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''Doña'' Inés de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana, better known as
Sor Sor may refer to: * Fernando Sor (1778–1839), Spanish guitarist and composer * Sor, Ariège, a French commune * SOR Libchavy, a Czech bus manufacturer * Sor, Azerbaijan, a village * Sor, Senegal, an offshore island * Sor River, a river in th ...
Juana Inés de la Cruz (12 November 1648 – 17 April 1695) was a Mexican
writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, ...
,
philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
,
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...
and
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...
of the
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
period, and Hieronymite
nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
. Her contributions to the
Spanish Golden Age The Spanish Golden Age ( es, Siglo de Oro, links=no , "Golden Century") is a period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the political rise of the Spanish Empire under the Catholic Monarchs of Spain and the Spanish Ha ...
gained her the nicknames of "The Tenth Muse" or "The Phoenix of America"; historian Stuart Murray calls her a flame that rose from the ashes of "religious authoritarianism".Murray, Stuart (2009). The Library: An Illustrated History. Chicago:
Skyhorse Publishing Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. is an American independent book publishing company founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City, with a satellite office in Brattleboro, Vermont. History The current president and publisher is founder Tony Ly ...
. .
Sor Juana lived during Mexico's colonial period, making her a contributor both to early Spanish literature as well as to the broader literature of the
Spanish Golden Age The Spanish Golden Age ( es, Siglo de Oro, links=no , "Golden Century") is a period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the political rise of the Spanish Empire under the Catholic Monarchs of Spain and the Spanish Ha ...
. Beginning her studies at a young age, Sor Juana was fluent in Latin and also wrote in
Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...
, and became known for her philosophy in her teens. Sor Juana educated herself in her own library, which was mostly inherited from her grandfather. After joining a nunnery in 1667, Sor Juana began writing poetry and prose dealing with such topics as
love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...
,
environmentalism Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment (biophysical), environment, par ...
,
feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
, and
religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...
. She turned her nun's quarters into a
salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon ( ...
, visited by
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the A ...
's female intellectual elite, including ''Doña'' Eleonora del Carreto, Marchioness of Mancera, and ''Doña'' Maria Luisa Gonzaga, Countess of Paredes de Nava, both ''Vicereines'' of the
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the A ...
, amongst others. Her criticism of
misogyny Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practice ...
and the hypocrisy of men led to her condemnation by the Bishop of Puebla, and in 1694 she was forced to sell her collection of books and focus on charity towards the poor. She died the next year, having caught the plague while treating her sisters. After she had faded from academic discourse for hundreds of years,
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
winner
Octavio Paz Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and ...
re-established Sor Juana's importance in modern times. Scholars now interpret Sor Juana as a
protofeminist Protofeminism is a concept that anticipates modern feminism in eras when the feminist concept as such was still unknown. This refers particularly to times before the 20th century, although the precise usage is disputed, as 18th-century feminism ...
, and she is the subject of vibrant discourse about themes such as colonialism, education rights, women's religious authority, and writing as examples of feminist advocacy.


Life


Early life

''Doña'' Inés de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana was born in San Miguel Nepantla (now called ''Nepantla de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz'') near
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
. Owing to her
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
ancestry and
Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
birth, Inés is considered a Criolla. She was the
illegitimate child Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ...
of Don Pedro Manuel de Asuaje y Vargas-Machuca, a Spanish officer, and Doña Isabel Ramírez de Santillana y Rendón, a wealthy criolla, who inhabited the
Hacienda An ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or '' finca''), similar to a Roman '' latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchard ...
of Panoaya, close to
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
. She was baptized on 2 December 1651 with the name of “Inés” ("Juana" was only added after she entered the convent) described on the baptismal rolls as "a daughter of the Church". The name “Inés” came from her maternal aunt “Doña” Inés Ramírez de Santillana, who received the name herself from her
Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...
n grandmother “Doña” Inés de Brenes. The name “Inés” was also present through their cousin Doña Inés de Brenes y Mendoza, married to a grandson of Antonio de Saavedra Guzmán, the first ever published
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
-born poet. Her biological father, according to all accounts, was completely absent from her life. However, thanks to her maternal grandfather, who owned a very productive ''
hacienda An ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or '' finca''), similar to a Roman '' latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchard ...
'' in
Amecameca Amecameca is a municipality located in the eastern panhandle of Mexico State between Mexico City and the Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl volcanos of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It is located on federal highway 115 which leads to Cuautla, ...
, Inés lived a comfortable life with her mother on his estate, Panoaya, accompanied by an illustrious group of relatives who constantly visited or were visited in their surrounding haciendas."Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz", Academy of American Poets
/ref> During her childhood, Inés often hid in the ''
hacienda An ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or '' finca''), similar to a Roman '' latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchard ...
'' 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 the
Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was institu ...
. By adolescence, Inés had mastered Greek logic, and at age thirteen she was teaching
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
to young children. She also learned the
Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...
language of
Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...
and wrote some short poems in that language. In 1664, at the age of 16, Inés was sent to live in
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
. She even 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 formal education, Juana continued her studies privately. Her family's influential position had gained her the position of
lady-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...
at the colonial
viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning " ...
's court, where she came under the tutelage of the
Vicereine A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...
''Donna'' Eleonora del Carretto, member of one of Italy's most illustrious families, and wife of the
Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning " ...
of
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the A ...
Don Antonio 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 New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the A ...
. She was much admired in the viceregal court, and she received several proposals of marriage, which she declined.


