The archetypal creation story of Latin America; the Popol Vuh began as a Maya oral tradition millennia ago. In the mid-sixteenth century; as indigenous cultures across the continent were being threatened with destruction by European conquest and Christianity; it was written down in verse by members of the K’iche’ nobility in what is today Guatemala. In 1701; that text was translated into Spanish by a Dominican friar and ethnographer before vanishing mysteriously.
Cosmic in scope and yet intimately human; the Popol Vuh offers invaluable insight into the Maya way of life before being decimated by colonization-their code of ethics; their views on death and the afterlife; and their devotion to passion; courage; and the natural world. It tells the story of how the world was created in a series of rehearsals that included wooden dummies; demi-gods; and eventually humans. It describes the underworld; Xibalba-a place as harrowing as Dante’s hell-and relates the legend of the ultimate king; who; in the face of tragedy; became a spirit that accompanies his people in their struggle for survival.
Popol Vuh: A Retelling is a one-of-a-kind prose rendition of this sacred text that is as seminal as the Bible and the Qur'an; the Ramayana and the Odyssey. Award-winning scholar of Latin American literature Ilan Stavans brings a fresh creative energy to the Popol Vuh; giving a new generation of readers the opportunity to connect with this timeless story and with the plight of the indigenous people of the Americas.
