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THE ITALIAN LEGACY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
322
Jariquena, tired of waiting for him, had gone off and married the Count of Villavicencio and traveled to
Spain for the ceremony, in 1516, as Countess Angustias, on the basis of an agreement with the Hieronymites,
to which a part of her assets would go. But the rest will be inherited at the death of the old Count. And then
she returns to her native island. Fray Tomás de Abril also receives a punishment. And Casilda, after spending
a season in a convent, becomes the lover of a marquis and owner of taverns. Her newly acquired power en-
ables her to cast her chastity into the flames.
A motif developed in the book is that of Nathaniel’s uncle, Luis de Torres, a Converso Sephardic Jew,
who is transformed into something of a behique
2
among the Taínos, preaching a fusionist form of Judaism.
According to him, whose real name was Josef Ben Hailevi Haviri, the Colombuses were crypto-Jews. Here
we are interested in remembering a curious detail: it is said that Luis de Torres met Bartholomew Colombus
in Portugal, who used the meticulous nautical maps drawn by the Genoese cartographer Vesconte Maggio-
lo. Bartholomew informs Luis de Torres that his brother, Christopher, had devised new routes to navigate
beyond where he had arrived so far, with the help of one of Vesconte’s descendants. It is a small wink from
the author to refer to his Italian ancestry, in this innovative historical novel, which reflects on how uncertain,
intangible, and subjective the truth in fact is, thereby proposing alternative readings of that decisive moment
in the history of the Americas. The “shipwreck” in the subtitle may thus also be that of a dream which is
impossible to interpret.
In this narrative tour de force, Marcio Veloz Maggiolo confirms himself as a generous, enlightened, and
courageous writer, who has managed to create almost an entire body of literature, crossing all borders with
imagination and empathy, even dialoguing with the flying Rayano witches and the Hupias
3
of the Guayabal
of Coaybay, the “distilled sky” of the Taínos.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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ENDNOTES
1
The inhabitants of the region abutting the border with Haiti
(translator’s note).
2
Sorcerer or shaman (translator’s note).
3
Spirits of the deceased (translator’s note).
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