Juana was born inSan Miguel Nepantla (presentlyNepantla de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz) nearMexico City as theillegitimate daughter ofDon Pedro Manuel de Asuaje y Vargas-Machuca (1602-1680), a Spanish navy captain from theCanary Islands involved in colonial transatlantic shipping and trade, and Doña Isabel Ramírez de Santillana y Rendón (1626-1690), a distinguishedcriolla, whose father leased theHacienda de Panoayan, near Mexico City.[4]
Hacienda of Panoayan inAmecameca, residence of theRamírez de Santillana family.
There are two different baptism registrations that have been attributed to her, one under the name of "Juana" in 1648, and another one under the name of "Inés" in 1651, still a matter of academic research and debate.[5] There is, nevertheless, agreement that she was one of the three children that Doña Isabel Ramírez de Santillana had out of wedlock with Don Pedro de Asuaje. Since Sor Juana's father left her life at an early age and remained largely unknown to her,[6] Sor Juana's infancy occurred entirely around her mother's family in thehacienda of Panaoyan, inAmecameca, leased by her maternal grandfather, and home to the ample Ramírez de Santillana family.[7] Among her relatives, several women with the name "Inés" have been noted, including her grandmother Inés de Brenes, her maternal-aunt Inés Ramírez de Santillana, and her first-cousin Inés de Brenes y Mendoza, married to a grandson ofAntonio de Saavedra Guzmán, the first ever publishedAmerican-born poet.[8]
Later described as achild prodigy, Sor Juana was educated at home at theHacienda de Papaya, being exposed toLatin andNahuatl,[9] and learning philosophy, and mathematics. She was given free access to her grandfather's private library, the wide array of which lended itself well to her self-taught studies.[10][11]
During her childhood, Inés often hid in thehacienda chapel to read her grandfather's books from the adjoining library, something forbidden to girls. By the age of three, she had learned how to read and write Latin. By the age of five, she reportedly could do accounts. At age eight, she composed a poem on theEucharist.[12] By adolescence, Inés had masteredGreek logic, and at age thirteen she was teaching Latin to young children. For long it was thought that she also learned Nahuatl, anAztec language, and wrote short poems in that language as a child, but this has been challenged by more recent scholarship.[9]
In 1664, at the age of 16, Inés was sent to live in Mexico City. She asked her mother's permission to disguise herself as a male student so that she could enter the university there, without success. Without the ability to obtain a formal education, Juana continued her studies privately. Her family's influential position had gained her the position oflady-in-waiting at the colonialviceroy's court,[11] where she came under the tutelage of theVicereineDonnaEleonora del Carretto, a member of one of Italy's most prominent families, and wife of the Viceroy of New Spain DonAntonio Sebastián de Toledo,Marquis of Mancera. The viceroy Marquis de Mancera, wishing to test the learning and intelligence of the 17-year-old, invited several theologians, jurists, philosophers, and poets to a meeting, during which she had to answer many questions unprepared and explain several difficult points on various scientific and literary subjects. The manner in which she acquitted herself astonished all present and greatly increased her reputation. Her literary accomplishments garnered her fame throughout New Spain. She was much admired in the viceregal court, and she received several proposals of marriage, which she declined.[12]
After joining anunnery in 1667, Sor Juana began writing poetry and prose dealing with such topics as love, women's rights, and religion.[13][14] She turned her nun's quarters into asalon, visited by New Spain's female intellectual elite, includingDoña Eleonora del Carreto, Marchioness of Mancera, andDoña Maria LuisaGonzaga, Countess of Paredes de Nava, bothVicereines of the New Spain, among others.[15] Her criticism ofmisogyny and the hypocrisy of men led to her condemnation by theBishop of Puebla,[16] and in 1694 she was forced to sell her collection of books and focus on charity towards the poor.[17] She died the next year, having caught the plague while treating her sisters.[18]
Inside the Hieronymite cloister where Sor Juana spent much of her life.Manuscript page fromLibro de professiones y elecciones de prioras y vicarias del Convento de San Gerónimo, 1586–1713, which Sor Juana signed in ink and her own blood.
