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Literary Review:
"The Peru Reader: History, Culture, Politics"

Edited by Orin Starn, Carlos Iván Degregori, and Robin Kirk. Duke University Press, published in 1995.

Published nearly a decade ago, “The Peru Reader” nonetheless remains today among the most up-to-date and thoroughly enjoyable introductions to Peru available in the English language. It is difficult to find in Lima bookstores, but is readily available from most internet booksellers.

The distinguished North American and Peruvian editors of “The Peru Reader” have put together a mixed-field, cross disciplinary anthology of seventy-two pieces poems, colonial chronicles, a folktale, a menu, a travel account, a death sentence, a classified memo, autographical accounts, novel excerpts and short stories, song lyrics, speeches and essays that they hope will “shake up the unilateral privilege of journalists and scholars of any nationality to 'speak for' the subaltern around the world” and “offer readers an opportunity to hear the views of Peruvians about their country.”

Peruvians are the authors of most, but not all, of this volume's pieces, which have an astounding variety. Just to give you a taste of the riches in “The Peru Reader,” many of which have not previously been translated into English, you will find Garcilaso de la Vega on “The Origins of the Incas,” Bartolomé de las Casas “In Defense of the Indians,” “Women of Lima” by Flora Tristán, “Reflections” by José Carlos Mariategui, “The Pongo's Dream” by José María Arguedas, “Peru's African Rhythms” by Nicomedes Santa Cruz, “There Have Been Threats” by María Elena Moyano, “Soup of the Day,” a menu by Family Kitchen No.79, and “The Choncholí Chewing Gum Rap” song lyrics by the rock group Nosequién y nosecuantos.

The anthology is organized, more or less chronologically, into ten sections; the first dedicated to the ancient civilizations and the last two, to the trends the editors believe will shape the future of Peru: its struggle for economic survival in the globalized world and its cultural reconfiguration brought about by globalization and by internal and external migration. Each of the sections contains a scene-setting introduction by the editors, as does each individual piece in the anthology.

The joy of “The Peru Reader” is the wide variety of the literature it has to offer. The editors have no particular ideological axe to grind about Peru, nor do they make any attempt to present Peru out of its global context. In the introduction, the editors recognize the special contribution of expatriates:

The 500-plus pages of “The Peru Reader” are guaranteed to bring many delights to the members of the expatriate community in Peru who are lucky enough to own it. - JR.

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