The Routledge Research Companion to the Works of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

by Emilie L. Bergmann (Editor), Stacey Schlau (Editor)

Overview

Called by her contemporaries the "Tenth Muse," Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648–1695) has continued to stir both popular and scholarly imaginations. While generations of Mexican schoolchildren have memorized her satirical verses, only since the 1970s has her writing received consistent scholarly attention., focused on complexities of female authorship in the political, religious, and intellectual context of colonial New Spain. This volume examines those areas of scholarship that illuminate her work, including her status as an iconic figure in Latin American and Baroque letters, popular culture in Mexico and the United States, and feminism. By addressing the multiple frameworks through which to read her work, this research guide serves as a useful resource for scholars and students of the Baroque in Europe and Latin America, colonial Novohispanic religious institutions, and women’s and gender studies. The chapters are distributed across four sections that deal broadly with different aspects of Sor Juana's life and work: institutional contexts (political, economic, religious, intellectual, and legal); reception history; literary genres; and directions for future research. Each section is designed to provide the reader with a clear understanding of the current state of the research on those topics and the academic debates within each field.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032096919
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/30/2021
Pages:	342
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Emilie L. Bergmann is Professor of Spanish at the University of California, Berkeley, with fields of specialization in early modern Spain and Spanish America.

Stacey Schlau is Professor of Spanish and Women’s and Gender Studies at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction. Emilie L. Bergmann and Stacey Schlau

A Note About Conventions

I. Contexts

1. "The Empire and Mexico City: Religious, Political, and Social Institutions of a Transatlantic Enterprise." Alejandro Cañeque

2. "The Creole Intellectual Project: Creating the Baroque Archive." Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel

3. "The Gendering of Knowledge in New Spain: Enclosure, Women’s Education, and Writing." Stephanie Kirk

II. Reception History

4. "Seventeenth Century Dialogues: Transatlantic Readings of Sor Juana." Mónica Díaz

5. "Seventeenth-, Eighteenth-, and Nineteenth-Century Readings: Hagiography and Nationalism." Martha Lilia Tenorio

6. "Twentieth Century Readings: Schons, Pfandl, and Paz." Marie-Cécile Benassy-Berling

7. "Passionate Advocate: Sor Juana, Feminisms, and Sapphic Loves." Amanda Powell

8. "Translations of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Ideology and Interpretation." Isabel Gómez

9. "’My original, a woman’: Copies, Origins, and Sor Juana’s Iconic Portraits." J. Vanessa Lyon

10. "Contemporary Mexican Sor Juanas: Artistic, Popular, and Scholarly." Emily Hind

III. Interpretations of and Debates about the Works

A. Prose Works

11. "The Afterlife of a Polemic: Conflicts and Discoveries Regarding Sor Juana’s Letters." Marie-Cécile Benassy-Berling

12. "Challenging Theological Authority: The Carta Atenagórica /Crisis de un sermón and the Respuesta a sor Filotea." Grady Wray

B. Verse

13. "Sor Juana’s Love Poetry: A Woman’s Voice in a Man’s Genre." Emilie L. Bergmann

14. "Sor Juana’s Romances: Between Fame, Contemplation, and Celebration." Rocío Quispe-Agnoli

15. "Philosophical Sonnets: Through a Baroque Lens." Luis Avilés

16. "Primero sueño: Heresy and Knowledge." Alessandra Luiselli.

C. Theater and Public Art

17. "Writing for the Public Eye: Theatrical Production, Church Spectacle, and State-Sponsored Art (The Neptuno alegórico)." Verónica Grossi

18. "Sor Juana as Lyricist and Musical Theorist." Mario Ortiz

19. "Loa to El Divino Narciso: The Costs of Critiquing the Conquest." Ivonne del Valle

20. "The Autos: Theology on Stage." Linda Egan

21. "Los empeños de una casa: Staging Gender." Susana Hernández Araico

22. "Recently Discovered Plays: La segunda Celestina and Amor es más laberinto." Guillermo Schmidhuber

IV. Future Directions for Research

23. "Understudied Aspects of Canonical Works and Potential Approaches to Little-Studied Works." George Antony Thomas

Works Cited