Sor Juana Ins de la Cruz, known as The Tenth Muse of America, has been widely anthologized as a poet, intellectual, and defender of womens rights. Her calling as a nun, often denigrated or overlooked, is clear in The Divine Narcissus/El Divino Narciso, the finest extant example of the auto sacramental, a medieval genre similar to mystery plays.
Autos presented a blend of poetry, instrumental and choral music, dance and special effects and were intended to provide theological instruction to a broad audience. The Divine Narcissus is an allegory ostensibly written to explain Christian concepts to the Aztecs whose plight under colonization it also dramatizes. It reveals a scintillating display of sacred and secular knowledge.
Scholars and students in Spanish literature, colonial history, and womens studies will welcome this drama by Americas first feminist in its original Spanish and first English translation.