Religious life and name change

In 1667, she entered the
Monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...
of St. Joseph, a community of the Discalced Carmelite nuns, as a postulant, where she remained but a few months. Later, in 1669, she entered the monastery of the Hieronymite nuns, which had more relaxed rules, where she changed her name to Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, probably in reference to Sor Juana de la Cruz Vázquez Gutiérrez who was a Spanish nun whose erudition earned her one of the few dispensations for women to preach the gospel. Another potential namesake was Saint 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." In the convent and perhaps earlier, Sor Juana became intimate friends with fellow savant, Don
Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora Don Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (August 14, 1645 – August 22, 1700) was one of the first great intellectuals born in the New World - Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain ( Mexico City). He was a criollo patriot, exalting New Spain over O ...
, who visited her in the convent's locutorio. 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. She addressed some of her poems to paintings of her friend and patron María Luisa Manrique de Lara y Gonzaga, daughter of
Vespasiano Gonzaga 250px, Vespasiano I Gonzaga. Vespasiano I Gonzaga, Duke of Sabbioneta (6 December 1531 – 26 February 1591) was an Italian nobleman, diplomat, writer, military engineer and condottiero. He is remembered as a patron of the arts and the founder ...
, Duca di Guastala, Luzara e Rechiolo and Inés María Manrique, 9th Countess de Paredes, which she also addressed as Lísida. In November 1690, the bishop of Puebla, Manuel Fernández de Santa Cruz published, under the pseudonym of Sor Filotea, and without her permission, Sor Juana's critique of a 40-year-old sermon by Father António Vieira, a Portuguese Jesuit preacher. Although Sor Juana's intentions for the work, called '' Carta Atenagórica'' are left to interpretation, many scholars have opted to interpret the work as a challenge to the hierarchical structure of religious authority. Along with '' Carta Atenagórica,'' the bishop also published his own letter in which he said she should focus on religious instead of secular studies. 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. In response to her critics, Sor Juana wrote a letter, ''Respuesta a Sor Filotea de la Cruz'' (''Reply to Sister Philotea''), in which she defended women's right to formal education. 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. 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. 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. 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." 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 the patriarchal structure of the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
, Sor Juana was repeatedly criticized for believing that her writing could achieve the same philanthropic goals as community work. By 1693, she seemingly ceased to write, rather than risking official
censure A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. In parliamentary procedure, it is a debatable main motion that could be adopted by a majority vote. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spi ...
. Although there is no undisputed evidence of her renouncing devotion to letters, there are documents showing her agreeing to undergo
penance Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of repentance for sins committed, as well as an alternate name for the Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. It also plays a part ...
. Her name is affixed to such a document in 1694, but given her deep natural lyricism, the tone of the supposed handwritten penitentials is in rhetorical and autocratic Church formulae; one is signed "''Yo, la Peor de Todas''" ("''I, the worst of all women"''). She is said to have sold all her books, then an extensive library of over 4,000 volumes, and her musical and scientific instruments as well. 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. Of over one hundred unpublished works, only a few of her writings have survived, which are known as the ''Complete Works''. According to
Octavio Paz Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and ...
, her writings were saved by the vicereine. She died after ministering to other nuns stricken during a
plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...
, on 17 April 1695. Sigüenza y Góngora delivered the eulogy at her funeral.


Works


Poetry


''First Dream''

''First Dream'', a long philosophical and descriptive '' silva'' (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, where 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, which are described in physiological and symbolical terms, ending with the activity of the imagination as an image-reflecting apparatus: the Pharos. 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 an own pyramid-like mount, which aims at God and is luminous. There, perched like an eagle, she contemplates the whole creation, 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 the Aristotelic method of ten categories.Olivares Zorrilla, Rocío. "The Eye of Imagination. Emblems in the Baroque Poem The Dream, by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz"
''Emblematica. An Interdisciplinary Journal for Emblem Studies'', volume 18 (2010): 111-61: 115-17.
/ref> 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 a straightforward battle between luminous and dark armies, and with the poet's awakening.


Love poetry

Sor Juana's first volume of poetry, , was published in Spain by the Vicereine Maria Luisa Manrique de Lara y Gonzága, Countess of Paredes, Marquise de la Laguna. Many of her poems dealt with the subject of love and sensuality. Colombian-American translator Jaime 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." One of Sor Juana's sonnets:


Dramas

In addition to the two comedies outlined here (''House of Desires'' Los_empeños_de_una_casa.html" ;"title="House of Desires">Los empeños de una casa">House of Desires">Los empeños de una casa and ''Love is but a Labyrinth'' mor 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). 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. Some literary critics, such as
Octavio Paz Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and ...
, Georgina Sabat-Rivers, and Luis Leal) have accepted Sor Juana as the co-author, but others, such as Antonio Alatorre and José Pascual Buxó, have refuted it.


