We explain who Sor Juan Inés de la Cruz was, what her literary contributions were to the Spanish Baroque and why she is considered a precursor of feminism.
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz is one of the most important figures of New Spanish literature of the 17th century.
Who was Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz?
Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz She was a Catholic nun born in the current territory of Mexico during the colonial era, that is, in the Viceroyalty of New Spain. She was a important poet, playwright and thinkeran American member of the literature of the Spanish Golden Age and one of the most prominent literary figures of America at the time.
Before becoming a Hieronymite nun, Juana Inés belonged to the viceregal court and demonstrated from an early age a passionate interest in reading and a unique talent for writing.Various viceroys patronized her and published her works, but it is suspected that towards the end of her life she was forced to give up writing, considering this activity inappropriate for a nun.
The figure of Sor Juana is not only important in the literary context, but also on the social and philosophical level, since her interest in literary, spiritual and even scientific knowledge challenged the cultural standards of the timewhich limited the role of women to the strictly mundane. That is why she is considered a precursor of feminism.
Birth of Sister Juana Ines de la Cruz
Juana Ines de Asbaje and Ramirez de Santillana He was born in San Miguel de Nepantla, in the current territory of Mexicoon November 12, in the mid-seventeenth century. There is debate about the exact year of his birth, since the first of his biographers, Diego Calleja (c. 1639-1725), attributes to him in his work Life of Sor Juana the year 1651, but a baptismal certificate in his name discovered in the 20th century states that he was born in 1648.
In any case, it is known that Juana Inés was the daughter of Pedro de Asuaje y Vargas and Isabel Ramírez de Santillana, that she was conceived out of wedlock and was born on the farm “La Celda”, where her maternal family had wheat and corn plantations. Her childhood was spent between the towns of Amecameca, Yecapixtla, Panoaya and Nepantla.
From his early years, he showed an enormous interest in literature. According to his account Reply to Sister Filoteashe learned to read and write as a child, sneaking into her older sister’s lessons, and then devoted herself to her maternal grandfather’s library, where she discovered the classics of Greek and Roman antiquity, Spanish grammar and the lives of Christian saints.
His devotion to learning It was such that she used to cut off a lock of hair (“four or six fingers”) and challenge herself to learn a specific subject before it grew back, or else she would cut it off again, because “it didn’t seem right to me that a head that was so bare of news should be dressed in hair” (1998, p. 216).
At the age of eight, Juana Inés composed a praise to the Blessed Sacrament that earned her a prize-winning book. At that time, she also heard that in Mexico City there were schools and something called a University, that is, places where one went to learn, and she insisted to her mother that she send her to stay with relatives in the viceregal capital, so that she could dedicate her life to learning. Her mother initially refused: studying was not for young ladies..
The destiny of Juana Inés was, as her mother understood it, that of the good women of the time: to marry a good husband and dedicate the rest of her life to producing and caring for a family. But the girl He wanted nothing to do with marriage, nor did he contemplate any matter that could hinder his vision of a future of study and learning..
However, when Juana Inés’s maternal grandfather died around 1656, when she was already a teenager, her mother agreed to send her to live with her sister María and her husband, Juan de Mata, in the capital city. She lived there for the next eight years, during which she formally began her literary and religious career.
From the viceregal court to the convent
At just sixteen years of age, Juana Inés surprised those close to her with her knowledge and her reflections, as well as with her talent for literary composition. The latter ended up attracting the attention of Viceroy Antonio Sebastián de Toledo Molina y Salazar (1622-1715), who was notoriously inclined towards humanism and progressivism, given his time.
The young woman entered the viceregal court, where she was examined by a conclave of forty New Spanish scholars, who, after examining her, attested to her intelligence and abilities.Protected by the viceroy Leonor de Carreto (1616-1673), the first of her patrons in the New Spain aristocracy, Juana Inés took part in meetings and gatherings, where she listened to the ideas of historians, theologians and graduates of the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico, whose doors, however, were closed to her.
This allowed “the viceroy’s beloved”, as Juana Inés was known at the time, to delve into logic, physics, arithmetic, geometry, art and many other areas of knowledge, in addition to the compulsory Latin of the time. In exchange, Juana Inés composed her first courtly sonnets celebrating the viceroys.
While at court he also met Don Antonio Nunez de Miranda (1618-1695), Jesuit religious, who was his confessor and who soon He led her towards religious life, given that Juana Inés expressed a total lack of interest in marriage. and the life that, at that time, was expected of a woman. Thus, in 1667, the young poet chose to become a nun.
