Title: Rabinal achi : a fifteenth-century Maya dynastic drama /
Authors: Breton, Alain, 1947-
Publisher: University Press of Colorado,
Year: 2007
Subjects: Rabinal-Achí.; Quiché drama History and criticism.; Achi Indians Drama.; Quiché drama.
Abstract: "The Rabinal Achi, one of the most remarkable works of Mayan literature, dates back to the 1400s. In 2005, UNESCO declared Rabinal Achi to be a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. This drama is still performed with a ritual dance in the village of Rabinal (Baja Verapaz)." "The drama is set in the Guatemalan highlands in the second half of the fifteenth century. In an exemplary trial that takes place in Kajyub, the capital of the Rabinaleb at that time, a captured enemy warrior (K'iche' Achi) appears before the royal court. A series of combative dialogues pits the offending warrior against the local warrior (Rabinal Achi) and the king (Job Toj), reconstructing the deeds of those involved and retracing the antagonistic history of these two Mayan groups, the Quiche and the Rabinaleb." "Alain Breton approaches the text from an anthropological and ethnographical perspective, demonstrating that this indigenous text reenacts pre-Columbian historic paradigms. Breton's work is based on the Perez Manuscript (1913), a facsimile of which is included in its entirety. Breton translated into French an entirely new transcription of the original text, and Teresa Lavender Fagan and Robert Schneider translated the text into English. Both the transcription and the translation are accompanied by detailed commentary and a glossary."--BOOK JACKET.
Contents: Foreword / Robert M. Carmack -- A Unique Text -- An Exceptional Destiny -- History of a Discovery -- Earlier Editions and Publications -- The Perez Manuscript -- Conflicts between the Rabinaleb and the Quiche -- The Historical Context -- The Trial -- The Protagonists -- An Agonistic Joust -- The Current State of the Text -- The Present Edition -- Regarding the Transcription -- Regarding the Translation -- Regarding the Presentation -- Pt. I. The Perez Manuscript -- Pt. II. The Text: Transcription and Translation -- Pt. III. Analysis: An Exemplary History -- Return to the Places: Spaces and journeys -- Spatial Perspective -- Temporal Perspective -- Historical Perspective -- Return to the Actors: Figures of the Warrior and the King -- The Figure of the Warrior -- The Figure of the King -- Supremacy of One Figure over the Other -- Return to Events -- A Disputed Territory -- An Impossible Alliance -- The War: A Metaphor for the Hunt -- Return to the Text: Epilogue.