Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. The Tenth Muse (b.1651-d.1695)

Transcription

1 Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz The Tenth Muse (b.1651-d.1695) Dr. Le5cia R. Rodriguez

2 Nepantla de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

3 *Pre-Conquest Mexico Maya and Aztec *Hernán Cortés New Spain Racial mixing Class Systems Religion *Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Respuesta a Sor Filotea de la Cruz (The Response), 1691

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5 Preclassic (Forma5ve): 2000 BCE CE Classic: CE CE Postclassic:

6 Palenque, Mexico c. 226 BCE-799 CE

7 Dresden Codex, 13 th -14 th centuries CE

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10 Codex Fejéváry-Mayer, ca Aztec Calendar

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14 Tenoch'tlan, Diego Rivera 1945

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18 The Disembarka9on of the Spanish at Veracruz, Diego Rivera 1951.

19 The Divine Narcissus Characters Occident Religion America Zeal Musicians Soldiers Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Andrés Islas, 1772, oil on canvas

20 Occident: Oh, Lovely Beauty, who are you, fair Pilgrim from another na5on? I ask you now, why have you come to interrupt my celebra5on? Religion: Chris5an Religion is my name, and I propose that all will bend before the power of my word. America: She must be mad, ignore her now, let them con5nue with our theme! Musicians: With fes5ve pageantry, worship the allpowerful God of Seeds!

21 Zeal: What reverence, whose origin were beher found in Our True God! America: I stand in awe of all you say, and hearing, I want to believe; but could this God that you portray be so loving that as food He would give Himself to me, like the God that I adore? Religion: Oh, you will see, once you are washed in the crystalline, holy font of Bap5sm. Occident: Yes, this I know, before aspiring to come near the fruijul table, I must bathe; that ancient rite is prac9ced here.

22 (America, Occident and Zeal sing) (All) Blessed the day I came to know the great God of the Seeds! Now are the Indies all agreed, there is but One True God of Seeds! With tender tears By joy dis5lled, Raise voices high With gladness filled:

23 Virgen de Guadalupe

24 Casta

25 Spaniard + Indian = MesXzo Black + Indian = Lobo

26 Spaniard + Black = Mula\o Mula\o + Spaniard = Morisco

27 Father a Spaniard Mother a Criolla (parents Spanish, but born in New Spain) IllegiXmate Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Juan de Miranda, 17 th -18 th c. oil on canvas

28 What is the evil in my being a woman?

29 Athenagoric Le6er (1690) : A crixque of disxnguished ChrisXan thinker and orator, Father Antonio de Vieyra. Her le\er is commissioned by Don Manuel Fernández de Santa Cruz y Sahagún, Bishop of Puebla. He publishes the treaxse without her permission. She is accused of insolence and disrespect, for quesxoning a male, religious authority. The Bishop of Puebla writes a le\er, as a female (Sor Filotea), asking Sor Juana to abandon secularism and devote herself to faith.

30 Response to the Most Illustrious Poetess Sor Filotea de la Cruz My most illustrious señora, dear lady. By chance, am I other than an humble nun, the lowliest creature of the world, the most unworthy to occupy your ahen5on?

31 When later, being six or seven, and having learned how to read and write, along with all the other skills of needle-work and household arts that girls learn, it came to my a\enxon that in Mexico City there were Schools, and a University, in which one studied the sciences. The moment I heard this, I began to plague my mother with insistent and importunate pleas: she should dress me in boy s clothing and send me to Mexico City to live with relaxves, to study and be tutored at the University.

32 I give thanks to God, Who willed that such an ungovernable force be turned toward le\ers and not to some other vice. This manner of reflecxon has always been my habit, and is quite beyond my will to control; on the contrary, I am wont to become vexed that my intellect makes me weary and it is so strong in me this nature, or custom, that I look at nothing without giving it further examinaxon.

33 Even, lady, were these merits (and I see them celebrated as such in men), they would not have been so in me for I cannot but study. if in fact it is not permi\ed of women to read publicly in church, nor preach, why do they censure those who study privately?

34 *How does the ques5on of gender mobility, or immobility, reflect the power dynamics of New Spain? *What hypocrisies does she expose? *What is one of Sor Juana s main arguments in rela5on to gender? *Think about power rela5ons and compare to Galileo, Las Casas/Sepúlveda, and Shakespeare.