![]() This is insufficient evidence on which to build a case.Ī few have accepted Juana's own explanation of the decisive change in her life and have declared that she entered a convent to find a place where she could devote herself to her intellectual interests. The story is based on nothing more substantial than the fact that her works contain a large number of love lyrics. This romantic legend has long been connected with Juana's name. Juana de Asbaje, inconsolable, buscó alivio en el estudio y en el retiro. Amado Nervo says:ĭicen … que cierto caballero … se le adentró en el corazón, logrando inspirarle un gran afecto añaden unos, que este gentilhombre estaba muy alto para que Juana, hidalga, pero pobre, pudiese ascender hasta él otros, que se murió en flor cuando iba ya a posarse sobre sus manos unidas la bendición que ata para siempre. Some of her biographers believe that she must have taken this step because of an unfortunate love affair. But in 1667, when not quite sixteen, she suddenly retired from the court and entered a convent. One would naturally expect that her life would here reach its climax in a blaze of glory. Endowed with a pleasing personality and gifted with unusual talents, she quickly attracted powerful friends at court, and met the outstanding people of her time. One question often raised is: Why did Sor Juana go into a convent? Why did she not remain in the world where she was admired for her beauty and her mental attainments? It will be remembered that Juana became lady-in-waiting to the Marchioness of Mancera, whose husband was the Viceroy of Mexico from 1664 to 1673. The present article is an attempt to answer in the light of contemporary books and manuscripts a few questions asked over and over again by her many biographers. It is possible, however, even at this remote date to glean a few facts from the meager material that has come down to us. The laws of reform and the final closing of convents and monasteries scattered books of inestimable value. When interest in Sor Juana finally revived in Mexico, it was already too late to preserve the documents that existed in the convent of St. ![]() The fact that she was a nun made her figure less in the works of her contemporaries than would otherwise have been the case, and the period of literary stagnation following her death contributed still further to the oblivion in which she rested. Material of the period in which she lived is very limited. Though much has appeared on the subject, many things still remain unexplained. The biography of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz is yet to be written. In the following essay, Schones addresses some of the central questions about Sor Juana's life, including her motivation to join a religious order, her name and its bearing on her colonial loyalties, and her decision to stop writing after her "Respuesta." I ![]() "Some Obscure Points in the Life of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz." Modern Philology 24, no. ![]() SOR JUANA INÉS DE LA CRUZ: GENERAL COMMENTARY DOROTHY SCHONES (ESSAY DATE NOVEMBER 1926) ![]()
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