Juan de Espinosa Medrano

Juan de Espinosa Medrano (ca. 1629—November 13, 1688), known as El Lunarejo (“The Spotty-Faced”) [Called as such as a result of a mole ("lunar") or birthmark on his forehead.] , was a Peruvian cleric, preacher, author of philosophical and literary tracts, and playwright. The year and place of his birth, as well as his ethnic origins, have been a matter of dispute. [Raquel Chang-Rodriguez, "Hidden Messages: Representation and Resistance in Andean Colonial Drama" (Bucknell University Press, 1999), 85.] Some scholars believe that Espinosa Medrano was of Indian ancestry and thus discriminated against, during his career, by colonial and ecclesiastical authorities. [Raquel Chang-Rodriguez, "Hidden Messages: Representation and Resistance in Andean Colonial Drama" (Bucknell University Press, 1999), 85.] Clorinda Matto de Turner wrote an “indigenist” legend around Espinosa Medrano, making him a man of indigenous ancestry, “but archival research has shown that there is no evidence that Espinosa Medrano was a pitifully poor Indian, but on the contrary, that he was a man of fairly substantial means...closer to the figure of a ‘baroque gentleman’...” [ Roberto González Echevarría, "Celestina's Brood: Continuities of the Baroque in Spanish and Latin American Literature" (Duke University Press, 1993), 149-50.]

He may have been born at Cálcauso in the Apurímac Region. [ [http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/e/espinosa_medrano.htm Biografia de Juan de Espinosa Medrano ] ]

It is known that he entered the Dominican seminary of San Antonio Abad in Cuzco. There, as a young student, he wrote many of his plays. [Raquel Chang-Rodriguez, "Hidden Messages: Representation and Resistance in Andean Colonial Drama" (Bucknell University Press, 1999), 84.] He wrote plays in both Spanish and Quechua. He wrote in Spanish the drama "Amar su propia muerte" (To Love One’s Own Death) (ca. 1645). Characters of this play include Sísara, a general of Canaan; Jabín, king of Canaan; Jael; Barac, a general of the armies of Israel.He wrote in Quechua a religious play, "El hijo pródigo" (also known as "Auto sacramental del hijo pródigo"; "The Prodigal Son") [ [http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/e/espinosa_medrano.htm Biografia de Juan de Espinosa Medrano ] ] , as well as a mythological piece, "El rapto de Proserpina" ("The Abduction of Proserpina"). [Raquel Chang-Rodriguez, "Hidden Messages: Representation and Resistance in Andean Colonial Drama" (Bucknell University Press, 1999), 84.] The theatrical piece "Ollantay" is also attributed to him. [ [http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/e/espinosa_medrano.htm Biografia de Juan de Espinosa Medrano ] ]

In 1654, he graduated from the Jesuit university of San Ignacio de Loyola.

He also wrote a piece defending Góngora’s poetry called "Apologético en favor de Don Luis de Góngora, Príncipe de los poetas lyricos de España: contra Manuel de Faria y Sousa, Cavallero portugués" (1662). [ [http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/e/espinosa_medrano.htm Biografia de Juan de Espinosa Medrano ] ] In the "Apologético", published in Lima in 1662, Espinosa Medrano eruditely displays his knowledge of classical and contemporary literature. To support his arguments, Espinosa Medrano refers to, among others, Apuleius, Augustine of Hippo, the Bible, Camoens, Cervantes, Erasmus, Faria, Garcilaso, Homer, Lope de Vega, and Pedro de Oña. [ [http://www.uchile.cl/facultades/filosofia/cestculturales/toro.html El Lunarejo: Identidad mestiza y crítica literaria ] ] His defense of Góngora has been viewed as "a plea for recognition on behalf of himself and of writers living and working on the periphery of the Spanish empire." [Raquel Chang-Rodriguez, "Hidden Messages: Representation and Resistance in Andean Colonial Drama" (Bucknell University Press, 1999), 84.]

Antonio Cortéz de la Cruz, one of his disciples, collected Espinosa Medrano's sermons and published them posthumously in Valladolid, in a book entitled "La novena maravilla" ("The Ninth Wonder") (1695).

Espinosa Medrano also wrote "La Lógica" (Logic), the first volume of a tract devoted to the philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas, which was published in Rome in 1688. [Raquel Chang-Rodriguez, Hidden Messages: Representation and Resistance in Andean Colonial Drama (Bucknell University Press, 1999), 84-5.]

References

ources

* "Atlas departamental del Perú", varios autores, Ediciones Peisa S.A., Lima, Perú, 2003 ISBN 9972-40-257-6
* "El Perú en los tiempos modernos", Julio R. Villanueva Sotomayor, Ediciones e Impresiones Quebecor World Perú S.A., Lima , Perú, 2002.
* "Historia de la República del Perú", Jorge Basadre Grohmann, Diario "El Comercio", Lima, Perú, 2005. ISBN 9972-205-62-2.
* "Nuevo Atlas del Perú y el Mundo", Juan Augusto Benavides Estrada, Editorial Escuela Nueva S.A., Lima, Perú, 1991.

External links

*es icon [http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/e/espinosa_medrano.htm Juan de Espinosa Medrano]
*es icon [http://www.elhablador.com/resena8_1.htm Juan de Espinosa Medrano: Apologético en favor de don Luis de Góngora]
*es icon [http://www.andes.missouri.edu/andes/Especiales/CP_Lunarejo.html La Panegírica Declamación de Espinosa Medrano o el discurso peruano de las armas y las letras]
*es icon [http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/78038409873470573265679/index.htm Amar su propia muerte] (online digitized text)
*es icon [http://www.uchile.cl/facultades/filosofia/cestculturales/toro.html El Lunarejo: Identidad mestiza y crítica literaria]