De la prosa de las relaciones a la épica gremial: Juan de Castellanos, Elegías de varones ilustres de Indias (1589).

The Elegías de varones ilustres de Indias (1589) by Juan de Castellanos are closely related to the contemporary Economy of Mercedes: a system in which deserving individuals (beneméritos) in the Americas aspire to a merced (reward, privilege) by means of an autobiographical report. In the Elegías we observe the transformation of a catalogue of beneméritos of the Kingdom of New Granada into an epic poem. The source of authority of this text is not the individual but the collective of the veterans. Castellanos found the model for his role as a spokesman of the "nobility" in Fernán Pérez de Guzmán, author of the Generaciones y semblanzas (ca. 1460). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]