Comedies

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. ''Pawns of a House'' The work was first performed on
October 4 Events Pre-1600 *AD 23 – Rebels sack the Chinese capital Chang'an during a peasant rebellion. *1209 – Otto IV is crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Innocent III. *1302 – The Byzantine–Venetian War comes t ...
, 1683, during the celebration of the Viceroy Count of Paredes’ first son's birth.García Valdés, pág. 45-50. Some critics maintain that it could have been set up for the Archbishop Francisco de Aguiar y Seijas’ entrance to the capital, but this theory is not considered reliable. The story revolves around two couples who are in love but, by chance of fate, cannot yet be together. This
comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
of errors is considered one of the most prominent works of late baroque 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. The protagonist of the story, Dona Leonor, fits the
archetype The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ...
perfectly. It is often considered the peak of Sor Juana's work and even the peak of all New-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. ''Love is but a Labyrinth'' The work premiered on February 11, 1689, during the celebration of the inauguration of the viceroyalty Gaspar de la Cerda y Mendoza. However, in his Essay on Psychology, Ezequiel A. Chavez mentions Fernandez del Castillo as a coauthor of this comedy.Chávez, pág. 140-142. The plot takes on the well-known theme in
Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities o ...
of
Theseus Theseus (, ; grc-gre, Θησεύς ) was the mythical king and founder-hero of Athens. The myths surrounding Theseus his journeys, exploits, and friends have provided material for fiction throughout the ages. Theseus is sometimes describ ...
: a hero from
Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...
Island. He fights against the
Minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur ( , ;. grc, ; in Latin as ''Minotaurus'' ) is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "p ...
and awakens the love of
Ariadne Ariadne (; grc-gre, Ἀριάδνη; la, Ariadne) was a Cretan princess in Greek mythology. She was mostly associated with mazes and labyrinths because of her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus. She is best known for having ...
and
Phaedra Phaedra may refer to: Mythology * Phaedra (mythology), Cretan princess, daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë, wife of Theseus Arts and entertainment * ''Phaedra'' (Alexandre Cabanel), an 1880 painting Film * ''Phaedra'' (film), a 1962 film by ...
. Sor Juana conceived Theseus as the archetype of the baroque hero, a model also used by her fellow countryman
Juan Ruiz de Alarcón Juan Ruiz de Alarcón (c. 1581 - 4 August 1639) was a New Spain-born Spanish writer of the Golden Age who cultivated different variants of dramaturgy. His works include the comedy '' La verdad sospechosa'' ( es), which is considered a masterpiec ...
. Theseus’ triumph over the Minotaur does not make Theseus proud, but instead allows him to be humble.


Music

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 called ''El 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:
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 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 notable works

One musical work attributed to Sor Juana survives from the archive of Guatemala Cathedral. This is
4-part villancico, ''Madre, la de los primores''
Other works include ''Hombres Necios'' (Foolish Men), and ''The Divine Narcissus''.


Translations and interpretations

Octavio Paz is credited with re-establishing the importance of the historic Sor Juana in modern times, and other scholars have been instrumental in translating Sor Juana's work to other languages. The only translations of ''Carta Atenagorica'' are found in ''Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Selected Writings'' by Pamela Kirk Rappaport and ''The Tenth Muse: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz'' by
Fanchon Royer Fanchon Royer (1902–1986) was an American film producer, active during the 1930s. She was one of the few woman producers in Hollywood during the era, associated with low-budget independent studios such as Mayfair Pictures. After graduating fr ...
. Translations of Sor Juana's ''La Respuesta'' are credited to Electa Arenal and Amanda Powell,
Edith Grossman Edith Grossman (born March 22, 1936) is an American Spanish-to-English literary translator. One of the most important contemporary translators of Latin American and Spanish literature, she has translated the works of Nobel laureate Mario Vargas ...
, Margaret Seyers Peden, and Alan S. Trubeblood. These translations are respectively found in ''The 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'' and ''Poems, Protest, and a Dream'', and ''A Sor Juana Anthology''. Since Sor Juana's works were rediscovered after her death, scholarly interpretations and translations are both abundant and contrasting.


Octavio Paz

Octavio Paz Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and ...
was a Mexican
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
laureate and scholar. In his 1982 book, '' Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz o las trampas de la fe'' (translated to English by Margaret Sayers Peden as ''Sor Juana: Or, The Traps of Faith''), Paz examines and contemplates Sor Juana's poetry and life in the context of the history of
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the A ...
, 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. 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. In his analyses of Sor Juana's poetry, Octavio Paz traces some of her influences to the Spanish writers of the
Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the '' Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages, Gold being the first and the one during which the G ...
and the Hermetic tradition, mainly derived from the works of a noted
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
scholar of her era,
Athanasius Kircher Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works, most notably in the fields of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fe ...
. 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 of hermetic 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 as
Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...
and
Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...
.


