It seems apparent that with the flow of time, prominent historians and novelists tend to rethink and rediscover some fundamental works of their predecessors. Such a state of affairs contributes to the continuous development of world literature, as well as to advancing an ongoing search for truth. Carpentier’s novel The Harp and the Shadow might be among the most significant works of such a character – the author reconsiders plenty of aspects within Columbus’s texts. This paper aims to investigate the mechanisms applied in The Harp and the Shadow to critically reread the past, as well as the purpose of rewriting itself.
The Harp and the Shadow crown Carpentier’s literary path – the Columbus case is being reconsidered. The first part is the monologue of Pope Pius IX, dreaming of canonizing in the interests of the church the Discoverer Columbus, who discovered another Light for faith and whose very name contains a divine sign. In the second part, Columbus is on his deathbed before the readers. While waiting for a monk, he confesses to his conscience – and this is the confession of a rogue and a jester. The real Columbus appears before the audience only in the third part, where a phantasmagoric meeting takes place in the Vatican. There, the question of the canonization of the Discoverer is considered. Testimonies are given by the living, and the dead, historians and writers, apologists and detractors of Columbus; the shadow of the Admiral himself is also present (Chase 1–2).
Carpentier’s novel is founded on investigating and integrating of Columbus’ Journal of Discovery, as well as on other historiographies on America’s discovery. It rewrites numerous traits of the relation between the New World and the Old World. The author questions the belief that Latin America should be perceived as the creation of European civilization, which is supported by many significant academicians (Elliott 3). In achieving this, Carpentier uses several mechanisms that allow considering his work not only through the fiction’s perspective but also the historical one.
The most visible feature of Carpentier’s approach might be the fact that he doubts European historiography that advocated a great man and a theological understanding of the history of the continent’s discovery. He substitutes this concept with a historical state of mind that admits the apparent relation between Columbus and the material aspirations of these times. The Harp and the Shadow dispute the idea of “reliable” facts that come from the preceding works that are factual and fictitious to the same extent (Gerbi 56). It should be emphasized that part two of the book consolidates long and multiple passages from the Journal of Discovery to depict that the vision of the New World in it is mostly a fiction.
For instance, Columbus – both fictional and real – rely on the sources according to which he has reached Asia, and there is gold everywhere. He is confident in such a perception, and his combination of this confidence and hope prevails over solid proofs. At this point, Carpentier deconstructs a number of passages from the Journal of Discovery, in which his fictional Columbus admits his adulteration of the New World. This Admiral claims, “I speak of gold mines where I know of none. I speak of pearls, many pearls, merely because I see some mussels that “signal their presence” (Carpentier 87). The novel depicts its protagonist as a person who aspires to fame and the expense of truth – his interpretation of the latter.
However, it should be mentioned that Columbus lived in medieval times. According to Chase, “To succeed in 15-th century Spain, Columbus veils one history and creates another by facing his origins and credentials” (29). It is visible in the protagonist’s passage on the transformation in the portrayal of the Indians – from the image of the innocent to the one of the cannibals and slaves (Carpentier 111). Fictional Columbus says that he acts in such a way as he fails to find gold and needs another resource instead. Of course, original Columbus’s texts do not contain such expressions (Markham 103). Thus, the distinctive feature of the novel is that Columbus himself confesses to his historical exaggerations and deception regarding the New World. It might be assumed that with this mechanism of the first-person narrative, Carpentier wants to convince the reader that the New World’s image is wrong to a significant extent – as the prominent Discoverer claims so.
To conclude, The Harp and the Shadow might be perceived as the work that reconsiders the vision of the New World provided by the Columbus’s texts. The primary mechanisms in achieving so are the revealing of the Columbus’s over-reliance on the non-credible sources and his fictional confessions. The latter depicts the Discoverer from an unpleasant perspective, which makes the audience to rethink his works. The purpose of the discussed rewriting is the delivery of the reread past through the reassessment of historical sources that tend to provide false facts and an insignificant extent of impatience.
Works Cited
Carpentier, Alejo. The Harp and the Shadow. Deutsch, 1992.
Chase, Victoria. “Rediscovering the New World: Columbus and Carpentier.” Comparative Civilizations Review, vol. 12, no. 12, 1985, pp. 28–43.
Elliot, John. The Old World and the New, 1492–1650. Cambridge University Press, 1970.
Gerbi, Antonello. The Dispute of the New World: The History of the Polemic, 1750–1900. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1973.
Markham, Clements R., editor. “Journal of The First Voyage of Columbus.” Journal of Christopher Columbus (During His First Voyage, 1492–93): And Documents Relating the Voyages of John Cabot and Gaspar Corte Real, by Christopher Columbus, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2010, pp. 13–194. Cambridge Library Collection – Hakluyt First Series.