Date: 2005
Type: Thesis
Columbus on display : the US and Spanish Columbian quincentennial commemoration practices as continuation and re-interpretation of Columbian heritage
Florence : European University Institute, 2005, EUI, HEC, PhD Thesis
HALIN, Juha Petteri, Columbus on display : the US and Spanish Columbian quincentennial commemoration practices as continuation and re-interpretation of Columbian heritage, Florence : European University Institute, 2005, EUI, HEC, PhD Thesis - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/5829
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
In 1851, Pope Pius IX, as part of the project of canonizing Columbus, asked the official historian of the Vatican, Count Roselly de Lorges, to write a pious and glorifying history of Columbus. This canonization attempt served as a theme for the Cuban poet A lejo Carpentier in E l A r p a e y l a s o m b r a . He fictionalises the Colum bus story but, at the same time, notes that one has to be careful when reading history. In his novel, Carpentier dares to awaken Columbus from his glorious eternal rest to denounce his foolishness, his mendacity and his insatiable greed for gold. The main part of the fictional novel is a flashback to Columbus’ own deathbed. The first part of the novel takes place in Europe in 1856 and introduces the Italian nobleman M astai-Ferrati, the future Pope Pius DC. There is a flashback to the pope’s youth, in 1823, when he traveled from Genoa to Santiago in Chile, to see if an apostolic mission could be sent to the region, a request that had been made by Bernardo O ’Higgins, then head o f the Chilean government, to Pope Pius VII. The motives of M astai-Ferrati for initiating the procedure are shown to be political rather than religious, as part of the Catholic Church’s constant scheming to shore up its power in Latin America. Like Pius IX, his pretensions to power are covered in a gloss of religion, part of the book’s achievement being to show how such political strategies have continued long after Columbus. The noblem and pions the cause of Columbus* beatification in the belief that it will provide an antidote to the venom of philosophical ideas of the late nineteenth century.
Additional information:
Defence date: 30 September 2005; Examining board: Prof. Diogo Ramada Curto, European University Institute (Supervisor) ; Prof. Jay Levenson, Museum of Modern Art, New York ; Prof. Hannu Salmi, University of Turku ; Prof. Bo Stråth, European University Institute; PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/5829
Series/Number: EUI; HEC; PhD Thesis
Publisher: European University Institute
LC Subject Heading: Columbus Quincentenary, 1992-1993 -- United States; Columbus Quincentenary, 1992-1993 -- Spain; Columbus, Christopher