Poems, Protest and a Dream: Selected Writings
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648-1695) wrote her most famous prose work, La Respuesta a Sor Filotea, in 1691 in response to her bishop's injunction against her intellectual pursuits. A passionate and subversive defense of the rights of women to study, to teach, and to write, it predates by almost a century and a half serious writings on any continent about the position and education of women. Moreover, notes Ilan Stavans in his introduction, it has become "a cornerstone of Hispanic-American...
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Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648-1695) wrote her most famous prose work, La Respuesta a Sor Filotea, in 1691 in response to her bishop's injunction against her intellectual pursuits. A passionate and subversive defense of the rights of women to study, to teach, and to write, it predates by almost a century and a half serious writings on any continent about the position and education of women. Moreover, notes Ilan Stavans in his introduction, it has become "a cornerstone of Hispanic-American identity ... at once a chronicle of the tense gender relations in the Western Hemisphere, a rich portrait of the social behavior that prevailed more than a century before independence from Spain was gained in 1810, and the very first intellectual autobiography written by a criolla in a hemisphere known for its solipsism, introversion, and allergy to public confessions. Also included in this wide-ranging selection is a new translation of Sor Juana's masterpiece, the epistemological poem "Primero Sueno," as well as revealing autobiographical sonnets, reverential religious poetry, secular love poems (which have excited speculation through three centuries), playful verses, and lyrical tributes to New World culture that are among the earliest writings celebrating the people and the customs of this hemisphere.
Translator's NoteIntroductionSuggestions for Further ReadingA Note on the TextResponse to the Most Illustrious Poetess Sor Filotea De La Cruz1First I Dream77Romances131Prologue to the Reader133In Reply to a Gentleman from Peru137While by Grace I Am Inspired145Redondillas147A Philosophical Satire149Epigrams153Satiric Reproach155Which Reveals155A Much-Needed Eyewash157A Bit of Moral Advice157Demonstration to a Sergeant159Decimas161She Assures That She Will Hold a Secret163Accompanying a Ring163A Modest Gift165She Describes in Detail165Sonnets167She Attempts to Minimize the Praise169She Laments Her Fortune171Better Death173Spiritedly, She Considers the Choice175She Distrusts, as Disguised Cruelty177One of Five Burlesque Sonnets179She Answers Suspicions181Which Recounts How Fantasy Contents Itself183She Resolves the Question185Villancico187Fragment from "Santa Catarina"189Theater, Sacred and Profane193Loa for El Divino Narciso195Fragment from Los Empenos de Una Casa241Notes247
