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Teresa of Avila
Publicada originalmente en 1951, esta biografía de santa Teresa de Jesús nos ofrece un retrato de cuerpo entero de la gran reformista, escritora y mística española. Un retrato que no se queda en el simple relato de los años y los hechos de una vida sino que nos ofrece la visión, la interpretación que de la santa hace la novelista y dramaturga irlandesa Kate O’Brien (1897-1974), para quien Teresa de Ávila fue «una mujer genial […] Su escritura brillante y a veces trascendentalmente maravillosa nos ha dejado el testimonio de la vida vivida por un genio». El resultado es una lectura apasionante, un nuevo y conmovedor acercamiento a una de las grandes figuras de nuestra historia.«Este libro es una apología de la constante admiración que he sentido hacia Teresa de Ávila». (KATE O’BRIEN)«Kate O’Brien no solo escribe sobre sus personajes sino que tiene el talento de dejarles hablar, de hacer que se expresen por sí mismos». (SEAMUS HEANEY)
96 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1993
16 people want to read
About the author
Kate O'Brien
49 books55 followersKathleen Mary Louise "Kate" O'Brien, was an Irish novelist and playwright.
After the success of her play, Distinguished Villa in 1926, she took to full-time writing and was awarded the 1931 James Tait Black Prize for her novel Without My Cloak. She is best known for her 1934 novel The Ante-Room, her 1941 novel The Land of Spices and the 1946 novel That Lady. Many of her books dealt with issues of female sexuality — with several exploring gay/lesbian themes — and both Mary Lavelle and The Land of Spices were banned in Ireland. She also wrote travel books, or rather accounts of places and experiences, on both Ireland and Spain, a country she loved, and which features in a number of her novels. She lived much of her later life in England and died in Canterbury in 1974; she is buried in Faversham Cemetery.
The Glucksman Library at the University of Limerick currently holds a large collection of O'Brien's personal writings. In August 2005, Penguin reissued her final novel, As Music and Splendour (1958), which had been out of print for decades. The Kate O'Brien weekend, which takes place in Limerick, attracts a large number of people, both academic and non-academic.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
After the success of her play, Distinguished Villa in 1926, she took to full-time writing and was awarded the 1931 James Tait Black Prize for her novel Without My Cloak. She is best known for her 1934 novel The Ante-Room, her 1941 novel The Land of Spices and the 1946 novel That Lady. Many of her books dealt with issues of female sexuality — with several exploring gay/lesbian themes — and both Mary Lavelle and The Land of Spices were banned in Ireland. She also wrote travel books, or rather accounts of places and experiences, on both Ireland and Spain, a country she loved, and which features in a number of her novels. She lived much of her later life in England and died in Canterbury in 1974; she is buried in Faversham Cemetery.
The Glucksman Library at the University of Limerick currently holds a large collection of O'Brien's personal writings. In August 2005, Penguin reissued her final novel, As Music and Splendour (1958), which had been out of print for decades. The Kate O'Brien weekend, which takes place in Limerick, attracts a large number of people, both academic and non-academic.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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December 25, 2025Siempre da gusto leer lo que una mujer inteligente tiene que decir sobre otra mujer inteligente.
September 25, 2024
Un estudio muy interesante y bien planteado sobre una de mis figuras históricas españolas favoritas
Mi única pega es que, con los conocimientos y pasión que demuestra O'Brien, esto necesitaba y merecía mayor duración
Mi única pega es que, con los conocimientos y pasión que demuestra O'Brien, esto necesitaba y merecía mayor duración
January 6, 2024
I was attracted to this slender book after reading Kate O'Brien's wonderful "The Land of Spices," a novel full of vivid characters in an Irish convent school. In fact, Teresa of Avila is the patron saint of my own church, yet I knew little of her story.
In this book, O'Brien spends only a short time on Teresa's mysticism, which Teresa herself explored in canonical works such as "The Interior Castle." O'Brien clearly accepts Teresa's reports of her mystic encounters with the presence of God, but she does not linger on them. Instead, the author describes Teresa as a child, then a nun eager to embrace asceticism, then the indefatigable reformer that she became in her later years. "This has been an attempt to present the great saint in her human aspect, in her personal appeal to one very far removed from understanding of saintliness," O'Brien writes.