In 1667, Inés entered theMonastery of St. Joseph, a community of theDiscalced Carmelite nuns, as apostulant, where she remained but a few months. Later, in 1669, she entered the monastery of theHieronymite nuns, which had more relaxed rules, where she changed her name to Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, probably in reference toSor Juana de la Cruz Vázquez Gutiérrez who was a Spanish nun whose intellectual accomplishments earned her one of the few dispensations for women to preach the gospel. Another potential namesake wasSaint Juan de la Cruz, one of the most accomplished authors of the Spanish Baroque. She chose to become a nun so that she could study as she wished since she wanted "to have no fixed occupation which might curtail my freedom to study."[19]
In the convent and perhaps earlier, Sor Juana became intimate friends with DonCarlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, who visited her in the convent's locutorio.[18] She stayed cloistered in the Convent of Santa Paula of the Hieronymite in Mexico City from 1669 until her death in 1695, and there she studied, wrote, and collected a large library of books. The Viceroy and Vicereine of New Spain became her patrons; they supported her and had her writings published in Spain.[19] She addressed some of her poems to paintings of her friend and patronMaría Luisa Manrique de Lara y Gonzaga, daughter ofVespasiano Gonzaga, Duca di Guastala, Luzara e Rechiolo, and Inés María Manrique, 9th Countess de Paredes, whom she also addressed as Lísida.[citation needed]
Along withCarta Atenagórica, the bishop also published his own letter in which he said she should focus on religious instead of secular studies.[19] He published his criticisms to use them to his advantage against the priest, and while he agreed with her criticisms, he believed that as a woman, she should devote herself to prayer and give up her writings.[22]
In response to her critics, Sor Juana wrote a letter,Respuesta a Sor Filotea de la Cruz (Reply to Sister Philotea),[23] in which she defendedwomen's right to formal education.[24] She also advocated for women's right to serve as intellectual authorities, not only through the act of writing, but also through the publication of their writing.[24] By putting women, specifically older women, in positions of authority, Sor Juana argued, women could educate other women. Resultingly, Sor Juana argued, this practice could also avoid potentially dangerous situations involving male teachers in intimate settings with young female students.[25][26] In 1691, she was reprimanded and ordered to stop writing after the exposure of a private letter in which she wrote of the right of women to education.[11]
In addition to her status as a woman in a self-prescribed position of authority, Sor Juana's radical position made her an increasingly controversial figure. She famously remarked by quoting an Aragonese poet and echoing St.Teresa of Ávila: "One can perfectly well philosophize while cooking supper."[27] In response,Francisco de Aguiar y Seijas,Archbishop of Mexico joined other high-ranking officials in condemning Sor Juana's "waywardness." In addition to opposition she received for challenging thepatriarchal structure of theCatholic Church, Sor Juana was repeatedly criticized for believing that her writing could achieve the same philanthropic goals as community work.[24]
By 1693, Sor Juana seemingly ceased writing to avoid risking officialcensure. Although there is no undisputed evidence of her renouncing her writing, there are documents showing her agreeing to undergopenance.[17] Her name is affixed to such a document in 1694, but the tone of the supposed handwrittenpenitentials is in rhetorical and autocratic, in contrast to her normally lyrical style. One is signed "Yo, la Peor de Todas" ("I, the worst of all women").[17] She is said to have sold all her books,[12] then an extensive library of more than 4,000 volumes, as well as her musical and scientific instruments. Other sources report that her defiance toward the Church led to the confiscation of all of her books and instruments, although the bishop himself agreed with the contents of her letters.[28]
Of more than one hundred unpublished works,[29] only a few of Sor Juana's writings have survived, which are known as theComplete Works. According toOctavio Paz, her writings were saved by thevicereine.[30]
On 17 April 1695 (330 years ago) (1695-04-17), at the age of just 46, Sor Juana died after ministering to other nuns stricken during aplague. Sigüenza y Góngora delivered the eulogy at her funeral.[18]
First Dream, a long philosophical and descriptivesilva (a poetic form combining verses of 7 and 11 syllables), deals with the shadow of night beneath which a person falls asleep in the midst of quietness and silence.[31] There night and day animals participate, either dozing or sleeping, all urged to silence and rest by Harpocrates. The person's body ceases its ordinary operations,[32] which are described in physiological and symbolical terms, ending with the activity of the imagination as an image-reflecting apparatus: thePharos. From this moment, her soul, in a dream, sees itself free at the summit of her own intellect; in other words, at the apex of a pyramid-like mount, which aims at God and is luminous.[33]
There, perched like an eagle, she contemplates the whole creation,[34] but fails to comprehend such a sight in a single concept. Dazzled, the soul's intellect faces its own shipwreck, caused mainly by trying to understand the overwhelming abundance of the universe, until reason undertakes that enterprise, beginning with each individual creation, and processing them one by one, helped by theten categories of Aristotle.[35]
The soul cannot get beyond questioning herself about the traits and causes of a fountain and a flower, intimating perhaps that his method constitutes a useless effort, since it must take into account all the details, accidents, and mysteries of each being. By that time, the body has consumed all its nourishment, and it starts to move and wake up, soul and body are reunited. The poem ends with the Sun overcoming Night in battle between luminous and dark armies, and with the poet's awakening.[35]
Sor Juana's first volume of poetry,Inundación castálida, was published in Spain by the Vicereine Maria Luisa Manrique de Lara yGonzága, Countess of Paredes, Marquise de la Laguna.[36] Many of her poems dealt with the subject of love and sensuality. Colombian-American translatorJaime Manrique described her poetry thus: "her love poems are expressions of a complex and ambivalent modern psyche, and because they are so passionate and ferocious that when we read them we feel consumed by the naked intensity she achieves."[37] One of Sor Juana's sonnets:
Efectos muy penosos de amor, y que no por grandes se igualan con las prendas de quien le causa
¿Vesme, Alcino, que atada a la cadena de Amor, paso en sus hierros aherrojada, mísera esclavitud, desesperada de libertad, y de consuelo ajena?
¿Ves de dolor y angustia el alma llena, de tan fieros tormentos lastimada, y entre las vivas llamas abrasada juzgarse por indigna de su pena?
¿Vesme seguir sin alma un desatino que yo misma condeno por extraño? ¿Vesme derramar sangre en el camino
siguiendo los vestigios de un engaño? ¿Muy admirado estás? Pues ves, Alcino: más merece la causa de mi daño.
The very distressing effects of love, but no matter how great, they do not equal the qualities of the one who causes them
Do you see me, Alcino, here am I caught in the chains of love, shackled in its irons, a wretched slave despairing of her freedom, and so far, so distant from consolation?
Do you see my soul filled with pain and anguish, wounded by torments so savage, so fierce, burned in the midst of living flames and judging herself unworthy of her castigation?
Do you see me without a soul, pursuing a folly I myself condemn as strange? Do you see me bleeding along the way
as I follow the trail of an illusion? Are you very surprised? See then, Alcino: the cause of harm to me deserves much more.