Tarsicio Herrera Zapién

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) include ''Buena fe y humanismo en Sor Juana: diálogos y ensayos: las obras : 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) and ''Tres siglos y cien vidas de Sor Juana'' (1995).


Feminist analyses and translations

Scholars such as Scout Frewer argue that because Juana's advocacy for religious and intellectual authority would now be associated with
feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
, she was a
protofeminist Protofeminism is a concept that anticipates modern feminism in eras when the feminist concept as such was still unknown. This refers particularly to times before the 20th century, although the precise usage is disputed, as 18th-century feminism ...
. In the twenty-first century,
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...
n 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 of
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the A ...
, specifically the influence of religion, race, and social norms, in understanding Sor Juana as a female
theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
and poet. According to O’Donnell, in colonial Mexico, education was an undertaking reserved for men, especially activities like writing and reading. 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. 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 the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
, she actively studied religion. Sor Juana likely perceived wisdom and religion as inseparable, so she probably also believed that to follow God was to pursue wisdom. Other scholars, like Alicia Gaspar de Alba, offer instead the possibility that Sor Juana was located on the lesbian continuum and that the convent was a place where having relations with other women was socially acceptable. A fourth perspective suggests that considering the colonial context of New Spain and Sor Juana's background as a '' criolla'', she represented
colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...
knowledge in a way that defied colonial religious structures. Luis Felipe Fabre criticized 'Sorjuanista' scholarship as a whole, arguing that the discourse is binary rather than complex and multilayered.


Alicia Gaspar de Alba

Alicia Gaspar de Alba Alicia Gaspar de Alba is an American scholar, cultural critic, novelist, and poet whose works include historical novels and scholarly studies on Chicana/o art, culture and sexuality. Biography Gaspar de Alba was born on July 29, 1958 in El Pas ...
's historical novel, ''Sor Juana's Second Dream'' (1999), rejects Octavio Paz's view that Sor Juana was ambivalent to sexuality, which he portrays as an explanation of her entering the convent. Instead, Gaspar de Alba interprets Sor Juana as
homoerotic Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homo ...
. According to Gaspar de Alba, it was Sor Juana's attraction to other women, which was repressed by the "patriarchal and
heteronormative Heteronormativity is the concept that heterosexuality is the preferred or normal mode of sexual orientation. It assumes the gender binary (i.e., that there are only two distinct, opposite genders) and that sexual and marital relations are mos ...
society outside of the convent", that led her to become a nun. She criticizes Paz for his portrayal of what she calls "Sorjuanistas", whom she claims stem from a Mexican, rather than "Indigenous viewpoint", and are "homophobic".


Luis Felipe Fabre

, a Mexican writer and scholar, ridicules other scholars, whom he collectively calls Sorjuanistas, who idolize Sor Juana. In his book, ''Sor Juana and Other Monsters'', Fabre argues that the appropriation and recontextualization imminent in scholars' interpretations of Sor Juana construct Sor Juana as either a heretic or a lesbian. Fabre suggests that such representations constitute Sor Juana as a monstrosity or abnormality rather than as a complex woman. He suggests that rather than locating Sor Juana in a fixed identity, scholarship on Sor Juana should be a fluctuating and multilayered conversation.


Margaret Sayers Peden

Margaret Sayers Peden's 1982 ''A Woman of Genius: The Intellectual Autobiography of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz'', was the first English translation of Sor Juana's work. As well, Peden is credited for her 1989 translation of ''Sor 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. Peden also published her English translations of Sor Juana's work in an anthology called ''Poems, Protest, and a Dream''. This work includes her response to authorities censuring her, ''La Respuesta'', and ''First Dream''.


Electa Arenal and Amanda Powell

An equally valuable feminist analysis and interpretation of Sor Juana's life and work is found in ''The Answer/La Respuesta by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz'' by Electa Arenal, a Sor Juana scholar who is recognized among feminists who changed America, and Amanda Powell, a poet and translator. The original publication, released in 1994 by
The Feminist Press The Feminist Press (officially The Feminist Press at CUNY) is an American independent nonprofit literary publisher that promotes freedom of expression and social justice. It publishes writing by people who share an activist spirit and a belief in ...
, was re-released in an updated second edition in 2009, also by
The Feminist Press The Feminist Press (officially The Feminist Press at CUNY) is an American independent nonprofit literary publisher that promotes freedom of expression and social justice. It publishes writing by people who share an activist spirit and a belief in ...
. 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. 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.


Theresa A. Yugar

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) and ''El Primero Sueño'' (First Dream). Yugar aims to understand why individuals in Mexico in the twenty-first century have more knowledge of Frida Kahlo than Sor Juana. She celebrates poet Octavio Paz for crossing national borders with his internationally acclaimed work on ''Sor 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. 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 (the
public sphere The public sphere (german: Öffentlichkeit) is an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action. A "Public" is "of or concerning the ...
) and the household (the private 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 with
ecofeminism Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in ...
and
feminist theology Feminist theology is a movement found in several religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Neopaganism, Baháʼí Faith, Judaism, Islam and New Thought, to reconsider the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of those rel ...
.


