Juan del Valle y Caviedes (11 April 1645 – 1697), often referenced as Caviedes, was a Colonial poet from Viceregal Peru. He belongs chronologically to the Spanish American Baroque Colonial period, and shares much with Baroque writers such as Mateo Rosas de Oquendo,

Sor Juana Sor may refer to: * Fernando Sor (1778–1839), Spanish guitarist and composer * Sor, Ariège, a French commune * SOR Libchavy, a Czech bus manufacturer * Sor, Azerbaijan, a village * Sor, Senegal, an offshore island * Sor River, a river in the ...

and

Bernardo de Balbuena Bernardo de Balbuena (c. 1561 in Valdepeñas, Spain – October 1627, in San Juan, Puerto Rico) was a Spanish poet. He was the first of a long series of Latin American poets who extolled the special beauties of the New World. Life Born in Val ...

. He was a social and political critic, pointing out the shortcomings and hypocrisies of the Spanish American colonial administrators. Caviedes was born in

Porcuna Porcuna is a village and municipality in the province of Jaén in Andalusia, Spain, 42 km from Jaén and 50 km from Córdoba. The primary occupation of the 6,990 inhabitants is olive growing. The main tourist attractions are the tower o ...

, Andalusia, Spain in 1645. He moved to

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

at an early age and settled in Lima, later spending some time in the mining area of

Huancavelica Huancavelica () or Wankawillka in Quechua is a city in Peru. It is the capital of the department of Huancavelica and according to the 2017 census had a population of 49,570 people. The city was established on August 5, 1572 by the Vicer ...

, where life was hard even for a Spaniard at the top of the social pyramid. As has been shown by various critics, a false biography based on the author's satirical works suggested that he dissipated his fortune on gambling, drink, and women of dubious morals and that as a result of having contracted a venereal disease he directed his satirical bite at the damage done by physicians and their indifferent and rapacious attitude toward their patients. However, in his satire of doctors and medicine Caviedes was following a long-standing satirical Western tradition.

Work

As a writer Caviedes shares many characteristics with several of the writers of

Spanish Golden Age The Spanish Golden Age ( es, Siglo de Oro, links=no , "Golden Century") is a period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the political rise of the Spanish Empire under the Catholic Monarchs of Spain and the Spanish ...

, such as

Francisco de Quevedo Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas, Knight of the Order of Santiago (; 14 September 1580 – 8 September 1645) was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, Luis de Góngora, ...

and

Luis de Góngora Luis de Góngora y Argote (born Luis de Argote y Góngora; ; 11 July 1561 – 24 May 1627) was a Spanish Baroque lyric poet and a Catholic priest. Góngora and his lifelong rival, Francisco de Quevedo, are widely considered the most prominen ...

, partially because of his satirical, biting, vulgar, popular, and picaresque wit. But behind this criticism is a social and moral attack on the abuses, injustices, and double standards of the Colonial period. He is also the author of serious love and religious poetry. When Caviedes moved to Lima the targets of his satire included not only doctors, but also Lima aristocrats and the Viceregal court. Following satirical tradition, he attacked many professions, among them lawyers, tailors, and street women, with an emphasis on the grotesque, the scatological, the ugly, and the immoral. With some exceptions, the scandalous aspects of his work made publication difficult during his lifetime, but his works circulated in handwritten chapbooks and were collected in various manuscripts. There are several modern editions of his complete works.

Sample of work

"Colloquium that a seriously ill doctor had with Death"

::From: ''Diente del Parnaso/ Tooth of Parnassus'' (1689), Translated by Jack Child

References

*Cabanillas Cárdenas, Carlos F., ''Guerras físicas, proezas medicalez, hazañas de la ignorancia'', edición crítica, estudio y anotación, Tesis de Doctorado, 2009 (Madrid/Frankfurt am Main: Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 2013. ). * Chang-Rodríguez, Raquel. ''Voces de Hispanoamérica''. Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 2004, pp. 70–74. * Child, Jack. ''Introduction to Latin American Literature: a Bilingual Anthology''. Lanham: University Press of America, 1994, pp. 97–101. * Englekirk, John E. ''An Outline History of Spanish American Literature''. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1965, p. 29. * Lasarte, Pedro. ''Lima satirizada (1598-1698): Mateo Rosas de Oquendo y Juan del Valle y Caviedes''. Lima: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2006. * Solé, Carlos A., (ed.) ''Latin American Writers''. New York: Scribner’s, 1989 (3 volumes), pp. 79–83.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valle Y Caviedes, Juan Del 17th-century Peruvian poets Peruvian male writers 17th-century Spanish poets 1697 deaths 1645 births Spanish male poets 17th-century male writers Baroque writers