Hombres Necios (Sátira Filosófica) or You foolish men (Philosophical satire)
Sor Juana'sHombres Necios (Foolish men), written in the 1680s, is among the firstproto-feminist literary works in the Americas that explores thedouble standards of men while also accusing men of trying to diminish a woman's honor.[39] During seventeenth-century Mexico the society was heavily patriarchal, but Sor Juana managed to publish this work, which added to the backlash she would eventually face from the Church.[39] Yet Sor Juana was driven by a conviction for women's education and was determined to apply her writing to challenge those who believed a woman's intellectual abilities were irrelevant.[39]
Erin Elizabeth details how Sor Juana structured the poem to be centered on accusations onto men that elevate the meaning behind the poem.[40] Sor Juana emphasizes the male irrationality with a man's ability and behavior to harm a woman by deeming her as "impure" by ruining her honor and reputation.[40] Sor Juana does this by casting the blame on men arguing that they are the root cause of their mistakes and create problems for women to avoid their own mistakes.[40] Elizabeth argues that by utilizing impurity and the concept of"fall from grace",Hombres Necios implores the double standards men use on women that creates a path for women leaving them in situations they cannot win.[40] While also including the names ofThais andLucretia along with the concept of prostitution to add on how men use women and leave them helpless with nothing but the blame and hatred.[40]
Hombres necios explored the idea of why women were frequently held guilty for the sins that men incited onto them.[41] Sor Juana expresses her voice through the use of theBaroque literary style, which was prevalent at her time, in a manner that can be understood.[41] Today it is often seen as a pro-feminist love letter, and even in a"machista" Latin American society it has been popular among the population.[41]
In addition to the two comedies outlined here (House of Desires [Los empeños de una casa]) andLove is but a Labyrinth ([Amor es mas laberinto]), Sor Juana is attributed as the author of a possible ending to the comedy by Agustin de Salazar:The Second Celestina (La Segunda Celestina).[43] In the 1990s,Guillermo Schmidhuber found a release of the comedy that contained a different ending than the otherwise known ending. He proposed that those one thousand words were written by Sor Juana. Someliterary critics, such asOctavio Paz,[44] Georgina Sabat-Rivers,[45] andLuis Leal[46]) have accepted Sor Juana as the co-author, but others, such asAntonio Alatorre[47] and José Pascual Buxó, have refuted it.
Scholars have debated the meaning of Juana's comedies. Julie Greer Johnson describes how Juana protested against the rigorously defined relationship between genders through her full-length comedies and humor. She argues that Juana recognized the negative view of women in comedy which was designed to uphold male superiority at the expense of women. By recognizing the power of laughter, Juana appropriated the purpose of humor, and used it as a socially acceptable medium with which to question notions of men and women.[48]
Pawns of a House
The work was first performed onOctober 4, 1683, during the celebration of the Viceroy Count of Paredes' first son's birth.[49] Some critics maintain that it could have been set up for the ArchbishopFrancisco de Aguiar y Seijas' entrance to the capital, but this theory is not considered reliable.[49]
The story revolves around two couples who are in love but, by chance of fate, cannot yet be together. Thiscomedy of errors is considered one of the most prominent works of latebaroque Spanish-American literature. One of its most peculiar characteristics is that the driving force in the story is a woman with a strong, decided personality who expresses her desires to a nun.[50] The protagonist of the story, Dona Leonor, fits thearchetype perfectly.[49]
It is often considered the peak of Sor Juana's work and even the peak of allNew-Hispanic literature.Pawns of a House is considered a rare work in colonial Spanish-American theater due to the management of intrigue, representation of the complicated system of marital relationships, and the changes in urban life.[49]
Love is but a Labyrinth
The work premiered on February 11, 1689, during the celebration of the inauguration of the viceroyaltyGaspar de la Cerda y Mendoza. However, in his Essay on Psychology, Ezequiel A. Chavez mentions Fernandez del Castillo as a coauthor of this comedy.[51]
The plot takes on the well-known theme inGreek mythology ofTheseus: a hero fromCrete Island. He fights against theMinotaur and awakens the love ofAriadne andPhaedra.[52] Sor Juana conceived Theseus as the archetype of the baroque hero, a model also used by her fellow countrymanJuan Ruiz de Alarcón. Theseus's triumph over the Minotaur does not make Theseus proud, but instead allows him to be humble.[51]
Besides poetry and philosophy, Sor Juana was interested in science, mathematics and music. The latter represents an important aspect, not only because musicality was an intrinsic part of the poetry of the time but also for the fact that she devoted a significant portion of her studies to the theory of instrumental tuning that, especially in the Baroque period, had reached a point of critical importance. So involved was Sor Juana in the study of music, that she wrote a treatise calledEl Caracol (which is lost now) that sought to simplify musical notation and solve the problems that Pythagorean tuning suffered.
In the writings of Juana Inés, it is possible to detect the importance of sound. We can observe this in two ways. First of all, the analysis of music and the study of musical temperament appears in several of her poems. For instance, in the following poem, Sor Juana delves into the natural notes and the accidentals of musical notation:[53]
Propiedad es de natura que entre Dios y el hombre media, y del cielo el be cuadrado junto al be bemol de la tierra. (Villancico 220)
Professor Sarah Finley[54] argues that the visual is related with patriarchal themes, while the sonorous offers an alternative to the feminine space in the work of Sor Juana. As an example of this, Finley points out that Narciso falls in love with a voice, and not with a reflection.
Other works includeHombres Necios (Foolish Men), andThe Divine Narcissus.