Historical influence


Philanthropy

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.


Education

The San Jerónimo Convent, where Juana lived the last 27 years of her life and where she wrote most of her work is today the University of the Cloister of Sor Juana in the
historic center of Mexico City The historic center of Mexico City ( es, Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México), also known as the Centro or Centro Histórico, is the central neighborhood in Mexico City, Mexico, focused on Zócalo or main plaza and extending in all directio ...
. The Mexican government founded in the university in 1979.


Political controversy

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. Margarita López Portillo, the sister of President
José López Portillo José Guillermo Abel López Portillo y Pacheco (; 16 June 1920 – 17 February 2004) was a Mexican writer, lawyer and politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as the 58th president of Mexico from 1976 t ...
(1976-1982), kept the medallion. 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, which she said she had taken for safekeeping. She returned it to Congress on November 14, 1995, with the event and description of the controversy reported in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' a month later. Whether or not the medallion belonged to Juana, the incident sparked discussions about Juana and abuse of official power in Mexico.


Contribution to feminism


Historic feminist movements

Amanda Powell locates Sor Juana as a contributor to the Querelles des Femmes, a three-century long literary debate about women. Central to this early feminist debate were ideas about
gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most culture ...
and sex, and, consequently,
misogyny Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practice ...
. 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. For women, Powell argues, engaging in conversation with other women was as significant as communicating through writing. However, while
Teresa of Ávila Teresa of Ávila, OCD (born Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada; 28 March 15154 or 15 October 1582), also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, was a Spanish Carmelite nun and prominent Spanish mystic and religious reformer. Active during t ...
appears in Sor Juana's ''La Respuesta'', Sor Juana makes no mention of the person who launched the debate,
Christine de Pizan Christine de Pizan or Pisan (), born Cristina da Pizzano (September 1364 – c. 1430), was an Italian poet and court writer for King Charles VI of France and several French dukes. Christine de Pizan served as a court writer in medieval France ...
. 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. 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.


Modern feminist movements

Yugar connects Sor Juana to feminist advocacy movements in the twenty-first century, such as religious feminism,
ecofeminism Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in ...
, and the
feminist movement The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such ...
in general. Although the current religious feminist movement grew out of the
Liberation Theology Liberation theology is a Christian theological approach emphasizing the liberation of the oppressed. In certain contexts, it engages socio-economic analyses, with "social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples". I ...
movement of the 1970s, 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 and
patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males ...
structures of the Church of her day, Yugar argues that Sor Juana predated current movements, like Latina Feminist Theology, that privilege Latina women's views on religion. 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 the
patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males ...
limitations on women in religious institutions. Yugar emphasizes that Sor Juana interpreted the Bible as expressing concern with people of all backgrounds as well as with the earth. Most significantly, Yugar argues, Sor Juana expressed concern over the consequences of capitalistic Spanish domination over the earth. These ideas, Yugar points out, are commonly associated with modern
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
movements concerned with
decolonization Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on separatism, in ...
and the protection of the planet. Alicia Gaspar de Alba connects Sor Juana to the modern lesbian movement and Chicana movement. She links Sor Juana to criticizing the concepts of compulsory heterosexuality and advocating the idea of a lesbian continuum, both of which are credited to well-known feminist writer and advocate
Adrienne Rich Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "the ...
. As well, Gaspar de Alba locates Sor Juana in the Chicana movement, which has not been accepting of "Indigenous lesbians".


A symbol


Colonial and indigenous identities

As a woman in religion, Sor Juana has become associated with the
Virgin of Guadalupe Our Lady of Guadalupe ( es, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe ( es, Virgen de Guadalupe), is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus associated with a series of five Marian apparitions, which are believed t ...
, a religious symbol of Mexican identity, but was also connected to Aztec goddesses. For example, parts of Sor Juana's ''Villancico 224'' are written in Nahuatl, while others are written in Spanish. The Virgin of Guadalupe is the subject of the ''Villancico'', but depending on the language, the poem refers to both the Virgin of Guadalupe and Cihuacoatl, an Indigneous goddess. It is ambiguous whether Sor Juana prioritizes the Mexican or indigenous religious figure, or whether her focus is on harmonizing the two. Sor Juana's connection to indigenous religious figures is also prominent in her ''
Loa to Divine Narcissus ''Loa to Divine Narcissus'' (Spanish: ''El Divino Narciso'') is an allegorical play written by the Mexican writer Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, an important literary figure of the Spanish colonial period. The play was first published in 1689. The w ...
'', (Spanish "''El Divino Narciso''") (see Jauregu
20032009
. The play centers on the interaction between two Indigenous people, named Occident and America, and two Spanish people, named Religion and Zeal. The characters exchange their religious perspectives, and conclude that there are more similarities between their religious traditions than there are differences. The loa references Aztec rituals and gods, including Huitzilopochtli, who symbolized the land of Mexico. Scholars like Nicole Gomez argue that Sor Juana's fusion of Spanish and Aztec religious traditions in her ''Loa'' ''to Divine Narcissus'' aims to raise the status of indigenous religious traditions to that of Catholicism in New Spain. Gomez argues that Sor Juana also emphasizes the violence with which Spanish religious traditions dominated indigenous ones. 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. 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. On the contrary, Gaspar de Alba emphasized Sor Juana's indigenous identity by inserting her into Chicana discourses.


