Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Selected Writings

The Classics of Western Spirituality

by Juana Inés de la Cruz, Gillian T.W. Ahlgren (Preface), Pamela Kirk Rappaport (Translator)

The interest in Mexican Hieronimite nun, Sor Juana In�s de la Cruz (1648-1695) is reaching extraordinary new levels. She has been the subject of plays, a feature film, scholarly conferences, books and articles. Nobel Laureate, poet Octavio Paz, has called her one of the great poets of the Spanish language and considers her Response to Sor Philotea de la Cruz to be the first intellectual autobiography in the Hispanic world. At her death in 1695, Sor Juana was an internationally-known poet, dramatist and religious writer. Today, she is still considered an exceptional lyric poet and one of the great writers of Spain's siglo de oro, its Golden Age of drama. Latin American literary scholars have been continually enthralled by this nun of humble beginnings who was educated at the vice regal court in Mexico City after being recognized as a child prodigy. Until recently, though, their attention has been focused on her secular poetry and drama, to the neglect of her religious works. Included here are: religious songs and devotional poetry; Sor Juana's sacramental drama and preface play, Divine Narcissus; two devotional works (first English translation), Devotional Exercises for the Feast of the Incarnation and Offerings for the Sorrows of Our Lady; a theological disputation, Critique of a Sermon/Athenagoric Letter and her autobiographical Response to Sor Philotea de la Cruz. Sor Juana In�s de la Cruz: Selected WRITINGS in the Classics of Western Spirituality Series is essential reading for those interested in great literary figures, religious studies and women's history. +

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Religion, Nonfiction, Theology, School, Womens

448 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2005

About the author

Juana Inés de la Cruz was born in a town in the Valley of Mexico to a Creole mother Isabel Ramírez and a Spanish military father, Pedro Manuel de Asbaje. As a child, she learned Nahuatl (Uto-Aztec language spoken in Mexico and Central America) and read and write Spanish in the middle of three years. Thanks to her grandfather's lush library, Juana Inés de la Cruz read the Greek and Roman classics and the theology of the time, she learned Latin in a self-taught way. In 1665, admired for her talent and precocity, she was lady-in-waiting to Leonor Carreto, wife of Viceroy Antonio Sebastián de Toledo. Sponsored by the Marquises of Mancera, she shone in the viceregal court of New Spain for her erudition and versifying ability. In 1667, Juana Inés de la Cruz entered a convent of the Discalced Carmelites of Mexico but soon had to leave due to health problems. Two years later she entered the Order of St. Jerome, remaining there for the rest of her life and being visited by the most illustrious personalities of the time. She had several drawbacks to her activity as a writer, a fact that was frowned upon at the time and that Juana Inés de la Cruz always defended, claiming the right of women to learn. Shortly before her death, she was forced by her confessor to get rid of her library and her collection of musical and scientific instruments so as not to have problems with the Holy Inquisition, very active at that time. She died of a cholera epidemic at the age of forty-three, while helping her sick companions. The emergence of Sor Juana De La Cruz in the late seventeenth century was a cultural miracle and her whole life was a constant effort of stubborn personal and intellectual improvement.

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a woman and a nun in Mexico in the mid to later 1600's, Juana's writings (poetry and prose) were extraordinary and remarkable for setting forth a strong feminine and secular viewpoint. The "Reply to Sor Philotea" would especially stand up (even today) as a declaration that many people would be proud to stand behind.

[Natalia burr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelentes poemas, escritos por la famosa poetisa del siglo XXVII acerca del machismo y las injusticias vividas en su vida.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

"To a Gentleman From Peru"
"Letters to Sor Filotea"

[Renny · Rating 5 out of 5]

-A Woman of Genius-
"How much might we, who identify ourselves as Christian, under the injunction to love our enemies, achieve by tolerating them."