Essay
Reseña histórico-descriptiva de antiguas y modernas supersticiones del Río de la Plata
Not translated into English
Daniel Granada · 1896
Synopsis
A survey, running to more than six hundred pages, of the old and recent beliefs of both banks of the Río de la Plata. The chapter on the salamancas starts from the schools of magic that tradition placed in Salamanca, Toledo or Córdoba, then moves on to the enchanted caves of the continent, such as that of the Cerro do Jarau, which legend has a colonel consult during a war. The author also deals with the lobisón, the man changed into a beast, whose name he derives from a Portuguese form, and with the Guaraní belief in the tiger-man.
Context
The book appears in Montevideo in 1896, with A. Barreiro y Ramos, in a stout volume with notes and an index; the author composed it during his years as a lawyer in Salto, seven years after his dictionary. He sees in the magical beings, everywhere the same, the reflection of one and the same false idea of the human mind. A reception speech at the National Academy of Letters of Uruguay, in 2022, says it is held by many to be the founding work of the country's cultural anthropology, and reports that a critic judged it more successful than the dictionary. Reissued in 1947 and 1959, it is still cited by studies on the Creole werewolf.
Who it is for
A learned survey of popular beliefs, in Spanish, to be read by chapters, for those interested in the legends of Uruguay and Argentina.
Prizes and reception
A book placed at the origins of the study of popular cultures in Uruguay; studies on the salamanca and on the werewolf still cite it.
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