El divino Narciso

by Juana Inés de la Cruz

Book by Juana

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Fiction, Poetry, Religion, Drama

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1689

About the author

Juana Inés de la Cruz was born in a town in the Valley of Mexico to a Creole mother Isabel Ramírez and a Spanish military father, Pedro Manuel de Asbaje. As a child, she learned Nahuatl (Uto-Aztec language spoken in Mexico and Central America) and read and write Spanish in the middle of three years. Thanks to her grandfather's lush library, Juana Inés de la Cruz read the Greek and Roman classics and the theology of the time, she learned Latin in a self-taught way. In 1665, admired for her talent and precocity, she was lady-in-waiting to Leonor Carreto, wife of Viceroy Antonio Sebastián de Toledo. Sponsored by the Marquises of Mancera, she shone in the viceregal court of New Spain for her erudition and versifying ability. In 1667, Juana Inés de la Cruz entered a convent of the Discalced Carmelites of Mexico but soon had to leave due to health problems. Two years later she entered the Order of St. Jerome, remaining there for the rest of her life and being visited by the most illustrious personalities of the time. She had several drawbacks to her activity as a writer, a fact that was frowned upon at the time and that Juana Inés de la Cruz always defended, claiming the right of women to learn. Shortly before her death, she was forced by her confessor to get rid of her library and her collection of musical and scientific instruments so as not to have problems with the Holy Inquisition, very active at that time. She died of a cholera epidemic at the age of forty-three, while helping her sick companions. The emergence of Sor Juana De La Cruz in the late seventeenth century was a cultural miracle and her whole life was a constant effort of stubborn personal and intellectual improvement.

Reviews

[ornella]

Si bien me gustó, creo que me interesó más leer los análisis sobre la loa que leer la loa en sí misma, ya que gracias a aquellos pude entender bien la cantidad de mensajes que se encuentran en estos versos. Independientemente de eso, Sor Juana eras una grosa.

[Pasa]

Me pareció HERMOSO este auto. ¿Cómo se te va a ocurrir el mito de Narciso para contar la historia de Jesús? Creo que estoy enamorada de Sor Juana, qué mujer brillante e icónica.

[Catherine]

"...su misma semejanza contemplando / está en ella, y mirando / a la Naturaleza Humana en ella. / ¡Oh fatales destinos de mi estrella! / ¡Cuánto temí que clara la mirase, / para que de ella no se enamorase, / y en fin ha sucedido!"

"He is contemplating his own likeness and seeing Human Nature. O fatal destiny of my star! How I feared that if he saw her clearly, he would fall in love with her, and finally it has happened!"

All the usual qualifications apply (colonial works are colonial; works written on commission reflect the values of the commissioner; autos sacramentales are inevitably heavy-handed allegories). But wow, this is beautifully written. Her lyrical gymnastics are remarkable—especially in the Echo and Narcissus conversations!!! The opening loa bending Aztec beliefs to sound Christian, the entire play bending the Narcissus myth to sound Christian, it's all immaculately constructed if problematic in a thousand ways. The sheer CRAFT here, though. SOR JUANA............MY FOREVER FAV.

[Delipao]

Genial. Te amo, Sor Juana.

[Tiff Gibbo]

America: If your request that I not die
and this show of compassion
are because, oh arrogant one,
you expect to conquer me first
with bodily weapons and then
with the arms of intellect, you
are mistaken, you are deceived;
for although I, a captive, weep
for my liberty, my free will
with even greater liberty
still will worship my deities!

A short, sharp, historically-fascinating curio from 1689 Mexico, written by a woman and discussing the (not too distant) memory of the conquering of the Americas by Spain and the introduction of Catholicism to a rich extant culture.

Not as vivid nor as beautiful as Sor Juana's poetry, however. But still worth your time - you can knock this out in an afternoon.