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz wrote a letter to her Confessor, Antonio Núñez de Miranda, titledAutodefensa Espiritual (Spiritual Self-Defense) in 1690, ten years before she severs ties after sending theRespuesta a Sor Filotea.[55] However, unlike the Respuesta, theAutodefensa has much more biting and frank language used. In theAutodefensa, Sor Juana defends her intellectual pursuits and criticizes the restrictions placed on women's education and opportunities to pursue knowledge. She argues that women have the same rational souls as men and should be able to study and engage in intellectual pursuits. In theAutodefensa letter, Sor Juana uses this more forceful and confrontational language to reprimand and dismiss her Confessor.[56] This has led scholars to suggest that the Autodefensa was a rehearsal for the arguments she would later make in the Respuesta. In both letters, Sor Juana defends her right to pursue knowledge and critiques the restrictions placed on women's intellectual development.[55] Many of these themes were feminist in nature with one of the most notable being the right of women to be able to study intellectual pursuits. This theme is prevalent in the lines,
"But who has prohibited women private and individual studies? Do they not have a rational soul like men? Why should it then not enjoy within them the privilege of enlightenment in an education? Is it not as capable of earning God's glory and grace as yours? Why should it not be capable of such news and science, a trifle? What divine revelation, what determination of the Church, what dictate of reason made for us such a severe law?" (translated from Tapia Mendez 1993).[56]
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz's Autodefensa Espiritual and Respuesta a Sor Filotea are considered some of the most significant feminist writings of the 17th century. Her advocacy for women's intellectual rights was particularly groundbreaking, as women in her time were often restricted from pursuing academic and intellectual pursuits. Sor Juana's writings challenged patriarchal structures and called for greater gender equality and opportunities for women to pursue their passions. Sor Juana's writings were not only feminist but also expressed her thoughts on politics and religion.[56] She was known for her strong defense of her beliefs and refusal to be silenced, which resulted in her being criticized by the Church and other powerful figures of her time. Despite facing backlash and opposition, Sor Juana continued to write and publish her works. Her work continues to inspire feminists and scholars today, and she is celebrated as a feminist icon and a leading voice in Latin American literature and intellectual thought. Sor Juana's writing also had a significant impact on the development of Mexican literature and culture, and she is considered a national treasure in Mexico.
Octavio Paz is credited with re-establishing the importance of the historic Sor Juana in modern times,[57] and other scholars have been instrumental in translating Sor Juana's work to other languages. The only translations ofCarta Atenagorica are found inSor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Selected Writings by Pamela Kirk Rappaport andThe Tenth Muse: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz byFanchon Royer.[58] Translations of Sor Juana'sLa Respuesta are credited to Electa Arenal and Amanda Powell,Edith Grossman,Margaret Seyers Peden, and Alan S. Trubeblood.[58] These translations are respectively found inThe Answer/La Respuesta, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz: Selected Works,A Woman of Genius: The Intellectual Biography of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz andPoems, Protest, and a Dream, andA Sor Juana Anthology.[58]
Since Sor Juana's works were rediscovered after her death,[57] scholarly interpretations and translations are both abundant and contrasting.
Octavio Paz was a MexicanNobel Prize laureate and scholar. In his 1982 book,Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz o las trampas de la fe (translated to English byMargaret Sayers Peden asSor Juana: Or, The Traps of Faith), Paz examines and contemplates Sor Juana's poetry and life in the context of the history ofNew Spain, particularly focusing on the difficulties women then faced while trying to thrive in academic and artistic fields. Primarily, Paz aims to explain why Sor Juana chose to become a nun.[30] In Juana Ramírez, Octavio Paz and Diane Marting find that Sor Juana's decision to become a nun stemmed from her refusal to marry; joining the convent, according to Paz and Marting, was a way for Juana to obtain authority and freedom without marrying.[59]
In his analyses of Sor Juana's poetry, Octavio Paz traces some of her influences to the Spanish writers of theGolden Age and the Hermetic tradition, mainly derived from the works of a notedJesuit scholar of her era,Athanasius Kircher. Paz interprets Sor Juana's most ambitious and extensive poem, "First Dream" ("Primero Sueño"), as a representation of the desire of knowledge through a number ofhermetic symbols, albeit transformed in her own language and skilled image-making abilities. In conclusion, Paz makes the case that Sor Juana's works were the most important body of poetic work produced in the Americas until the arrival of 19th-century figures such asEmily Dickinson andWalt Whitman.[30]
Tarsicio Herrera Zapién, a classical scholar, has also devoted much of his career to the study of Sor Juana's works. Some of his publications (in Spanish) includeBuena fe y humanismo en Sor Juana: diálogos y ensayos: las obras latinas: los sorjuanistas recientes (1984);López Velarde y sor Juana, feministas opuestos: y cuatro ensayos sobre Horacio y Virgilio en México (1984);Poemas mexicanos universales: de Sor Juana a López Velarde (1989) andTres siglos y cien vidas de Sor Juana (1995).[60]
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz by Friar Miguel de Herrera (1700-1789),
Scholars such as Scout Frewer argue that because Juana's advocacy for religious and intellectual authority would now be associated withfeminism, she was aprotofeminist.[61] In the twenty-first century,Latin American philosophers and scholars generally interpret Sor Juana as a feminist before the time of feminism.
