La génesis de Sacheofú Asia en las letras novohispanas de González de Mendoza a Fernández de Lizardi (1585-1831)

Abstract

In his famous novel El Periquillo Sarniento, Mexican autor José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi created an heterotopy inspired in China which he called Sacheofú. Using this imaginary island as a common theme, this study proposes an approach to the intellectual aspects of the history of the Manila Galleon. This maritime trade route that linked Manila and Acapulco between 1573 and 1815 had profound repercussions in the world economy of its time which have been subject of multiple studies. Through an analysis of the literary tradition produced in New Spain in connection to the Galleon trade, this essay posits that the effects of this trade route had literary manifestations in New Spain alongside its well-known effects on material culture. The purpose is to draw an outline of this literary dimension to complete the panorama of the cultural influence of the Galleon. The chief argument is that El Periquillo Sarniento is the culmination of a literary tradition that starts in the sixteenth century with the Historia del Gran Reino de la China by Juan González de Mendoza and includes chronicles, relaciones, poetry, sermons, hagiographies, proto-novels, and treatises. This paper aims to show how these works constitute sources for the history of the intellectual impact of the Manila Galleon in New Spain, which carried such weight as to influence the birth of the novel in Hispanic America.