Though O'Brien says immediately after that line that she has failed in her effort, I disagree. In fact, through anecdotes and excerpts from Teresa's writings, she shows the saint as a full person: funny, intelligent, determined and brave. One of my favorite moments came toward the end, when O'Brien includes a lighthearted hymn Teresa wrote for her nuns who were afraid that vermin would take up residence in their habits. Teresa was not only an ascetic, nor too far removed from the people she cared about to notice their concerns.
In this paragraph, O'Brien beautifully summarizes Teresa of Avila's legacy, not from a theological perspective so much as a human one:
"Teresa was a saint. She was alarming, she was, if you like, deluded; she was, if you like, mad. But she accomplished a great deal, speaking mundanely; she wrote with sanity, beauty and modesty, about high and dangerous matters; she charmed almost everyone she ever met; she was gay, tender and witty in her letters and in all her writings, and she was as much impeded by small faults and vanities as any saint dare be—as well she knew. So, however far beyond us she extended here on earth, she still is ours and dear to us, in a large part of her records."
This brief biography satisfied me by giving me an opportunity to see one brilliant woman writer exploring her admiration for another. Reading O'Brien's account makes me eager to hear more about Teresa of Avila in her own words.
In this book, O'Brien spends only a short time on Teresa's mysticism, which Teresa herself explored in canonical works such as "The Interior Castle." O'Brien clearly accepts Teresa's reports of her mystic encounters with the presence of God, but she does not linger on them. Instead, the author describes Teresa as a child, then a nun eager to embrace asceticism, then the indefatigable reformer that she became in her later years. "This has been an attempt to present the great saint in her human aspect, in her personal appeal to one very far removed from understanding of saintliness," O'Brien writes.
Though O'Brien says immediately after that line that she has failed in her effort, I disagree. In fact, through anecdotes and excerpts from Teresa's writings, she shows the saint as a full person: funny, intelligent, determined and brave. One of my favorite moments came toward the end, when O'Brien includes a lighthearted hymn Teresa wrote for her nuns who were afraid that vermin would take up residence in their habits. Teresa was not only an ascetic, nor too far removed from the people she cared about to notice their concerns.
In this paragraph, O'Brien beautifully summarizes Teresa of Avila's legacy, not from a theological perspective so much as a human one:
"Teresa was a saint. She was alarming, she was, if you like, deluded; she was, if you like, mad. But she accomplished a great deal, speaking mundanely; she wrote with sanity, beauty and modesty, about high and dangerous matters; she charmed almost everyone she ever met; she was gay, tender and witty in her letters and in all her writings, and she was as much impeded by small faults and vanities as any saint dare be—as well she knew. So, however far beyond us she extended here on earth, she still is ours and dear to us, in a large part of her records."
This brief biography satisfied me by giving me an opportunity to see one brilliant woman writer exploring her admiration for another. Reading O'Brien's account makes me eager to hear more about Teresa of Avila in her own words.
January 12, 2026
Quise leer este libro como introducción a Santa Teresa. Me impacta mucho la gente que tiene tan clara su misión de vida.
La autora pretende escribir un libro apto para los no conocedores de la fe, aunque como confiesa al final, le resulta imposible.
Me gustó este librito corto, que relata un resumen de la vida de Teresa; me inspira que todo cuanto hizo, desde su reforma carmelita pasando por su escritura impoluta, hasta cocinar y fregar pisos lo hizo al 200%como si lo hiciera para Dios, “su majestad” y no para los hombres.
La autora pretende escribir un libro apto para los no conocedores de la fe, aunque como confiesa al final, le resulta imposible.
Me gustó este librito corto, que relata un resumen de la vida de Teresa; me inspira que todo cuanto hizo, desde su reforma carmelita pasando por su escritura impoluta, hasta cocinar y fregar pisos lo hizo al 200%como si lo hiciera para Dios, “su majestad” y no para los hombres.
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February 3, 2025I <3 Kate O’Brien
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