[Hades Martín]

Listo para otra sesión de "voy a tener que buscar online alguna explicación de la obra porque no me he enterado del todo". Se disfruta como obra literaria incluso sin entenderla del todo, aunque me da mucha pena, creo que tan solo me cuesta leer teatro, o que el teatro que he leído es demasiado rebuscado...
Tengo muchas ganas de ver qué dicen la L.C., aunque yo no pueda aportar mucho.

[Airácula]

Eggcelente eggcelentísimo

[Laura R. Aparicio]

Me ha encantado, especialmente los dos últimos cuadros. Hasta el cuarto (la muerte de Narciso), los mitemas son los "mismos" que en Ovidio (aunque haya más personajes). El quinto añade un final diferente que debería haberme esperado, pero la verdad es que creí que se quedaría en la muerte.

«NATURALEZA HUMANA: Por mi Narciso lloro, / señor; si tú Le tienes, / dime dónde está, para / que yo vaya a traerle.
NARCISO: ¿Pues cómo, esposa mía, / no puedes conocerme, / si a mi beldad divina / ninguna se os parece?
NATURALEZA HUMANA: ¡Ay, adorado esposo, / deja que alegremente / llegue a besar tus plantas!
NARCISO: A tocarme no llegues, / porque voy con mi padre / a su trono celeste.
NATURALEZA HUMANA: ¡Ay, Señor, no me dejes; / que volverá a insidiarme / mi enemiga serpiente!

[...]


GRACIA: Mirad, de la clara fuente / en el margen cristalino, / la bella cándida flor / de quien el amante dijo:
NARCISO: Éste es mi cuerpo y mi sangre / que entregué a tantos martirios / por vosotros. En memoria / de mi muerte, repetidlo»

[Jessica López-Barkl]

This is another play I taught this summer at Washington State Penitentiary mainly because I had never read it and it was all of 4 Anthology pages. It was really interesting and almost completely loathed by all of the prisoners sans one, who liked it for many of the same reasons I did, which were: it's authentic and unique infrastructure as a play, and it's beautiful illusions to the playwright and her own struggle in the world. Lovely.

[Ronnie]

No sé qué opino de este libro, quiero decir, esta bien escrito y tiene una muy buena estructura pero me ha aburrido demasiado y no he conectado, realmente no sé si he captado el punto totalmente. Casi logra gustarme pero no realmente no lo he disfrutado, pude apreciar lo bueno que es pero no conectamos, tal vez en un futuro vuelva a leerlo.

[M.]

I liked the intro more than the actual thing, but hey, credit wherre credit is due, this is fantastic and subtle, saying people can't be converted by force but by reasoning -and apparently, women are better at it than the obvious superior physical strength of men, but that's Sr. Joan speaking and not me-

[Kendra]

Reading this one for class

[Deespiegel]

Fucking beautiful.

[Derek Brown]

Pretty good!

[Ross]

Read the Edith Grossman translation.

[Alberto Glez]

Una obra bien densa pero lograda a la perfección. Cada vez me queda más claro que está mujer era una genia.

[Diego Arango]

Me deslumbró.

[Gise]

Me enamoré bien fuerte

[Kyle Edens]

i could not tell you what the hell just happened

[leticia]

mi auto favorito de sor juana que bello

[Matthias]

In the interest of honesty, I read this play as part of a lecture course for university. We are discussing American theatre (emphasis on American, as this includes all the Americas not just U.S America), and its development from the 16th century onward. I also did not read this exact edition, my teacher provided us with a scanned copy as most of us did not have our textbooks yet. The translation I read was done by Patricia A. Peters and Renée Domeier.

There are some interesting concepts raised in the Loa by Sor Juana. In a time when morality plays and theatre were being used for the conversion of indigenous populations she wrote a play that provides a two-sided discussion. Not only that, she provides a look into the indigenous characters religion and life. Now it is important to note that just because she offers a more character based story (instead of just focusing on morality and Catholicism) doesn't mean she does not hold a biased view of indigenous cultures. Depending on how you read the play it could imply that the indigenous characters representing the Americas and the west are converted to Catholicism, or it could be hinting that the indigenous representing characters and the Spanish representing characters come to an understanding that their religions are similar.

