Abstract

This article is a new interpretation of the Epistle of Amarilis to Belardo. Using a close reading of text and a detailed analysis of the text’s sources, we discover that it is more than just a complaint from one of Lope’s female admirers, finding that the letter by Amarilis, in the tradition of El Inca Garcilaso, is the Peruvian mestizo’s cry (Amarilis) for «another» homeland ­—«Spain», as symbolized by Lope.

Abstract

The article analyzes the onomastics of the Indian characters, the portrayal of the Inca Empire of Huáscar and Atahualpa, and the Christianization of Guacolda and Yupangui in Calderón’s La Aurora en Copacabana. Rational and proactive, these two characters realize the illegitimacy of the Inca idolatry and embrace the true religion, long before the formal start of Perú’s christianization. Thus, it is argued that this specific representation of the Indian may have been influenced by the close circles indianos of Miguel de Aguirre, who allegedly patronized this comedy.