Connection to Frida Kahlo

Paul Allatson emphasizes that women like Sor Juana and Frida Kahlo masculinized their appearances to symbolically complicate the space marked for women in society. Sor Juana's decision to cut her hair as punishment for mistakes she made during learning 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. These ideas, Allatson suggests, are echoed in
Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, ...
's 1940 self-portrait titled ''Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair'', or ''Autorretrato con cabellos corto''. As well, the University of the Cloister of Sor Juana honored both Frida Kahlo and Sor Juana on October 31, 2018, with a symbolic altar. The altar, called ''Las Dos Juanas'', was specially made for the
Day of the Dead The Day of the Dead ( es, Día de Muertos or ''Día de los Muertos'') is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. It is widely obser ...
.


Official recognition by the Mexican government

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 the
Mexican Congress The Congress of the Union ( es, Congreso de la Unión, ), formally known as the General Congress of the United Mexican States (''Congreso General de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos''), is the legislature of the federal government of Mexico cons ...
in April 1995. In addition, Sor Juana is pictured on the
obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ...
of the 200 pesos bill issued by the
Banco de Mexico The Bank of Mexico ( es, Banco de México), abbreviated ''BdeM'' or ''Banxico,'' is Mexico's central bank, monetary authority and lender of last resort. The Bank of Mexico is autonomous in exercising its functions, and its main objective is to ...
, and the 1000 pesos coin minted by Mexico between 1988 and 1992. The town where Sor Juana grew up, San Miguel Nepantla in the municipality of
Tepetlixpa Tepetlixpa is a municipality in Mexico State in Mexico. The municipality covers an area of . As of 2000, the municipality had a total population of 16,871. Nepantla de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz The municipality is home to Nepantla de Sor Ju ...
,
State of Mexico The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ...
, was renamed in her honor as Nepantla de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.


Veneration

In 2022, the
Episcopal Church of the United States The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of ...
gave final approval and added her feast to the
liturgical calendar The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and which ...
. Her feast day is April 18.


Popular culture


Literature

* American poet Diane Ackerman wrote a
verse drama Verse drama is any drama written significantly in verse (that is: with line endings) to be performed by an actor before an audience. Although verse drama does not need to be ''primarily'' in verse to be considered verse drama, significant portion ...
, ''Reverse Thunder'', about Sor Juana (1992). * Canadian poet and novelist
Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, ...
's 2007 book of poems ''The Door'' includes a poem entitled "Sor Juana Works in the Garden". * Puerto Rican poet Giannina Braschi wrote the
postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or Rhetorical modes, mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by philosophical skepticism, skepticis ...
Spanglish Spanglish (a portmanteau of the words "Spanish" and "English") is any language variety (such as a contact dialect, hybrid language, pidgin, or creole language) that results from conversationally combining Spanish and English. The term is m ...
novel Yo-Yo Boing! in which characters debate the greatest women poets, acknowledging both Sor Juana and
Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...
. * Canadian novelist Paul Anderson devoted 12 years writing a 1300-page novel entitled '' Hunger's Brides'' (pub. 2004) on Sor Juana. His novel won the 2005 Alberta Book Award.


Music

* American composer
John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
and director
Peter Sellars Peter Sellars (born September 27, 1957) is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays. Sellars is professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), whe ...
used two of Sor Juana's poems, ''Pues mi Dios ha nacido a penar'' and ''Pues está tiritando'' in their libretto for the Nativity oratorio-opera
El Niño El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date ...
(2000). *Composer Allison 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 by
Melodia Women's Choir Melodia Women's Choir NYC is a women's choir in Manhattan dedicated to exploring, creating and performing classical and contemporary music composed for women's voices. An ensemble of 30 singers, Melodia performs concerts in New York City, and supp ...
, which premiered the work at the
Kaufman Center Kaufman Music Center is a performing arts complex in New York City that houses Lucy Moses School, Special Music School, and Merkin Hall and the "Face the Music" program. Originally known as the Hebrew Arts School, it was founded in 1952 and is c ...
in New York City. *Composer Daniel Crozier and librettist Peter M. Krask wrote ''With Blood, With Ink'', an opera based around her life, while both were students at
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...
's
Peabody Institute The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University is a private conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and opened in 1866 by merchant/financier and philanthropist George Peabody (1795–1869) ...
in 1993. The work won first prize in the
National Operatic and Dramatic Association NODA has a membership of 2500 amateur theatre groups and 1000 individual enthusiasts throughout the UK, staging musicals, operas, plays, concerts and pantomimes in a wide variety of performing venues, ranging from the country's leading p ...
's Chamber Opera Competition. In 2000, excerpts were included in the
New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through 2013 (when it filed for bankruptcy), and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, du ...
's Showcasing American Composers Series. The work in its entirety was premiered by the
Fort Worth Opera Fort Worth Opera is the oldest continually-performing opera company in the state of Texas and among the oldest in the United States, according to the company. While originally presenting operas one at a time over a fall/winter season, it changed ...
on April 20, 2014, and recorded by Albany Records. * Puerto Rican singer
iLe Ile may refer to: * iLe, a Puerto Rican singer * Ile District (disambiguation), multiple places * Ilé-Ifẹ̀, an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria * Interlingue (ISO 639:ile), a planned language * Isoleucine, an amino acid * Another ...
recites part of one of Sor Juana'
sonnets
in her song
Rescatarme
. * In 2013, the Brazilian composer Jorge Antunes composed an electroacoustic musical work entitled ''CARTA ATHENAGÓRICA'', in the studio of CMMAS (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.


