Biografía:
Great Mexican poetess born in the viceroyalty of New Spain under the name of Juana Ramirez de Asbaje. She learned to read and write at the age of three and spent long hours studying in her grandfather's library. At the age of eight, she wrote a eucharistic laud song. When she was very young, she traveled to Mexico City and learned Latin in just twenty lessons. In 1665, she joined the court at the service of vice-queen Leonor Carreto where she was highly praised for her intelligence, good memory and discretion.Urged by her Jesuit teacher Antonio Nuñez de Miranda in 1667, Sister Juana made up her mind to join the convent of San Jose of the Barefoot Carmelites to deepen her studies. Later, she left the monastery forced by illness only to return definitely in 1669 to the convent of San Jeronimo in Mexico City, where she remained for the rest of her life. Sister Juana gathered a valuable library that reached some 4,000 books and helped her learn about different subject matters: theology, astronomy, painting, languages, philosophy and music. Her best literary years started out in 1680 with Allegoric Neptune, a magnificent work that opened the gates of the kingdom palace and made her the favorite pick of the viceroy. From 1680 to 1688, Sister Juana lived a time of intense literary output marked by her admirable sonnets, poems, glosses, rhyming abbes and roundels on love, religion, philosophy, plus countless romantic poems and other compositions.In 1690, the Bishop of Puebla, Fernandez de Santa Cruz, edited her Athenagoric Letter (a critique to the Sermon of the Commands) in which Sister Juana's prose glowed like never before. In this theological work, Sister Juana discusses the principles of Jesus Christ and appears to blast Portuguese Jesuit Antonio Vieira. As a result of this publication, Santa Cruz wrote the famous Letter of Sister Filotea and sent it to Sister Juana. In this piece, the bishop urged Sister Juana to abandon her heathen writings and indulge herself into religious works. Sister Juana's Reply to Sister Filotea de la Cruz is as remarkable as any of her other writings. In it, Sister Juana stands up staunchly for women's right to express themselves freely.A discord about Sister Juana's last years split her followers and advocates. Some defended the thesis of her conversion. Others recognized her final silence. Recent findings seem to confirm the latter. Mexican historian Elias Trabulse wrote an ironic article in 1696 –probably authored by Sister Juana- entitled Letter to Seraphim of Christ (1691). In this piece, Trabulse assures that Sister Juana was subjected to a secret trial under the rights of the canonic law. From 1694, she stopped publishing her works, even though she kept on writing. A case in point is Enigmas, a series of poems that make up a book dubbed The House of Pleasure, recently put out. An inventory dated in the 19th century and found in her cell, reveals fifteen profane and posthumous poems.Sister Juana died of the plague on April 17, 1695 while she was taking care of her own sick sisters. Until 1950, there was complete collection of her works. In 1951, Alfonso Mendez Plancarte culled her pieces in four volumes that stand for the most comprehensive collection there is right now. In 1995, Mexico's National Autonomous University printed out the manuscripts of this great poetess' early works.
