About
Born Juana Ramírez de Asbaje in 1651 in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a self-taught child prodigy. She entered the Convent of San Jerónimo in Mexico City in 1669 to devote herself to study, amassing a library of some 4,000 volumes. Her work, blending poetry, drama, and essays, makes her a major figure of the Spanish Baroque. Her Respuesta a Sor Filotea de la Cruz (1691) is a foundational defense of women's right to education. Under ecclesiastical pressure, she ceased writing in 1693 and died in 1695 while nursing sick nuns.
* 1651-11-12 — † 1695-04-17
Major works
- Primero sueño (1692)philosophical poem
- Respuesta a Sor Filotea de la Cruz (1691)epistolary essay
- Los empeños de una casa (1683)comedy
- El divino Narciso (1680)allegorical play
- Hombres necios que acusáissatirical poem
Key milestones
- 1669Enters the Convent of San Jerónimo in Mexico City to pursue a life of learning.
- 1691Writes the Respuesta a Sor Filotea de la Cruz, a defense of women's right to education.
- 1695Dies of the plague after nursing nuns during an epidemic in Mexico City.
Themes
FeminismKnowledgeIntellectual freedomBaroqueReligion
Sources: britannica.com · id.loc.gov · oxfordbibliographies.com