Historia y poesía en El juicio de Dios o la reina Ico de Graciliano Afonso

Abstract

In this article we propose an analysis of the historical elements present in the 19th century Canarian author Graciliano Afonso’s adaptation of a legend referring to an episode prior to the conquest of the island of Lanzarote at the beginning of the 15th century. The introduction of aboriginal characters, events or terms, among other things, allows the author to make an expanded version of the story to insert the result into a broader project: To make the history of the Canary Islands accessible to the island’s young people of his time. In this way, The Judgement of God or Queen Ico will become a precursor example of novelized (or versified) history, influenced by what Walter Scott is doing in Great Britain with his novels. We intend with our study to address the connections that the author establishes between literary freedom and the historical reality that could be enclosed within the legend of Queen Ico.