Product Description

Recognized by Octavio Paz as one of the five greatest Spanish poets, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz was born in 1648 in San Miguel Neplantla, a village south of Mexico City. In 1669 she entered the Convent of the Order of St Jerome where she stayed until her death in 1695. She wrote plays, poetry and prose. This text introduces Sor Juana as a major theological figure, who excelled in "sacramental drama" and liturgical poetry. Pamela Kirk argues that she stands out not only as a great thinker, buit as a complex person, at once brooding and melancholy, as well as witty and joyful. Equally noteworthy is Sor Juana's clear awareness of her role as a woman artist in a social and ecclesiastical milieu that was militantly patriarchal. Kirk explores Sor Juana's life and work as a contribution to Latin American women's theology.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1783119 in Books
• Published on: 1999-04-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 180 pages

From Library Journal
Kirk (theology, St. John's Univ., New York) acknowledges Octavio Paz's "groundbreaking biography of Sor Juana"?in which "he rates her among the first five lyric poets of Spanish language"?but feels Sor Juana's theology has received insufficient acclaim. As Kirk reveals, Sor Juana was an independent-thinking creative woman and Hieronimite nun who was also a prolific and varied writer: "Whereas most women religious writers...drew their authority from mystical experience, Sor Juana writes with the authority that comes from her intellectual and literary talents." Analyzing Sor Juana's major works, Kirk reveals her perceptivity in recognizing Mary as a problematic model for women, her wit in responses to critics, the daring of her sermonicly structured Athenagoric Letter, the breadth of her concerns, and her explicit awareness of limitations imposed on women because of gender, as well as women's need for education. Recommended for academic, theological, women's studies, and Spanish collections.?Carolyn M. Craft, Longwood Coll., Farmville
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.