Review (PDF) Poems, Protest, And A Dream: Selected Writings (Penguin Classics)
A bilingual edition of writings by Latin America's finest baroque poetSor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648-1695) wrote her most famous prose work, La Respuesta a Sor Filotea, in 1691 in response to her bishop's injunction against her intellectual pursuits. A passionate and subversive defense of the rights of women to study, to teach, and to write, it predates by almost a century and a half serious writings on any continent about the position and education of women. Also included in this wide-ranging selection is a new translation of Sor Juana's masterpiece, the epistemological poem "Primero Sueno, " as well as revealing autobiographical sonnets, reverential religious poetry, secular love poems (which have excited speculation through three centuries), playful verses, and lyrical tributes to New World culture that are among the earliest writings celebrating the people and the customs of this hemisphere. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Series: Penguin Classics
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Penguin Classics (March 1, 1997)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0140447032
ISBN-13: 978-0140447033
Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 7.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #256,999 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #53 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > Caribbean & Latin American #54 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > European > Spanish #3101 in Books > Reference > Foreign Language Study & Reference
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz is one of those remarkable literary figures whose extraordinary body of work forces one to either reevaluate or refine one's ideas about the complex interrelationships between religion, gender, national identity, and ethnicity. A nun who lived in seventeenth century Mexico, she distinguished herself as a poet, playwright, and prose writer."Poems, Protest, and a Dream" is an excellent introduction to the life and work of this fascinating woman. This selection of her works includes her famous prose piece addressed to "Sor Filotea de la Cruz," a hearty helping of her poetry, and two selections from her dramatic corpus. The bilingual format of the text, with Sor Juana's Spanish original on each even-numbered page and Margaret Sayers Peden's elegant English translation on each odd-numbered page, allows one to easily compare the two versions.The distinguished scholar Ilan Stavans has written an extensive 32 page introduction. Stavans describes in detail the historical and cultural context from which Sor Juana wrote; his sensitive and intelligent portrait of the woman and her age made me appreciate and enjoy her writings even more.Sor Juana takes on themes that are still relevant (and often hotly debated) more than three centuries after she wrote these works. The response to Sor Filotea is a defense of female intellectual aspiration in a male-dominated culture; in the defense Sor Juana critically responds to those who use the Judeo-Christian Bible as a tool for intimidating and marginalizing women. With certain factions of the "religious right" still using the Bible as a weapon for demonizing certain individuals and social agendas, Sor Juana's words continue to ring fresh and clear.
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