For instance, scholars like Rachel O'Donnell argue that Sor Juana occupied a special place in between socially acceptable and socially unacceptable roles in seventeenth century Mexico. By examining Sor Juana intersectionally, they prioritize the context ofNew Spain, specifically the influence of religion, race, and social norms, in understanding Sor Juana as a femaletheologian and poet.[62]
According to O'Donnell, in colonial Mexico, education was an undertaking reserved for men, especially activities like writing and reading.[62] Consequently, scholars like Octavio Paz argue, religion became a way for women to avoid marriage. Since Sor Juana was opposed to marriage, Paz argues, entering the convent was a socially acceptable way to be a single woman in seventeenth century Mexico.[59] Entering the convent also meant that Sor Juana could read and write about religion despite the barriers to formal education for women. O'Donnell argues that Sor Juana was called a rare bird because although theology was only an acceptable pursuit for men in theCatholic Church, she actively studied religion.[62] Sor Juana likely perceived wisdom and religion as inseparable, so she probably also believed that to follow God was to pursue wisdom.[59] A third perspective suggests that considering the colonial context of New Spain and Sor Juana's background as acriolla, she representedcolonial knowledge in a way that defied colonial religious structures.[63]
Luis Felipe Fabre criticized 'Sorjuanista' scholarship as a whole, arguing that the discourse is binary rather than complex and multilayered.[64]
Luis Felipe Fabre [es], a Mexican writer and scholar, ridicules other scholars, whom he collectively calls Sorjuanistas, who idolize Sor Juana.[64] In his book,Sor Juana and Other Monsters, Fabre argues that the appropriation and recontextualization immanent in scholars' interpretations of Sor Juana construct Sor Juana as either a heretic or a lesbian.[64] Fabre suggests that such representations constitute Sor Juana as a monstrosity or abnormality rather than as a complex woman.[64] He suggests that rather than locating Sor Juana in a fixed identity, scholarship on Sor Juana should be a fluctuating and multilayered conversation.[64]
Margaret Sayers Peden's 1982A Woman of Genius: The Intellectual Autobiography of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, was the first English translation of Sor Juana's work.[65] As well, Peden is credited for her 1989 translation ofSor Juana: Or, the Traps of Faith. Unlike other translations, Peden chose to translate the title of Sor Juana's best known work,First Dream, as "First I Dream" instead. Peden's use of first person instills authority in Sor Juana as an author, as a person with knowledge, in a male-dominated society.[58] Peden also published her English translations of Sor Juana's work in an anthology calledPoems, Protest, and a Dream. This work includes her response to authorities censuring her,La Respuesta, andFirst Dream.[66]
An equally valuable feminist analysis and interpretation of Sor Juana's life and work is found inThe Answer/La Respuesta by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz by Electa Arenal, a Sor Juana scholar who is recognized amongfeminists who changed America, and Amanda Powell, a poet and translator.[67] The original publication, released in 1994 byThe Feminist Press, was re-released in an updated second edition in 2009, also byThe Feminist Press. The bilingual publication includes poems, an annotated publication of Sor Juana's response to Church officials and her impassioned plea for education of women, analysis and a bibliography.The Answer applies a valuable gender lens to Sor Juana's writings and life.[57] In their feminist analysis, Powell and Arenal translate the viewpoint of Sor Juana's writing as gender-ambiguous. Released in an updated second edition in 2009, also by The Feminist Press, the bilingual publication includes poems, an annotated publication of Sor Juana's response to Church officials and her impassioned plea for education of women, analysis and a bibliography.[57]
Theresa A. Yugar, a feminist theologian scholar in her own right, wrote her Master's and Doctoral theses on Sor Juana. Her book,Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Feminist Reconstruction of Biography and Text, discusses the life of Sor Juana through a feminist lens and analysis of her texts,La Respuesta (The Answer) andEl Primero Sueño (First Dream).[68]
Yugar aims to understand why individuals in Mexico in the twenty-first century have more knowledge of Frida Kahlo than Sor Juana.[68] She celebrates poet Octavio Paz for crossing national borders with his internationally acclaimed work onSor Juana: Or, The Traps of Faith. However, while Paz establishes Sor Juana's historical relevance, Yugar expands on his work to establish Sor Juana's importance in the twenty-first century.[68]
Yugar argues that Sor Juana is the first female bibliophile in the New World. She also argues that Sor Juana's historic focus on gender and class equality in education (thepublic sphere) and the household (theprivate sphere), in addition to her advocacy for language rights, and the connection between indigenous religious traditions and ecological protection were paramount in the seventeenth century. Today's similar advocacy ignores her primal position in that work which is currently exclusively associated withecofeminism andfeminist theology.[68]
The Sor Juana Inés Services for Abused Women was established in 1993 to pay Sor Juana's dedication to helping women survivors of domestic violence forward. Renamed the Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse (CORA), the organization offers community, legal, and family support services in Spanish to Latin American women and children who have faced or are facing domestic violence.[69]
While Sor Juana was a famous and controversial figure in the seventeenth century, she is also an important figure in modern times.
