1492: The Life and Times of Juan Cabezon of Castile (Jewish Latin America Series) [Paperback]

Homero Aridjis (Author), Betty Ferber (Translator), Ilan Stavans (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Jewish Latin America Series | Publication Date: February 26, 2003

A best seller in Latin America in the 1980s, this novel of life in fifteenth-century Spain depicts a world in which both the Moors and the Jews are under attack. This is the formative period of the phenomenon known today as Crypto-Judaism, and AridjisÂ’s widely praised book, now available for the first time in an American paperback edition, will find a broad audience among readers fascinated by this aspect of Jewish history.

“In 1492, the Catholic rulers, Ferdinand and Isabella, expelled the Jews from Spain. In Homero Aridjis’ novel, the great saga of the expulsion comes to life with both historical and poetic resonance. A great Mexican poet, Aridjis embraces history and fiction with the warmth and insight of the lyrical vision.”—Carlos Fuentes

“In this highly readable novel which deals with a special and painful chapter in history, Homero Aridjis combines erudition, sensitivity and poetic imagination. I recommend it warmly.”—Elie Wiesel

“A novel of literary subtlety and sensibility. Few contemporary writers have captured so profoundly and with such style this era marked by three essential events: the establishment of the Catholic sovereigns, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, and the discovery of America.”—El País (Madrid)

“Among worldwide bestsellers, 1492 is the most similar to Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose; both are concerned with the trials of heretics and the violence employed against the dissident. Aridjis gives an encyclopedic vision of catastrophic times.”—La Jornada (Mexico City)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ambitious re-creation of its historical period overwhelms this Mexican author's love story about two conversos --converted Sephardic Jews--who are devastated by the Spanish Inquisition.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Aridjis, a popular Mexican poet, and his translator wife provide English-speaking audiences an English version of his 1985 novel of a picaresque love story between two conversos (converts to Christianity) set in the waning years of 15th-century Spain. Although Christopher Columbus appears briefly as a deus ex machina who saves the hero from the clutches of the Inquisition, the book really focuses on another major event of 1492--the expulsion of the Jews. As a fictionalized account of the persecution of the Jews and a portrayal of the intolerance of religious fanaticism, the work conjures up images of pogroms, Salem witch hunts, and the Holocaust. The good translation, unfortunately marred by an anemic style, is recommended only for strong historical fiction or Judaica collections.
- Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC, Dublin, Ohio
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 294 pages
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press (February 26, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826330967
• ISBN-13: 978-0826330963
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #474,650 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vivid imagery, engrossing story line., September 13, 2000

By 

Mary Carol Scherb (Irvine, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 1492: The Life and Times of Juan Cabezon of Castile (Mass Market Paperback)

Part picaresque novel, part moving romance, part historical document, this extraordinary reconstruction of fifteenth-century Spain, by one of Mexico's leading literary figures, has been acclaimed throughout Europe and Latin America. This was the century that changed the face of Spain, and of the world-the century of the wars with the Moors, which led to the end of Moorish Spain; the voyages of discovery, which culminated in Columbus's enterprise; and, perhaps above all, the century of the Inquisition, which financed both the wars and the voyages by seizing the fortunes of condemned Jews, and which led inexorably to the Expulsion. Here these events are seen through the eyes of one Juan Cabezon, a descendant of converted Jews, who is orphaned at an early age by a series of bizarre accidents and taken in hand by Pero Menique, a clever blind man, who uses him as a guide through the rich street life of Castil. It is Menique who brings him beautiful young Isabel de la Vega, sentenced to death by the Inquisition, and begs him to hide her in his house Juan and Isabel fall in love, but as time passes, Isabel is driven close to madness by her forced seclusion in Juan's house and her constant fear of death. One day she vanishes, and Juan sets off on a desperate search for her which takes him across Spain, into the heart of the Jewish communities, and constantly into the path of the Inquisition's autos-da-fea journey that stamps itself indelibly on the reader's mind.

About the Author: Homero Aridjis is one of Mexico's foremost poets and novelists. He has published more than twenty books of poetry and prose and won the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize for best book of the year in 1964 and the 1988 Diana. Novedades Literary Prize for the outstanding novel in Spanish for the sequel to 1492, Alemorias del fluevo mundo. Two volumes of his poetry have been published in English, Blue Spaces and Exaltation of Light, as well as a novel, Persephon. Twice the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he has taught at Columbia University, New York University, and the University of Indiana. He has been Mexican Ambassador to the Netherlands and Switzerland and is the president of the Group of 100, Mexico's leading environmental organization. He lives in Mexico City.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb word craft - great literature, November 18, 2004

By 

J. P. Pascoe (South Burlington, VT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 1492: The Life and Times of Juan Cabezon of Castile (Jewish Latin America Series) (Paperback)

This book is truly great literature. I read it a couple of years ago and have since given it as a gift to several of my friends who appreciate the art of fine writing. In my view, this author uses perfectly chosen words to weave a vividly colored tapestry of life in Spain in 1492.

Despite expectations the title might evoke, this book has essentially nothing to do with Columbus. Nor is it a historical novel in the sense of illustrating a chronology of notable events. Rather, the story is populated with ordinary people attempting to cope with life during the religious upheavals of the time. As such and given the superb word craft, this story provides an opportunity to actually feel what it must have been like to live in those times.

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars b o r i n g, July 4, 2007

By 

J. S. Mason "johnmason1" (Fort Lauderdale) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 1492: The Life and Times of Juan Cabezon of Castile (Mass Market Paperback)

I like history, but I just started 1492 and will never finish it.
This is really really, I mean this is really b o r i n g.