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Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, The Traps of Faith , Octavio Paz

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, The Traps of Faith , Octavio Paz. Generalizing from “ La Peor de Todas ”: “Her personal history was made of the same perpetually fluctuating substance as the history of her world.”--Paz. On film and history: Behmberg is no Stone. Intellectual life in the Indies

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Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, The Traps of Faith , Octavio Paz

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  1. Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, The Traps of Faith, Octavio Paz • Generalizing from “La Peor de Todas”: “Her personal history was made of the same perpetually fluctuating substance as the history of her world.”--Paz. • On film and history: Behmberg is no Stone. • Intellectual life in the Indies • Inquisition: “a much over-publicized and misconceived institution.” • Sor Juana, “first feminist of the New World” • The traps: what, why, and how.

  2. Historical generalization and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz • Intellectual life in the Indies • confined to cities, particularly capitals • 17th century seasoning: from chronicles to literature, and peninsular to creole • intellectual expression: exuberant intricacy, formalism, allegory, allusion to authorities • Inquisition: “a much over-publicized and misconceived institution.” • Books circulated more freely • Institution was widely supported • Repression was rare: in 250 years, 30 executions in Lima.

  3. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, 1651-95 • on love: “Who thankless flees me,I with love pursue;Who loving follows me, I thankless flee:To him who spurns my love, I bend the knee.” • on gender: “If Aristotle had done some cooking, he would have written more.” • a rationalist passion for knowledge: “...just to see if by studying, I might grow less ignorant.” • on method: “...the expositors are like an open hand and the ecclesiastics like a closed fist.”

  4. “First feminist of the New World” • Course text, 238-39: “reason and emotion”, “science and revelation”, fame and envy • Paz emphasizes feminism, as well: • a nun, an intellectual, a woman • misogyny of church authorities • reason, observation, and science • Reason: “If a trained hand does not prevent the foliage of the tree from becoming too dense, its wild tangle will rob the fruit of its substance.” • Gender: (to St. Catherine of Alexandria): “There in Egypt, all the sages by a woman were convinced that gender is not the essence in matters of intelligence.”

  5. Marquis de Mancera, Viceroy of New Spain, 1660-64 • First (of 6) viceregal patron of Sor Juana • Sponsored public exam of Sor. Juana’s genius by 40 men of letters • Marchioness of Mancera, the first of 5 vicereinas to support Sor Juana • Friend of Sor Juana’s confessor (-1695)

  6. Archbishop Fray Payo Enriquez de Rivera, Viceroy 1673-80 • Crown and clergy united in same person • Arranged commission for Sor Juana to write Allegorical Neptune for triumphal arch (1680) • Sor Juana enjoyed vice-regal patronage, 1660 - 1693 (during terms of 8 viceroys)

  7. Conde de Paredes, Viceroy of New Spain, 1680-86 (d. 1693) • Crown vs. clergy: Viceroy Paredes vs. Archbishop Aguiar y Seijas • secular entertainments • protocol • Sor Juana to her patron, Countess of Paredes: “To women you bring great esteemto learned men, acute offense,by proving gender plays no partin matters of intelligence.” • With his death in 1693, Sor Juana lost her most important ally

  8. First Book • Published 1689 in Madrid • Dedicated to Condesa de Paredes, patroness of 2nd vol. (Seville, 1692). • Continued their correspondence at least until 1693… • Circles of women were important.

  9. Antonio Nuñes de Miranda, S.J. (d. 1695), confessor to Sor. Juana1660s-1683 (!), 1693-95 • Censor to the Inquisition for 32 years • humble, chaste misogynist: dressed like a pauper; thankfully near-sighted (so as not to see women) • Mortification: scourged himself “...73 times in reverence for the 73 years of the Blessed Virgin’s life…”

  10. Archbishop Francisco Aguiar y Seijas, 1681-1698 • Noted for his religiosity, piety, charity, prudery mortifications, and misogyny. • “…and then he burned the books of plays.” • “…he tried to avoid even a glimpse of a woman’s face.” “Why, people do you persecute me so?In what do I offend, when but inclinedwith worldly beauties to adorn my mind,and not my mind on beauty to bestow?”-- SJIC

  11. Conde de Galve, Viceroy 1688-1696 • Condesa de Galve also supported Sor Juana • Conde--authority weakened by riot of June, 1692 • Fearful of divine retribution, acquiesced to Aguiar y Seijas’ “reforms”

  12. Sor. Juana’s signature in her own blood, 8 Feb. 1694 • “I, the worst of all”--a common form of self-vilification in 17th c. • “And as a sign of how greatly I wish to spill my blood in defense of these truths, I sign with it.” • silver jubilee of her profession, not the “renunciation” of her studies or thinking

  13. Traps of Faith: What, Why, How • Bishop of Puebla on Sor Juana: “What a pity that so rich a mind should so debase itself in petty matters of this world.” • Why: the “defect” of being a woman • How: • The Reply • The Riot • Loss of patronage • Did she recant? Or just give away the library?

  14. Don Carlos Sigüenza y Góngora • Creole savant • Intellectual companion of Sor. Juana • The name and fame of “Mother Juana Inés de la Cruz will only end with the world.”

  15. End

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