Travel writing in Latin American historiographic works: an assessment of various approaches

Abstract

This paper aims to present the works of two Latin American authors who dedicated to study travel writings on the Americas: Chilean historian Guillermo Feliú Cruz (1900-1973) and Peruvian literary critic and historian Estuardo Núñez (1908). They were the first ones in Latin America to compile and inventory such documentation in a more systematic way so that to propose classifications and approaches. Despite being seminal, their work present perspectives which are questioned in the reflections of contemporary authors who use the same sources. Both authors were guided by the belief that those documents reproduce reality faithfully - which relates them to a prevailing conception in the past considered limited and unsatisfactory today. Such an approach is explored in this paper which also presents singularities and aspects in common to both authors concerning the use of reports as documental sources.