Sor Juana's Second Dream: A Novel [Hardcover]

Alicia Gaspar de Alba (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1999

This bold novel unravels the mystery and complexity of the woman Carlos Fuentes calls "the first great Latin American poet." Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695), poet, playwright, rhetorician, and musician, is often equated with Sappho, the lesbian poet whom Plato baptized the "Tenth Muse."

The Mexican nun has fascinated readers around the world for centuries as scholars have attempted to understand her brilliance, her feminism, the affairs of her heart, her decision to enter a convent at the beginning of her luminous intellectual career.

Juana Ramírez de Asbaje, an illegitimate criolla, is sixteen when word of her self-taught erudition travels to the palace in Mexico City and she becomes an attendant to Doña Leonor Carreto, Marquesa de Mancera. Wanting only to study, confused by her love for la Marquesa, and loathe to marry, in five years Juana becomes Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz in the Convent of Santa Paula of the Order of San Jerónimo. There, her quill becomes her salvation and damnation as her notoriety mounts with each new artistic commission. Popular with court and clergy, she receives a stream of guests at the convent, among them la Condesa de Paredes, who becomes Sor Juana's intimate friend. More than two decades later, after brilliantly defending her right to think, teach, and write, Sor Juana appears before the Inquisition and abruptly withdraws from the spotlight.

Mixing fiction with Sor Juana's own words, and drawing on the most recent Sor Juana scholarship, Alicia Gaspar de Alba creates the most full-bodied portrait of Mexico's Tenth Muse to date. This remarkable novel about a remarkable woman will enlighten a new generation of readers, and stoke the interest of devotees who already are captivated by the inspiring Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

"An adventuresome exploration into the lyrical and historical vision of an extraordinary woman, written by an extraordinary novelist who has given us a new possibility to dream and invent Sor Juana Inés all over again."--Marjorie Agosín, Wellesley College

"Beautifully written, without doubt the best book I have read this year. A masterpiece."--Greg Sarris, author of Watermelon Nights

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The story of Mexico's Sor Juana In?s de la Cruz (1648-1695)Aone of the great thinkers and poets of the 17th century and an iconic figure in women's historyAhas been much told in academic circles. In her intelligent, thoroughly researched novel, Gaspar de Alba goes beyond established fact and paints a fictionalized, sometimes controversial portrait. In 17th-century Mexico, women either married or became nuns, but they were not educated, nor were they thought to have souls. Sor Juana, a prodigy of erudition from an early age, chose the veil, not because she felt a calling, but because marriage was even more unthinkable. Defying the Inquisition and the profoundly patriarchal world she lived in, she wrote and read prolifically and publicly until she was threatened into silence by the Church hierarchy. She then renounced her "worldly" ways and completely surrendered to religion, ceasing all writing and communication with the outside world. As Gaspar de Alba tells it, Sor Juana was not only a woman who questioned a patriarchal and superstitious society, but also a lesbian. She makes a convincing case by juxtaposing the nun's own poetry with actual events and fictional journal entries. Commendably, Sor Juana's flaws are not glossed over; she is portrayed as vain, prejudiced and difficult. This work of fine scholarship and vision should increase awareness of a compelling historical figure. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In her first novel, poet and Chicano studies scholar Gaspar de Alba brings to life Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, a prolific, brilliant, and complex author and nun of 17th-century Mexico. Although Sor Juana left behind several volumes of published writings, the more personal details of her life remain sketchy. Gaspar de Alba has artfully combined excerpts from the writings with explicit, fictionalized journal entries to create a vibrant, if sometimes anachronistic, account of a complex life. Long adored in Mexico, Sor Juana has only recently become popular in the United States. She is often considered North America's first lesbian feminist writer, and Gaspar de Alba clearly shares this view. Eminently readable, this book is recommended for larger public libraries; readers desiring a more conservative biography might prefer Nobel laureate Octavio Paz's Sor Juana; or, The Traps of Faith (LJ 9/1/88).AMary Margaret Benson, Linfield Coll. Lib., McMinnville, OR
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 474 pages
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press; 1st edition (August 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826320910
• ISBN-13: 978-0826320919
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #656,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #12 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Sisters

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History becomes herstory, May 28, 2007

By 

Fiona Guillory - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sor Juana's Second Dream: A Novel (Hardcover)

As women living in the 21st Century, we have unlimited choices. That is why it is so difficult to imagine what it must have been like for Sor Juana. She was an intellectual giant in the New World, displaying her abilities in subjects ranging from ancient history to physics. She was a self-taught scholar. Even so, she was persecuted. Not simply because her views were extreme (though they were), but because extreme views or, in fact, views at all, were considered unseemly in women. Sor Juana's story, as well as the history of early Mexico, is the inspiration for this novel.
No doubt, Alicia Gespar de Alba takes poetic license. It is impossible to know the intimate details of Sor Jauna's everyday life, but this is a good educated guess. And it is breathtaking. Each page is a heartwrenching description of the passions that tore Sor Jauna apart. Many of her own words are used in the story, and the parts that are fiction blend beautifully with them.
In addition to its revelation of an early feminist, this book is also important in its description of Colonial Mexico. In the background of Sor Juana's story, the reader is able to view the precarious mix of church and crown, whites and indians, and intellectuals and idiots. The time period, of course, is an essential part of what happens to Sor Juana, but it is an interesting subject of its own.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of feminism or Mexico or to anyone who enjoys poetry or rhetoric. Be warned, though, when you discover what this woman went through for knowledge, you may not be able to take your freedom for granted anymore.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars poetic quest, February 11, 2007

By 

Florilegia (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sor Juana's Second Dream: A Novel (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed being drawn into the world of Sor Juana. She was a genius, a gifted poet, dramatist, philospher, scientist, theologian and humanist who radically sought her personal truth despite the constrictions of the societal and ecclesiastical institutions of her day. I surmise that Sor Juana would likely not have taken the veil has she lived in our day but she chose the only route left to her within her social position to attain some manner of intellectual freedom. Alicia Gaspar de Alba is a master storyteller who knows the art of bringing the vivid colors and textures of her subject matter to life. Though I do realize that this is a work of fiction and share the author's conjecture that Sor Juana's affections most definately rested with those of her own sex and her passionate manner of writing to the same was not simply a rhetorical device of her time, I did sometimes question her literary license with regard to specific scenes which are ambiguous at best in historical accounts, not in the slightest because I think them distasteful but simply because I think the brilliance and passion of this woman is not compounded by the "fleshing" out of her sexuality in pure fantasy. The climate of the ecclesiastical world during the inquisition and the sad state of inner conventual politics makes her luminous literary heritage even more astonishing. Though the author does tell this dark aspect of the divisions and hypocracy of some member of the Spanish Catholic Church of Sor Juana's day, she never does it gratuitiously and one senses a balance as with the priests and other nuns who support her and even try to help her remain on a path of discretion when her passions overtake her rational judgement. It is truly sad that her star disappeared too soon from the heavens that she so loved gazing into with her telescope. In any case, I found it an intensely beautiful read which left me wanting to know more of the woman behind the words. I recommend this highly to anyone who wants to know Sor Juana without the censorship of other admirers of hers who would deny her one of the most elementary forces behind her creative working - her passion for the two women who helped her become fully the muse that she was.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for every lesbian, November 6, 2006

By 

Carlos T. Mock "carloschicago" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sor Juana's Second Dream: A Novel (Hardcover)

The story of Mexico's Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695) is one of the great thinkers and poets of the 17th century and an iconic figure in women's history. In this intelligent, thoroughly researched novel, Gaspar de Alba goes beyond the established facts and paints a fictionalized, sometimes controversial portrait. Sor Juana, a prodigy of erudition from an early age, chose the veil, not because she felt a calling, but because marriage was even more unthinkable. Defying the Inquisition and the profoundly patriarchal world she lived in, she wrote and read prolifically and publicly until she was threatened into silence by the Church hierarchy. She then renounced her "worldly" ways and completely surrendered to religion, ceasing all writing and communication with the outside world.

As Gaspar de Alba tells it, Sor Juana was a lesbian. She makes a convincing case by juxtaposing the nun's own poetry with actual events and fictional journal entries. Commendably, Sor Juana's flaws are not glossed over; she is portrayed as vain, prejudiced, and difficult. This work of fine scholarship and vision should increase awareness of a compelling historical figure. Brilliantly written, is a must for any lesbian reader.