My class had an extensive discussion about the fact that this play seems to be subtly commenting on the contradictory narrative conversion plays use. We thought this because there is a moment in the play when the Spanish representing character, Religion, tells the indigenous representing characters, Occident and America, that they misinterpret her affection as violence. This is a contradictory message, as she wages war against them because they would not listen to her dialogue about how her god is the true god. When they point out that she has used violence and force to get her way she refers to it as truly coming from a place of 'affection.' My class also realized that even if this play is a commentary, the message is rather subtle and the audience consuming this literature during the time period would not receive it in the context we (as students today) do.

Overall, it is an intriguing read, especially as some of the discussion and dialogue about religion is quite impressive considering the time period. And especially as the author is a woman who defied the limits of the time period and found a way to get an education and become literate by being a nun. While her story does not end well she created some interesting works and provided some valuable insight into the time period from an unlikely perspective.

[Ted]

An allegorical play written in the 17th Century by a Roman Catholic nun living in Mexico. Feminists like to point to Sor Juana as a 17th Century feminist who is also perhaps defending her Aztec neighbors from the colonialism of Spain. The play itself is an allegorical tale of Satan talking with his/her (Satan dresses as a woman to try to win Christ's love) sidekicks, Pride and Self-Love as they plot how to defeat Christ and His side kicks, Humanity (or Human Nature) and Grace. Many of the characters are feminine, except Christ (who is called Narcissus, reflecting that Christ loves His own image, namely Humanity/Human Nature who is created in His image) and also Zeal who is a colonizing Spanish army general wanting to dominate the Americans (the Aztecs). It is perhaps true that Sor Juana wanted to help the Aztecs see that there is a difference between Christians who are offering God's love to the Aztecs as versus the colonizing powers of Europe who only want to conquer them. Maleness is thus associated with colonizing and conquering, whereas Christianity is being portrayed as nurturing and sustaining. Sor Juana's goal was perhaps to help the Aztecs see beyond the colonizing interest of Spain, to embrace what is really important in what Europe has to offer: the God who became human in order to lift up all humanity to heaven. She didn't want the Aztecs to lose sight of what was important about the arrival of the Europeans in America -they are being offered salvation and eternal life (they are as important to God as the Spaniards), rather than only seeing themselves being conquered by a superior power.

[Juan Pablo Alarcon LC]

Una imagen muy brillante
nos presenta nuestra hermana
la poetisa y monja sor Juana
con su talento galante.

Grande. Me encantó la adaptación del mito de Narciso y Eco para hablar de la salvación, junto con todo el color y la belleza del cantar de los cantares y el uso esplendoroso de la poesía barroca. Grande sor Juana por sus golpes secos, ecos, ecos de fantasía que muestran el amor infinito de Dios. Fue muy acertada en describir la añoranza de la natura humana que desea a su esposo y éste, que busca a su oveja enamorada, morada, morada de anhelos y deseos que solo Él puede llenar.

[Ailed Rguez]

No es lo que suelo leer, pero la historia de Narciso es una que siempre me ha gustado y por eso quise darle una oportunidad. La lectura me pareció rápida y aunque en mi edición se usa un español algo antiguo fue muy fácil de comprender y de seguir.

[Ale Gómez]

Me sorprendió demasiado, jamás pude imaginarme una semejanza entre Dios y un personaje como Narciso... hasta ahora 😱

[Rene]

*2.5
translated to English for theatre literature class

[Tiff Gibbo]

Probably a lot more resonant in its original Spanish, this is a fashionable play for its time (1600s) that is useful as a curio, but not as interesting in terms of prose or storyline.

[Mónica]

ECO: Y así, vosotros estad,
de todo cuanto suceda,
a la mira.

SOBERBIA Y AMOR PROPIO: Así lo haremos
porque acompañarte es fuerza.

[m]

Read this for my theater world history class, very surprised this play was able to be published at its time because of the context and themes

[Abril Torres Vassallo]

solo leí la loa