language of Kings: An Anthology of Mesoamerican Literature Pre-Columbian to the Present

About this book

The first anthology in any language to represent the full trajectory of this remarkable literature. From new interpretations of the glyphic writings of the Maya through the poetic response to events in modern Chiapas here is a history of Mexico and Central America from the Indian point of view. In these pages the reader will encounter often in new translations the deeply affecting Aztec poems the horrific battles of conquest and the thoughtful philosophy of the Mayan "bible " the Popol Vuh. Full clear introductions make this extraordinary material accessible to all readers. In the Language of Kings is a gemstone of cultural strength for those who trace their ancestry to Mesoamerica as well as an essential resource for historians and anthropologists. Above all it is literature: intimate grand painful proud and finally renascent in the new awakening of the original peoples of Mesoamerica. "A magnum opus of Mesoamerican literature...achieves nothing less than the human and divine."Bomb