The Three Secular Plays of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: A Critical Study

by Guillermo Schmidhuber

Overview

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648-1695) is considered the greatest of Mexican women writers. At age sixteen she entered a convent, where she collected a private library of 4,000 volumes and wrote poetry, prose, and plays. One of the most influential early feminists, she answered a bishop's criticism in a letter that has become a classic defense of the education of women.

Traditionally, scholars have attributed only one complete play to Sor Juana, but in 1989 Guillermo Schmidhuber discovered a lost play, The Second Celestina, which he proved conclusively to be Sor Juana's earliest dramatic work. His critical study is the first dedicated exclusively to the secular plays and the first to confirm Sor Juana's authorship of three dramatic pieces. Combining literary history and criticism, Schmidhuber explores the life and originality of Sor Juana's dramas and helps elucidate her enigmatic genius.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813189611
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	12/14/2021
Series:	Studies in Romance Languages
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	932 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Critic and playwright Guillermo Schmidhuber is Secretary of Culture for Jalisco state in Mexico. Shelby Thacker teaches Spanish at Asbury College.

Table of Contents

	List of Figures and Tables	vii
	By Way of Prologue	ix
	Glossary of Literary Terms from Spanish	xiii
Critical Act 1	Introduction to Sor Juana's Dramatic Work	1
Critical Act 2	The Dramatic Itinerary of Sor Juana	25
Critical Act 3	Sor Juana's Poetics for Drama	45
Critical Act 4	The Second Celestina	71
Critical Act 5	The Trials of a Noble House	99
Critical Act 6	Love Is Indeed a Labyrinth	129
Critical Act 7	Posthumous Reputation of Sor Juana's Theater	152
	Notes	158
	Bibliography	179
	Index	192

Editorial Reviews

Schmidhuber's critical study is the first dedicated exclusively to the secular plays and the first to confirm Sor Juana's authorship of three dramatic pieces.

Translation Review

Combining literary history and criticism, Schmidhuber explores the life and originality of Sor Juana's dramas and helps elucidate her enigmatic genius.

wirting-romance.blogspot.com

A mix of literary history, criticism, and solidly-based interpretation that blends into a unique kind of study.

Leon Lyday

A demonstration of Sor Juana's mastery of the style, form, and genre of Golden Age theater.

Seventeenth-Century News

Schmidhuber clearly knows this material well and has invested his energy in preparing a superb collection.

George Woodyard

A good secondary source on a hitherto unstudied topic.

British Bulletin of Publications of Latin America

Will remain the authoritative account of this portion of Sor Juana's theatre for years to come. It is therefore a must for all Sor Juana scholars and, as well, for every university library.

Caliope

"A good secondary source on a hitherto unstudied topic." — British Bulletin of Publications of Latin America, the Caribbean, Portugal and S

"Will remain the authoritative account of this portion of Sor Juana's theatre for years to come. It is therefore a must for all Sor Juana scholars and, as well, for every university library." — Caliope

"Schmidhuber clearly knows this material well and has invested his energy in preparing a superb collection." — George Woodyard

"A mix of literary history, criticism, and solidly-based interpretation that blends into a unique kind of study." — Leon Lyday

"A demonstration of Sor Juana's mastery of the style, form, and genre of Golden Age theater." — Seventeenth-Century News

"Schmidhuber's critical study is the first dedicated exclusively to the secular plays and the first to confirm Sor Juana's authorship of three dramatic pieces." — Translation Review

"Combining literary history and criticism, Schmidhuber explores the life and originality of Sor Juana's dramas and helps elucidate her enigmatic genius." — wirting-romance.blogspot.com

From the Publisher