Film, television and video

* A
telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include '' teleserye'' ...
about her life, '' Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz'', was created in 1962. *
María Luisa Bemberg María Luisa Bemberg (April 14, 1922 – May 7, 1995) was an Argentine film writer, director and actress. She was one of the first Argentine female directors with a powerful presence both in the filmmaking and the intellectual world of Latin Am ...
wrote and directed the 1990 film ''Yo, la peor de todas'' (''
I, the Worst of All ''I, the Worst of All'' ( es, Yo, la peor de todas) is an Argentinian film directed by María Luisa Bemberg. The film was released in 1990 and is a biopic on the life of Juana Inés de la Cruz. It was based on Octavio Paz's ''Sor Juana: Or, the ...
''), based on Octavo Paz's ''Sor Juana: Or, the Traps of Faith'' based on Sor Juana's life. * The Spanish-language miniseries '' Juana Inés'' (2016) by Canal Once TV, starring Arantza Ruiz and
Arcelia Ramírez Arcelia Ramírez (born 7 December 1967) is a Mexican actress. She has appeared in more than 50 films and television shows since 1985. She starred in the film '' Such Is Life'', which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2000 Cann ...
as Sor Juana, dramatizes her life.


Theater

*
Helen Edmundson Helen Edmundson (born 1964) is a British playwright, screenwriter and producer. She has won awards and critical acclaim both for her original writing and for her adaptations of various literary classics for the stage and screen. Early life E ...
's play ''
The Heresy of Love ''The Heresy of Love'' is a 2012 play by the British playwright Helen Edmundson, based on the life of Juana Inés de la Cruz. It was premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company in early 2012, with a cast including Ray Coulthard and directed by Nanc ...
'', based on the life of Sor Juana, was premiered by the
Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...
in early 2012 and revived by
Shakespeare's Globe Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays, in the London Borough of Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames. The original theatre was built in ...
in 2015. * Jesusa Rodríguez has produced a number of works concerning Sor Juana, including ''Sor Juana en Almoloya'' and ''Striptease de Sor Juana'', based on Juana's poem, "Primero Sueño". * Playwright, director, and producer Kenneth Prestininzi wrote I''mpure Thoughts (Without Apology'') which follows Sor Juana's experience with Bishop Francisco Aguilar y Seijas.

. * Tanya Saracho's play ''The 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 the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1935 by Angus L. Bowmer. The Festival now offers matinee and evening performances of a wide range of classic and contemporary pla ...
.


See also


Notes


References


Sources


''The Juana Inés de la Cruz Project''
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
. Retrieved: 2010-05-09.
''Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648-1695)''
Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering ...
. Retrieved: 2010-05-09.
Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana
Retrieved: 2010-08-03.


