The Popol Vuh is a well-known K’iche’ Maya book compiled in the sixteenth century in the highland Guatemalan town of Chichicastenango; the only known extant copy was made in the late colonial period by a Spanish priest. Although there is thus no pre-Columbian version available to us, and part of the text recounts conquest-and colonial-era events, the bulk of the manuscript is indubitably based on earlier oral and written traditions. Allen Christenson’s claim that this “is the most important example of Pre-columbia Maya literature to have survived the Spanish conquest” is a reasonable one.
Christenson has been working with the K’iche’ Maya language — and reading the Popol Vuh — for some 25 years. This edition is thus not only the product of extensive research and contemplation but is a labor of love. The author’s profound appreciation for the text comes through. To be fair, the same is also true...
