THE SUN, HE DIES

by Jamake Highwater ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 16, 1980

A somber, sustained, bloody (yet curiously bloodless) chronicle of Cortez' invasion and destruction of Mexico and the golden city of Tenochritlan in the 16th century. The narrator is Nanautzin, an outcast woodcutter of the Tlaxcala people who is made Chief Orator to Lord Montezuma II. And Nanautzin records the conflicting aspects of Montezuma, the emperor's worship of both Sun-god Huitzilopochtli (who must be fed with human blood to defend himself against enemies and defends Montezuma's people) and holy Quetzalcoati (exiled god of music, art, and science). Then: the coming of Cortez and his soldiers--brutal, greedy for gold, incomprehensible. Lord Montezuma is racked and driven by fear, divided in mind, ""no longer divine."" He orders the Spanish ""gods""--for are they not pale, hairy, and tall like Quetzalcoati?--to be honored with gifts and obeisances; he decrees many executions; he is paralyzed into inaction by the certainty that a sublime battle of the gods will take place, the world destroyed. On the Spanish come, bribing, deceiving, and slaughtering, until there is the confrontation of Cortez and Montezuma. Nanautzin sees in both pairs of eyes lust. . . and emptiness. The horror and violence and humiliation mount, the people are roused too late from Montezuma's terror--and after the final devastation and Montezuma's death, Nanautzin concludes that the Spaniards were gods: the same blood-hungry gods of the forefathers, ""and now they have come down to live upon our land and upon our bodies."" In an Afterword, Highwater (Journey to the Sky) shares some of his research materials, which convincingly point up the bias in varying accounts of the Mexican conquests and destruction. Firmly set in an Aztec cultural perspective--a respectable, often enlightening saga, but rigorous rather than vigorous.

Pub Date: May 16, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Lippincott & Crowell

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1980

Categories: FICTION