Abstract: Summary: "Identity, family, and community unite three autobiographical texts by New World Crypto-Jews, or descendants of Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity in 17th-century Iberia and Spanish America. Ronnie Perelis presents the fascinating stories of three men who were caught within the matrix of inquisitorial persecution, expanding global trade, and the network of Crypto-Jewish activity. Each text, translated here for the first time, reflects the unique experiences of the author and illuminates their shared, deeply rooted attachment to Iberian culture, their Atlantic peregrinations, and their hunger for spiritual enlightenment. Through these writings, Perelis focuses on the social history of transatlantic travel, the economies of trade that linked Europe to the Americas, and the physical and spiritual journeys that injected broader religious and cultural concerns into this complex historical moment"-- Provided by publisher.
Content Notes: 1. Audience and archive: text, context, and the literary construction of experience -- 2. "Hermanos en el senor": spiritual and social fraternity and paternity in Luis de Carvajal, el Mozo's spiritual autobiography (Mexico 1595) -- 3. A prophetic matrix: motherhood, sorority and a re-imagined sagrada familia -- 4. Writing his way into the Jewish people: faith, blood and community in Manuel Cardoso de Macedo's Vida del Buenaventurado Abraham Pelengrino -- 5. "All of us are brothers": race, faith and the limits of brotherhood in the relacion of Antonio de Montezinos, Alias Aharon Halevi (1644).
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 159-167) and index.
Access is available to current Cairn University students, faculty and staff.