During renovations at the cloister in the 1970s, bones believed to be those of Sor Juana were discovered. A medallion similar to the one depicted in portraits of Juana was also found, withMargarita López Portillo, the sister of PresidentJosé López Portillo (1976–1982), taking possession of the relic. During the tercentennial of Sor Juana's death in 1995, a member of the Mexican congress called on Margarita López Portillo to return the medallion. Portillo returned the medallion to Congress on November 14, 1995, with the event and description of the controversy reported inThe New York Times a month later. Whether or not the medallion actually belonged to Juana, the incident sparked discussions about Juana and the abuse of official power in Mexico.[71]
Amanda Powell locates Sor Juana as a contributor to theQuerelles des Femmes, a three-century long literary debate about women.[72] Central to this early feminist debate were ideas aboutgender andsex, and, consequently,misogyny.[72]
Powell argues that the formal and informal networks and pro-feminist ideas of the Querelles des Femmes were important influences on Sor Juana's work,La Respuesta.[72] For women, Powell argues, engaging in conversation with other women was as significant as communicating through writing.[72] However, whileTeresa of Ávila appears in Sor Juana'sLa Respuesta, Sor Juana makes no mention of the person who launched the debate,Christine de Pizan.[72] Rather than focusing on Sor Juana's engagement with other literary works, Powell prioritizes Sor Juana's position of authority in her own literary discourse. This authoritative stance not only demonstrates a direct counter to misogyny, but was also typically reserved for men.[72] As well, Sor Juana's argument that ideas about women in religious hierarchies are culturally constructed, not divine, echoes ideas about the construction of gender and sex.[72]
Although the current religious feminist movement grew out of theLiberation Theology movement of the 1970s,[73] Yugar uses Sor Juana's criticism of religious law that permits only men to occupy leadership positions within the Church as early evidence of her religious feminism. Based on Sor Juana's critique of the oppressive andpatriarchal structures of the Church of her day,[74] Yugar argues that Sor Juana predated current movements, like Latina Feminist Theology, that privilege Latina women's views on religion.[73] She also cites modern movements such as the Roman Catholic Women Priest Movement, the Women's Ordination Conference, and the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual, all of which also speak out against thepatriarchal limitations on women in religious institutions.[73]
Yugar emphasizes that Sor Juana interpreted the Bible as expressing concern with people of all backgrounds as well as with the earth.[68] Most significantly, Yugar argues, Sor Juana expressed concern about the consequences ofcapitalistic Spanish domination over the earth. These ideas, Yugar points out, are commonly associated with modernfeminist movements concerned withdecolonization[73] and the protection of the planet.[68]
As a woman in religion, Sor Juana has become associated with theVirgin of Guadalupe, a religious symbol of Mexican identity, but was also connected to Aztec goddesses.[75] For example, parts of Sor Juana'sVillancico 224 are written in Nahuatl, while others are written in Spanish.[29] The Virgin of Guadalupe is the subject of theVillancico, but depending on the language, the poem refers to both the Virgin of Guadalupe andCihuacoatl, an indigenous goddess.[29] It is ambiguous whether Sor Juana prioritizes the Mexican or indigenous religious figure, or whether her focus is on harmonizing the two.[29]
Sor Juana's connection to indigenous religious figures is also prominent in herLoa to Divine Narcissus, (Spanish "El Divino Narciso") (see Jauregui2003,2009). The play centers on the interaction between two Indigenous people, named Occident and America, and two Spanish people, named Religion and Zeal.[29] The characters exchange their religious perspectives, and conclude that there are more similarities between their religious traditions than there are differences.[29] The loa references Aztec rituals and gods, includingHuitzilopochtli, who symbolized the land of Mexico.[29]
Scholars like Nicole Gomez argue that Sor Juana's fusion of Spanish and Aztec religious traditions in herLoato Divine Narcissus aims to raise the status of indigenous religious traditions to that of Catholicism in New Spain.[29] Gomez argues that Sor Juana also emphasizes the violence with which Spanish religious traditions dominated indigenous ones.[29] Ultimately, Gomez argues that Sor Juana's use of both colonial and indigenous languages, symbols, and religious traditions not only gives voice to indigenous peoples, who were marginalized, but also affirms her own indigenous identity.[29]
Through their scholarly interpretations of Sor Juana's work, Octavio Paz and Alicia Gaspar de Alba have also incorporated Sor Juana into discourses about Mexican identity. Paz's accredited scholarship on Sor Juana elevated her to a national symbol as a Mexican woman, writer, and religious authority.[24] On the contrary, Gaspar de Alba emphasized Sor Juana's indigenous identity by inserting her into Chicana discourses.[24]
Paul Allatson emphasizes that women like Sor Juana and Frida Kahlo masculinized their appearances to symbolically complicate the space marked for women in society.[24] Sor Juana's decision to cut her hair as punishment for mistakes she made during learning[76] signified her own autonomy, but was also a way to engage in the masculinity expected of male-dominated spaces, like universities. According to Paul Allatson, nuns were also required to cut their hair after entering the convent.[24] These ideas, Allatson suggests, are echoed inFrida Kahlo's 1940 self-portrait titledSelf-Portrait with Cropped Hair, orAutorretrato con el pelo corto.[24]
In present times, Sor Juana is still an important figure in Mexico.
In 1995, Sor Juana's name was inscribed in gold on the wall of honor in theMexican Congress in April 1995.[71] Sor Juana also appears on the Mexican currencyobverse. She was first included on the 1000 pesos AA family bill in 1978, which was in circulation until 1992.[78] Between 1994 and 2020, she appeared on the 200 pesos C, D, D1, and F family bills.[79] She currently appears on the 100 pesos G bill, which has been in circulation since 2020. The town where Sor Juana grew up, San Miguel Nepantla in the municipality ofTepetlixpa,State of Mexico, was renamed in her honor as Nepantla de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
1676 -Villancicos, que se cantaron en la Santa Iglesia Metropolitana de Mexico. En los maitines de la Purissima Concepción de Nuestra Señora
1689 -Inundación castalida. Madrid: Juan Garcia Infanson
1693 -Segundo tomo de las obras de sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, monja professa en el monasterio del Señor San Geronimo de la ciudad de Mexico. Barcelona: Joseph Llopis
1701 -Fama, y obras posthumas, tomo tercero, del fenix de México, y dezima musa, poetisa de la America, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, religiosa professa en el Convento de San Geronimo, de la imperial ciudad de Mexico. Barcelona: Rafael Figuerò
1709 -Poemas de la unica poetisa americana, musa dezima, soror Juana Inés de la Cruz, religiosa professa en el monasterio de San Germonimo de la imperial ciudad de Mexico. Valencia: Antonio Bordazar
Canadian novelist Paul Anderson devoted 12 years writing a 1300-page novel entitledHunger's Brides (pub. 2004) on Sor Juana.[84] His novel won the 2005 Alberta Book Award.[85]
Sor Juana was the subject of a 2007 fictionalized novel entitledSor Juana's Second Dream: A Novel byAlicia Gaspar de Alba.[86]
American composerJohn Adams and directorPeter Sellars used two of Sor Juana's poems,Pues mi Dios ha nacido a penar andPues está tiritando in their libretto for the Nativity oratorio-operaEl Niño (2000).