Further reading

* ALATORRE, Antonio, ''Sor Juana a través de los siglos''. México: El Colegio de México, 2007. * BENASSY-BERLING, Marié-Cécile, ''Humanisme et Religion chez Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: la femme et la cultura au 17e siècle''. Paris: Editions Hispaniques, 1982. * 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. * 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, pgs. 7-20, 87 * JAUREGUI, Carlos A
"Cannibalism, the Eucharist, and Criollo Subjects."
In ''Creole 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. * JAUREGUI, Carlos A
"El plato más sabroso’: eucaristía, plagio diabólico, y la traducción criolla del caníbal."
''Colonial Latin American Review'' 12:2 (2003): 199–231. *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. 361–79, doi:10.1080/00497878.1992.9978949. *MERKL, Heinrich, ''Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Ein Bericht zur Forschung 1951-1981.'' Heidelberg: Winter, 1986. * MURATTA BUNSEN, Eduardo, "La estancia escéptica de Sor Juana". ''Sor Juana Polímata''. Ed. Pamela H. Long. México: Destiempos, 2013. * 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. *OLIVARES ZORRILLA, Rocío,
The Eye of Imagination: Emblems in the Baroque Poem 'The Dream,' by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
, in ''Emblematica. An Interdisciplinary Journal for Emblem Studies,'' AMC Press, Inc., New York, vol. 18, 2010: 111–161. *----, ''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. * 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. * ROSAS LOPATEGUI, Patricia, ''Oyeme con los ojos : de Sor Juana al siglo XXI; 21 escritoras mexicanas revolucionarias''. México: Universidad Autónoma Nuevo León, 2010. * SABAT DE RIVERS, Georgina, ''El «Sueño» de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: tradiciones literarias y originalidad'', Londres: Támesis, 1977. * SORIANO, Alejandro, ''La hora más bella de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz'', México, CONACULTA, Instituto Queretano de la Cultura y las Artes, 2010. * WEBER, Hermann, ''Yo, la peor de todas – Ich, die Schlechteste von allen.'' Karlsruhe: Info Verlag, 2009. * Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Carl W Cobb. The Sonnets of Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz in English Verse. E. Mellen Press, 2001. * Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Alberto G Salceda. Obras Completas De Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz. 1st ed., Fondo De Cultura Economica, 1957. * Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Margaret Sayers Peden. A Woman of Genius : The Intellectual Autobiography of Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz. 2nd ed., Lime Rock Press, 1987. * Schmidhuber de la Mora, Guillermo, et al. The Three Secular Plays of Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz : A Critical Study. University Press of Kentucky, 2000. INSERT-MISSING-DATABASE-NAME, INSERT-MISSING-URL. Accessed 14 May 2020. * Thurman, Judith, et al. I Became Alone : Five Women Poets, Sappho, Louise Labé, Ann Bradstreet, Juana Ines De La Cruz, Emily Dickinson. 1st ed., Atheneum, 1975. * 2.14.6, Notes on Two Spanish American Poets: Gabriela Mistral and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, 1947 and undated, Box: 14, Folder: 6.0; Reel: 81, Frame: 148. Katherine Anne Porter papers, 0041-LIT. Special Collections and University Archives. https://archives.lib.umd.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/417161 Accessed May 14, 2020. * Juana de la Cruz. Mother Juana De La Cruz, 1481-1534 : Visionary Sermons. Edited by Jessica A Boon, Iter Academic Press, 2016. * Juana Inés de la Cruz . A Sor Juana Anthology. Translated by Alan S Trueblood, Harvard University Press, 1988. * The Politics and Poetics of Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz. Ashgate, 2012. INSERT-MISSING-DATABASE-NAME, INSERT-MISSING-URL. Accessed 14 May 2020. * Kirk Rappaport, Pamela. Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz : Religion, Art, and Feminism. Continuum, 1998. * Merrim, Stephanie. Early Modern Women's Writing and Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz. 1st ed., Vanderbilt University Press, 1999. * Juana Inés de la Cruz, Joan Larkin, Jaime Manrique. Sor Juana's Love Poems. University of Wisconsin Press, 2003. Project Muse, https://usf-flvc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01FALSC_USF/8i1ivu/alma99379510642006599. Accessed 14 May 2020. * Allen, Heather. “New Research on Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz.” Letras Femininas (Vol. 42, Issue 2, Association of Hispanic Feminine Literature, 2016, https://go-gale-com.lc.idm.oclc.org/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=leth49384&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA166534877&inPS=true&linkSource=interlink&sid=bookmark-AONE.


External links

*
Sor Juana festival. National Museum of Mexican Art, ChicagoSor Juana Ines the Tenth Muse
from Inside Mexico
Sor Juana, the Poet: The Sonnets
from National Endowment for the Humanities
Sor Juana, la poetisa: Los sonetos
from National Endowment for the Humanities

by
Jorge Majfud Jorge Majfud (born September 10, 1969) is a Uruguayan American writer. Life He was born in Tacuarembó, Uruguay. He received a professional degree in Architecture in 1996 from the University of the Republic in Montevideo and studied at Escuela ...

The Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz ProjectAcademic resource on the poetry of Sor Juana Inés de la CruzOn-line facsimile edition of Sor Juana's ''Fama y obras posthumas''
* * Free scores by Juana Inés de la Cruz in the
International Music Score Library Project The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP), also known as the Petrucci Music Library after publisher Ottaviano Petrucci, is a subscription-based digital library of public-domain music scores. The project, which uses MediaWiki softwar ...
* Libro de professiones y elecciones de prioras y vicarias del Convento de San Gerónimo ( University of Texas Libraries) ''Includes the handwritten professions of famous poet Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz''
Juana Inés de la Cruz profile and works on LibraryThingCrashCourse and PBS Digital Studios: Pre-Colombian Theatre, Sor Juana, etc
{{DEFAULTSORT:Juana Ines de la Cruz 1648 births 1695 deaths 17th-century deaths from plague (disease) 17th-century Mexican people 17th-century Mexican poets 17th-century writers Hieronymite nuns Infectious disease deaths in Mexico Mexican environmentalists Mexican feminists Mexican nobility Mexican people of Basque descent Mexican people of Spanish descent Mexican philosophers Mexican Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns Mexican women dramatists and playwrights Mexican women philosophers Mexican women poets Ecofeminists People from Tepetlixpa People of New Spain Rhetoricians Roman Catholic writers Sonneteers Spanish Baroque people Spanish Catholic poets Women encyclopedists 17th-century Mexican writers 17th-century Mexican women writers Mexican Baroque Baroque writers Salon-holders Anglican saints