There are theories about Joan’s entry into religion, which assume it was the result of a strong romantic disappointment. This is unlikely, however, since she never showed any interest in the world of love, only in her studies. Her choice of monastic life was most likely due to the fact that it was the only path available for a woman to freely cultivate her intellect..
Joanna Inés’s first attempt at religious order took place with the Discalced Carmelites, whose extreme rigidity was contrary to her aspirations to cultivate herself intellectually and spiritually. So that in the end She decided on the Convent of Santa Paula of the Order of Saint Jerome, where she would have a two-story cell, servants and a more relaxed atmosphere conducive to the arts and study.She spent the rest of her life there, under the religious name of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
In its Reply to Sister FiloteaSor Juana explains her decision to become a nun in the following terms:
“I became religious because, although I knew that the state of things was very repugnant to my temperament, nevertheless, given my total rejection of marriage, it was the least disproportionate and most decent choice I could make. My choice was to live alone; to not want to have an obligatory occupation that would hinder the freedom of my study, nor a community rumour that would prevent the peaceful silence of my books” (1998, pp. 216 and 217).
The religious life of Sor Juana
Despite having assumed the Hieronymite habit in 1667, Sor Juana continued writing for the viceregal court.
Sor Juana began her monastic life under the protection of the Church and the court, institutions from which she received regular payments in exchange for Christmas carols (sung in the cathedrals of Mexico, Puebla and Oaxaca), praises and other similar compositions. In addition, she taught art and theater to the young girls at the convent school, and worked as archivist and accountant for the institution.
In her monastic cell she had space and time to read and write, she received visitors (the viceroy, in fact, never stopped visiting Sor Juana) and held social gatherings. Over the years, Sor Juana accumulated one of the most important libraries in New Spain and a large collection of musical instruments and scientific objects..
Having become the unofficial poet of the court, she enjoyed the favour of the viceroys, who allowed her enormous freedom, maintained her connection with the world outside the cloister and published her poems. A favorable situation that continued until 1673, when the viceroys were replaced. and, on the way to Veracruz, her protector, Leonor de Carreto, died. Sor Juana dedicated several elegies to her, including “De la belle de Laura enamorados”.
Friar Payo Enríquez de Rivera (1622-1684) temporarily assumed the viceregal reins, until the arrival of Tomás de la Cerda y Aragón (1638-1692), Marquis of La Laguna, in 1680. Sor Juana, already known for her literary talent, was commissioned to create a triumphal arch to celebrate the arrival of the new viceroy.
The resulting work was his famous Allegorical Neptunea text with which he won not only the admiration of the viceroy, but also of the new viceroyMaría Luisa de Manrique de Lara y Gonzaga (1649-1721), who became his new patron and became one of his closest friends.
Sor Juana’s relationship with the court earned her the disapproval of her confessor, Antonio Núñez de Miranda, who accused her of devoting so much time and effort to worldly affairs and not to the search for God. But Sor Juana’s influence was so great that she was able to reject the Jesuit as her confessor and continue with her duties.
The viceregal government of the Marquis of La Laguna and his wife María Luisa lasted from 1680 to 1686, and was the period of greatest production of works by Sor Juana.In just six years he wrote numerous autos sacramentales, such as The divine Narcissus, Joseph’s scepter and The martyr of the Sacramentand some comedies, like The efforts of a house and Love is more of a labyrinth.
After the arrival of the new viceroy, Melchor Portocarrero (1636-1705), third count of Monclova, The former viceregal authorities maintained their friendship for Sor Juana and took many of her works to Spain, where they were printed and distributed.. This is how it became known in 1689 Castalida flooda book that contained numerous poems, praises and epic poems such as Allegorical Neptune.
At that time, she was known as the “tenth muse” or “the phoenix of America.”
The Athenagoric Letter and the Reply to Sister Filotea
The Athenagoric Letter It was an unauthorized publication by Sor Juana about a sermon by António Vieira. Its appearance motivated her famous Reply to Sister Filotea de la Cruz in 1691.
Around 1690, Sor Juana became involved in a controversy that would mark the end of her days as a writer. His particular view of the colonial order, which he had subtly criticized in some of his theatrical texts, could already be appreciated in his work.but the scandal came from his reply to a sermon on Mandate that the well-known Portuguese preacher António Vieira (1608-1697), a member of the Society of Jesus, had given forty years earlier in Lisbon.
This response from Sor Juana, which she titled Crisis of a sermonwas addressed to an unnamed recipient, but it is assumed that it was his former…