ComposerAllison Sniffin's original composition, Óyeme con los ojos – (Hear Me with Your Eyes: Sor Juana on the Nature of Love), based on text and poetry by Sor Juana, was commissioned byMelodia Women's Choir, which premiered the work at theKaufman Center in New York City.[87]
ComposerDaniel Crozier and librettist Peter M. Krask wroteWith Blood, With Ink, an opera based around her life, while both were students atBaltimore'sPeabody Institute in 1993. The work won first prize in theNational Operatic and Dramatic Association's Chamber Opera Competition. In 2000, excerpts were included in theNew York City Opera's Showcasing American Composers Series. The work in its entirety was premiered by theFort Worth Opera on April 20, 2014, and recorded by Albany Records.
Puerto Rican singeriLe recites part of one of Sor Juana'ssonnets in her song "Rescatarme".
In 2013, the Brazilian composerJorge Antunes composed an electroacoustic musical work entitledCARTA ATHENAGÓRICA, in the studio ofCMMAS (Mexican Center for Music and Sound Arts) in the city of Morelia, with the support of Ibermúsicas. The composition, which honors Sor Juana is called "Figurative Music", in which the musical structure and musical objects are based on rhetoric with figures of speech. In the work Antunes uses the chiasmus, also called retruécano, from poems of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
Jesusa Rodríguez has produced a number of works concerning Sor Juana, includingSor Juana en Almoloya andStriptease de Sor Juana, based on Juana's poem "Primero Sueño".[89]
Playwright, director, and producer Kenneth Prestininzi wroteImpure Thoughts (Without Apology), which follows Sor Juana's experience with Bishop Francisco Aguilar y Seijas. "[1]Archived 2017-10-11 at theWayback Machine".
Tanya Saracho's playThe Tenth Muse, a fictionalized 18th-century drama about women in a convent in Colonial Mexico included seven female characters and their discovery of and relationship to Sor Juana's writings, debuted at theOregon Shakespeare Festival.[90]
^Donoso Rodríguez, Ed. Miguel.Mujer y literatura femenina en la América virreinal. Universidad de Navarra.La poetisa mexicana tuvo una formación académica y bagaje cultural bastante amplio y diverso.
^Murray, Stuart; Davis, Donald G.; Basbanes, Nicholas A.; Booth, Austin (2019).The library: an illustrated history. New York, NY Chicago: Skyhorse Pub.ISBN978-1-5107-3332-9.
^Arenal, Electa; Powell, Amanda (1993). "A Life Without and Within: Juana Ramírez / Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648/51-1695)".Women's Studies Quarterly.21 (1/2):67–80.JSTOR40003874.
^Murray, Stuart; Davis, Donald G.; Basbanes, Nicholas A.; Booth, Austin (2019).The library: an illustrated history. New York, NY Chicago: Skyhorse Pub.ISBN978-1-5107-3332-9.
^abcLeonard, Irving A. (1966) [1959].Baroque Times in Old Mexico: Seventeenth-Century Persons, Places, and Practices (12th ed.). University of Michigan Press. pp. 191–192.ISBN9780472061105.
^Bergmann, Emilie L.; Schlau, Stacey (2017).The Routledge research companion to the works of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Routledge.ISBN978-1-4724-4407-3.OCLC1011112232.
^Murray, Stuart (2012).Library : an illustrated history. New York: W W Norton. p. 139.ISBN978-1-61608-453-0.
^Murray, Stuart; Davis, Donald G.; Basbanes, Nicholas A.; Booth, Austin (2019).The library: an illustrated history. New York, NY Chicago: Skyhorse Pub.ISBN978-1-5107-3332-9.
^abcdefghijGomez, Nicole Lynn.Nepantla as her place in the middle : multilingualism and multiculturalism in the writings of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.OCLC974910460.
^abcPaz, Octavio (1988).Sor Juana, Or, The Traps of Faith. Harvard University Press.ISBN9780674821064.
^In the final verse we come to know the person is Sor Juana herself because she uses the first person, feminine.
^Sor Juana is inspired by Fray Luis de Granada'sIntroducción al Símbolo de la Fe, where an extended verbal description of physiological functions is the closest match to what is found in the poem.
^This pinnacle of contemplation is clearly preceded by Saint Augustine (Confessions, X, VIII, 12), who also inspired Petrarch's letter about the contemplation of the world created by God from the summit of a mountain (in his letterFamiliares, IV, 1)
^abcdeElizabeth, Erin. "Timeless Feminist Resistance Defying Dominant Discourses in Sor Juana's 'Hombres necios' and Margaret Atwood's 'A Women's Issue'".The Oswald Review. 2010
^Paz, Octavio. «¿Azar o justicia»,La segunda Celestina, ed. Guillermo Schmidhuber. México: Vuelta, 1990, págs. 7–10.
^Georgina Sabat-Rivers, "Los problemas de La segunda Celestina" (Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica 40 (1992), pp. 493–512.
