From Lack to Excess: ‘Minor’ Readings of Latin American Colonial Discourse

This book analyzes the narrative and rhetorical structures of Latin American colonial texts by establishing a dialogue with contemporary studies on minority discourse, minor literatures, and colonial and postcolonial theory. The first chapter reviews the current disciplinary debate between colonial Latin American studies and early modern, transatlantic, and postcolonial studies, paying attention to the epistemic and institutional junctures that explain the current reconfiguration of these fields of scholarship. As an alternative to an exhausted debate, this study uses Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s notion of a ‘minor literature’ along with current studies on minority discourse to propose new close readings of canonical texts by Hernan Cortes, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, the Inca Garcilasco de la Vega, Carlos de Siguenza y Gongora and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz.