Poems, Protest, and a Dream (Penguin Classics)

Poems, Protest, and a Dream (Penguin Classics)
by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

Poems, Protest, and a Dream (Penguin Classics)
List Price: $11.33
Our Price: $9.49
You Save: $1.84 (16%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.38 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz
Translator: Margaret Sayers Peden
Introduction: Ilan Stavans
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); Spanish (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-08-14
ISBN: 0140447032
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Addison Wesley

Book Reviews of Poems, Protest, and a Dream (Penguin Classics)

Book Review: A superb introduction to a great mind
Summary: 5 Stars

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz is one of those remarkable literary figures whose extraordinary body of work forces one to either reevaluate or refine one's ideas about the complex interrelationships between religion, gender, national identity, and ethnicity. A nun who lived in seventeenth century Mexico, she distinguished herself as a poet, playwright, and prose writer.

"Poems, Protest, and a Dream" is an excellent introduction to the life and work of this fascinating woman. This selection of her works includes her famous prose piece addressed to "Sor Filotea de la Cruz," a hearty helping of her poetry, and two selections from her dramatic corpus. The bilingual format of the text, with Sor Juana's Spanish original on each even-numbered page and Margaret Sayers Peden's elegant English translation on each odd-numbered page, allows one to easily compare the two versions.

The distinguished scholar Ilan Stavans has written an extensive 32 page introduction. Stavans describes in detail the historical and cultural context from which Sor Juana wrote; his sensitive and intelligent portrait of the woman and her age made me appreciate and enjoy her writings even more.

Sor Juana takes on themes that are still relevant (and often hotly debated) more than three centuries after she wrote these works. The response to Sor Filotea is a defense of female intellectual aspiration in a male-dominated culture; in the defense Sor Juana critically responds to those who use the Judeo-Christian Bible as a tool for intimidating and marginalizing women. With certain factions of the "religious right" still using the Bible as a weapon for demonizing certain individuals and social agendas, Sor Juana's words continue to ring fresh and clear.

Equally extraordinary is Sor Juana's loa (a dramatic scene which prefaces a longer play) to "The Divine Narcissus." The loa is an allegory depicting the early contact between Christianity and the religion of the Aztecs; in this piece I detect a subtle satirical thrust which adds to the complexity of Sor Juana's vision.

Sor Juana was a masterful stylist in multiple literary genres, and her depth of psychological and moral insight adds to her stature as a literary giant. Nobody should consider herself or himself literate in the fields of women's studies or Latin American studies without having read the works of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. "Poems, Protest, and a Dream" is an excellent resource for both independent reading and classroom use. Enjoy Sor Juana's artistry, and reflect on her ideas.

Summary of Poems, Protest, and a Dream (Penguin Classics)

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648-1695) wrote her most famous prose work, La Respuesta a Sor Filotea, in 1691 in response to her bishop's injunction against her intellectual pursuits. A passionate and subversive defense of the rights of women to study, to teach, and to write, it predates by almost a century and a half serious writings on any continent about the position and education of women. Moreover, notes Ilan Stavans in his introduction, it has become "a cornerstone of Hispanic-American identity ... at once a chronicle of the tense gender relations in the Western Hemisphere, a rich portrait of the social behavior that prevailed more than a century before independence from Spain was gained in 1810, and the very first intellectual autobiography written by a criolla in a hemisphere known for its solipsism, introversion, and allergy to public confessions. Also included in this wide-ranging selection is a new translation of Sor Juana's masterpiece, the epistemological poem "Primero Sueno, " as well as revealing autobiographical sonnets, reverential religious poetry, secular love poems (which have excited speculation through three centuries), playful verses, and lyrical tributes to New World culture that are among the earliest writings celebrating the people and the customs of this hemisphere.

Poetry Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Poetry Books
FOUR QUARTETS. ImageFOUR QUARTETS.
by T. S. Eliot
Faber & Faber; Published: 1944; Hardcover; Book
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam ImageRubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
by Omar Khayyam
St. Martin's Press; Published: 1983-08-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.75
Price in other shops: $11.95
The Priapus Poems: EROTIC EPIGRAMS FROM ANCIENT ROME ImageThe Priapus Poems: EROTIC EPIGRAMS FROM ANCIENT ROME
University of Illinois Press; Published: 1999-05-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $180.00
Beowulf ImageBeowulf
by Seamus Heaney
Penguin Books; Published: 2000-09-28; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $14.95
Void of Course (Poets, Penguin) ImageVoid of Course (Poets, Penguin)
by Jim Carroll
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1998-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.94
Price in other shops: $15.00
Speaking of Siva (Penguin Classics) ImageSpeaking of Siva (Penguin Classics)
by Anonymous
Penguin Classics; Published: 1973-08-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.67
Price in other shops: $15.00
A Night Without Armor : Poems ImageA Night Without Armor : Poems
by Jewel
It Books; Published: 1999-08-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.84
Price in other shops: $11.95
Given Sugar, Given Salt: Poems ImageGiven Sugar, Given Salt: Poems
by Jane Hirshfield
Harper Perennial; Published: 2002-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.40
Price in other shops: $13.99
Letters Home: Correspondence 1950-1963 ImageLetters Home: Correspondence 1950-1963
by Sylvia Plath
Harper Perennial; Published: 1992-04-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.17
Price in other shops: $18.00
Yeats Folklore and Occultism ImageYeats Folklore and Occultism
by Frank Kinahan
Unwin Hyman; Published: 1988-10; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops: $59.95
Similar Books and other products
Beloved ImageBeloved
by Toni Morrison
Vintage; Published: 2004-06-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops: $15.00
Symposium ImageSymposium
by Plato
Hackett Publishing Co; Published: 1989-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops: $9.95
Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World ImageLieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World
by Catalina De Erauso, Michele Stepto, Gabri Stepto
Beacon Press; Published: 1997-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops: $17.00
Confessions (Penguin Classics) ImageConfessions (Penguin Classics)
by Augustine
Penguin Classics; Published: 1961-11-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.57
Price in other shops: $10.00
Heart of Darkness and Other Tales (Oxford World's Classics) ImageHeart of Darkness and Other Tales (Oxford World's Classics)
by Joseph Conrad
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-06-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.30
Price in other shops: $8.95
Othello (Pelican Shakespeare) ImageOthello (Pelican Shakespeare)
by William Shakespeare
Penguin Classics; Published: 2001-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.97
Price in other shops: $6.00
Discourse on the Method for Conducting One's Reason Well and for Seeking Truth in the Sciences ImageDiscourse on the Method for Conducting One's Reason Well and for Seeking Truth in the Sciences
by Rene Descartes
Hackett Pub Co; Published: 1998-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.72
Price in other shops: $6.95
Copenhagen ImageCopenhagen
by Michael Frayn
Anchor; Published: 2000-08-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.85
Price in other shops: $14.00
Euripides III: Hecuba, Andromache, The Trojan Women, Ion (The Complete Greek Tragedies) (Vol 5) ImageEuripides III: Hecuba, Andromache, The Trojan Women, Ion (The Complete Greek Tragedies) (Vol 5)
by Euripides
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 1992-01-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops: $15.00
The Broken Spears:   The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico ImageThe Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico
by Miguel Leon-Portilla
Beacon Press; Published: 2006-11-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.00
Price in other shops: $19.00
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories