Love and Empire in the Colonial Americas
European encounters with the Americas awakened many forms of desire, which pervaded the writings of explorers like Columbus and his contemporaries. These experiences in turn shaped colonial society in Brazil, Peru, and elsewhere. The New World, while it could be explored, conquered, and exploited, could never really be "known"—leaving Europe's desire continually unrequited and the project of empire unfulfilled.
Using numerous poetic examples and extensive historical documentation, Unrequited Conquests rewrites the relations between the Renaissance and colonial Latin America and between poetry and history.
Note on Editions and Translations
Introduction: The Unrequitedness of Conquest
1. The Columbian First Person
2. "For Love of Pau-Brasil": Objectification in Colonial Brazil
3. Love Poetry in the World
4. The Imperial Sidney
5. Huaca, Love, and Conquest: The Inca Garcilaso de la Vega