A Sor Juana Anthology [Paperback]

Sor Juana (Author), Alan S. Trueblood (Translator), Octavio Paz (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A selection of the Mexican nun's work in excellent versions by Alan Trueblood. It successfully reflects the versatility of Sor Juana, whose styles range from spirited popular lyrics, some incorporating snatches of Nahuatl or Afro-Spanish refrains, to the learned conceits of her full-blown Gongorist manner.
--Edwin Williamson (London Review of Books )

[Trueblood] is astonishingly successful at rendering Sor Juana's Baroque complexities and her elusive simplicities.
--Richard Eder (Los Angeles Times Book Review )

Sor Juana with her intricate conceits, torrents of imagery and baroque opulence...inspires and challenges Trueblood to transform the Spanish verse forms into contemporary equivalents. He triumphs.
--Robert Taylor (Boston Globe )

This anthology projects a masterful vision of Sor Juana. The selection, translations, and commentary are laudable. A voice once silenced is most resonant.
--Edward H. Friedman (Modern Language Review )

Language Notes

Text: English, Spanish --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (February 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674821211
• ISBN-13: 978-0674821217
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,006,170 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Horrid horrid translation, April 17, 2001

By 

D. A. Hosek (Santa Monica, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Sor Juana Anthology (Paperback)

Sor Juana was a seventeenth century Mexican nun who was also a notable poet. Unfortunately, this particular translation (by Trueblood) is quite execrable. Translating poetry is dicey business at best and is perhaps best handled with a literal translation and occasional footnotes. Trueblood imposed rhymes where there were none in the original and a rather jangling rhythm more appropriate for twentieth-century Madison Avenue than seventeenth-century Mexico City. His introduction also seems to distort some of Sor Juana's attitudes to meet his own ideology. Thankfully, the book also includes the poems in the original Spanish.