^Buenos Aires: Biblioteca de textos universitarios, 1995, págs. 76–105
^Alatorre, Antonio. «La Segunda Celestina de Agustín de Salazar y Torres: ejercicio de crítica».Vuelta, 46 (diciembre de 1990), págs. 46–52.
^Johnson, Julie Greer (2000). "Humor in Spain's American Colonies: The Case of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz".Studies in American Humor.7. Studies in American Humor, 2000:35–47.
^de la Cruz, Sor Juana Inés (1921).Los empeños de una casa. Madrid, España: Imprénta Clásica.ISBN9781931010177.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^Palacios Sanchez, Refugio Amada (1997).Hacia una lectura contemporanea de Amor es mas laberinto. Universidad Veracruzana.ISBN978-9688344460.
^Long, Pamela (December 2006). "De la música un cuaderno pedís': Musical Notation in Sor Juana's Works".Bulletin of Hispanic Studies.83 (6):497–507.doi:10.3828/bhs.83.6.4.
^Finley, Sarah (2016). "Embodied Sound and Female Voice in Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz's Canon: romance 8 and El divino Narciso".Revista de Estudios Hispánicos.50 (1):191–216.doi:10.1353/rvs.2016.0007.S2CID164173642.
^abcdBergmann, Emilie L.; Schlau, Stacey (2017).The Routledge Research Companion to the Works of Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz. Routledge.ISBN9781317041641.
^abcdRoutledge research companion to the works of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Bergmann, Emilie L., 1949–, Schlau, Stacey, 1948–. London. 2017-04-28.ISBN978-1-317-04164-1.OCLC985840432.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
^abcO'Donnell, Rachel (2015). "Gender, Culture, and Knowledge in New Spain: Sor Juana's "To the Gentleman in Peru".Women's Studies.44 (8):1114–1129.doi:10.1080/00497878.2015.1078213.S2CID146608139.
^Arenal, Electa; Powell, Amanda (June 1, 2009).The Answer/LaRespuesta by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (2nd ed.). New York: The Feminist Press.ISBN9781558615984.
^abcdefgPowell, Amanda (2009). "Revisiting the "Querelle" in María de San José Salazar and Juana Inés de la Cruz: Inciting Disturbances of Patriarchy".Letras Femeninas.35 (1):211–232.ISSN0277-4356.JSTOR23023069.
^O'Dwyer, Tess; Aldama, Frederick Luis (2020).Poets, Philosophers, Lovers On the Writings of Giannina Braschi (1st ed.). Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 61.ISBN978-0-8229-4618-2.
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BEAUCHOT, Mauricio,Sor Juana, una filosofía barroca, Toluca: UAM, 2001.
BUXÓ, José Pascual,Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Lectura barroca de la poesía, México, Renacimiento, 2006.
CORTES, Adriana,Cósmica y cosmética, pliegues de la alegoría en sor Juana Inés de la Cruz y Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Madrid: Vervuert, 2013.ISBN978-84-8489-698-2
GAOS, José. "El sueño de un sueño".Historia Mexicana, 10, 1960.
HAHN, Miriam, "As If There Were No Damages: Representing Native American Spirituality in the Dramas of Lope de Vega and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz." Ecumenia. April 2015, vol. 8, no. 1, Pennsylvania State University Press, pp. 7–20, 87
JAUREGUI, Carlos A."Cannibalism, the Eucharist, and Criollo Subjects." InCreole Subjects in the Colonial Americas: Empires, Texts, Identities. Ralph Bauer & Jose A. Mazzotti (eds.). Chapel Hill: Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture, Williamsburg, VA, U. of North Carolina Press, 2009. 61–100.
Kretsch, Donna Raske. "Sisters Across the Atlantic: Aphra Behn and Sor Juana Inez de La Cruz." Women's Studies, vol. 21, no. 3, Taylor & Francis Group, 1992, pp. 361–379,doi:10.1080/00497878.1992.9978949
MERKL, Heinrich,Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Ein Bericht zur Forschung 1951–1981. Heidelberg: Winter, 1986.ISBN3-533-03789-4
MURATTA BUNSEN, Eduardo, "La estancia escéptica de Sor Juana".Sor Juana Polímata. Ed. Pamela H. Long. México: Destiempos, 2013.ISBN978-607-9130-27-5
NEUMEISTER, Sebastian, "Disimulación y rebelión: El Político silencio de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz".La cultura del barroco español e iberoamericano y su contexto europeo. Ed. Kazimierz Sabik and Karolina Kumor, Varsovia: Insituto de Estudios Ibéricos e Iberoamericanos de la Universidad de Varsovia, 2010.ISBN978-83-60875-84-1
----,La figura del mundo en "El sueño", de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Ojo y "spiritus phantasticus" en un sueño barroco, Madrid, Editorial Académica Española, 2012.ISBN978-3-8484-5766-3
PERELMUTER, Rosa,Los límites de la femineidad en sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Madrid, Iberoamericana, 2004.
PAZ, Octavio.Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz o las trampas de la fe. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1982.
PFLAND, Ludwig,Die zehnte Muse von Mexiko Juana Inés de la Cruz. Ihr Leben, ihre Dichtung, ihre Psyche. München: Rinn, 1946.
RODRÍGUEZ GARRIDO, José Antonio,La Carta Atenagórica de Sor Juana: Textos inéditos de una polémica, México: UNAM, 2004.ISBN9703214150
ROSAS LOPATEGUI, Patricia,Oyeme con los ojos : de Sor Juana al siglo XXI; 21 escritoras mexicanas revolucionarias. México: Universidad Autónoma Nuevo León, 2010.ISBN978-607-433-474-6
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