This tour into the thicket of Aztec thought is indispensable, which is why I gave it four stars. But it was written forty years ago, leaving it with two glaring problems.
The author: What might seem to be hyper-political-correctness is actually poignantly outrageous ancestor worship. The Aztecs can do no wrong, so get used to it. On p. 155 Leon-Portilla takes us through the "sagacity" of book burning! "The common folk were worshipping pictures of their ancient rulers as gods." (Sound familiar?) How, exactly, was this culture-destroying move sagacious? Well, it shows that the Mexica had "a strong awareness of history"!
(But when the Spanish burn books, poetry, art and music - beauty itself - leave the planet forever.)
This quaint attitude actually helps make a difficult topic entertaining. The translation is a more aggravating problem. "Deities of the Close Vicinity"? Why didn't our translator throw in some English, like "Lords of the Nearby"? And he gives us "tiger" in place of jaguar! (Spanish for jaguar is "tigre.")
Leon-Portilla goes to great lengths to explain a phenomenon common in Náhautl, difrasismo, which apparently is rare in Spanish. But the translation completely ignores that it's the bread and butter of English - difrasismo is the coupling of words, like "bread and butter"! The crucial Aztec phrase "face and heart," for example, is apparently untranslatable into Spanish, but English has "body and soul," or the plural "hearts and minds"! How beautifully Nahuatl must translate directly into English!
This is a must-read for the student of ancient America, and not just because there's nothing else out there. But oh for a new translation!
Book review from Amazon
Must-read, but with two caveats, January 15, 2005
By yankee-in-ca
0 有用 桐 2022-07-23 15:57:10
能紧紧把握住的恒常真相（根）在何处？世间梦幻泡影，万物朝生暮死，故真相在世外。但它又无时无刻不在万物近旁，在水面、在太阳、在陆地、在天边，如夜如风。它是阴阳二气的主宰，维持着万物生发肃杀的平衡。它创造出人类，取悦于人世的千变万化。 人有面有心，面为智慧，心为动力。心驱动人寻求真相，人生就是其轨迹。自己的心象是真相的体现，心灵如真相传声的话筒，用诗歌、绘画、雕塑的美学形式将它描绘抒发。 相较于这种智... 能紧紧把握住的恒常真相（根）在何处？世间梦幻泡影，万物朝生暮死，故真相在世外。但它又无时无刻不在万物近旁，在水面、在太阳、在陆地、在天边，如夜如风。它是阴阳二气的主宰，维持着万物生发肃杀的平衡。它创造出人类，取悦于人世的千变万化。 人有面有心，面为智慧，心为动力。心驱动人寻求真相，人生就是其轨迹。自己的心象是真相的体现，心灵如真相传声的话筒，用诗歌、绘画、雕塑的美学形式将它描绘抒发。 相较于这种智者的哲思，帝国本身的世界观则格格不入。太阳才是永恒的，它一刻都不停歇地移动、燃烧，正如同帝国无限扩张征战各方，以战士及俘虏的鲜血供养太阳的运转。这样对外好战的激情，与从内心感知神谕的沉静是对于真相截然不同的两种态度，却也是人性本身的两半。如同在日本这片土地上同时诞生出了物哀思想和军国主义。 (展开)
0 有用 桐 2022-07-23 15:57:10
能紧紧把握住的恒常真相（根）在何处？世间梦幻泡影，万物朝生暮死，故真相在世外。但它又无时无刻不在万物近旁，在水面、在太阳、在陆地、在天边，如夜如风。它是阴阳二气的主宰，维持着万物生发肃杀的平衡。它创造出人类，取悦于人世的千变万化。 人有面有心，面为智慧，心为动力。心驱动人寻求真相，人生就是其轨迹。自己的心象是真相的体现，心灵如真相传声的话筒，用诗歌、绘画、雕塑的美学形式将它描绘抒发。 相较于这种智... 能紧紧把握住的恒常真相（根）在何处？世间梦幻泡影，万物朝生暮死，故真相在世外。但它又无时无刻不在万物近旁，在水面、在太阳、在陆地、在天边，如夜如风。它是阴阳二气的主宰，维持着万物生发肃杀的平衡。它创造出人类，取悦于人世的千变万化。 人有面有心，面为智慧，心为动力。心驱动人寻求真相，人生就是其轨迹。自己的心象是真相的体现，心灵如真相传声的话筒，用诗歌、绘画、雕塑的美学形式将它描绘抒发。 相较于这种智者的哲思，帝国本身的世界观则格格不入。太阳才是永恒的，它一刻都不停歇地移动、燃烧，正如同帝国无限扩张征战各方，以战士及俘虏的鲜血供养太阳的运转。这样对外好战的激情，与从内心感知神谕的沉静是对于真相截然不同的两种态度，却也是人性本身的两半。如同在日本这片土地上同时诞生出了物哀思想和军国主义。 (展开)