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Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz
Last edited Sat Nov 23, 2013, 02:19 AM - Edit history (1)
Several times this week I've been reminded of the film by Maria Luisa Bemberg, "Yo la peor de todas (I, the Worst of All) on the life of the 17th-century Mexican poet and writer, Sister Juana Inez de la Cruz. In an age when few men were literate, Sor Juana wrote prolifically and was said to have the largest library in New Spain. (New Spain was a Spanish colony that encompassed Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and Western United States. Its capital was Mexico City).
As a woman, Juana was denied access to higher education. At age 16, she attempted to dress as a boy in an effort to attend university in Mexico City. Unsuccessful, she was able to cultivate the patronage of Leonor Carreto, the wife of Antonio Sebastián de Toledo who occupied the position of Viceroy of New Spain, the highest office in the colony. She would later benefit from the patronage of the subsequent viceregal families.
Women of her class and era had two choices: marry or enter a convent. Refusing several proposals of marriage, Juana chose to become a Hieronimyte nun, for the cloister allowed her to live a life devoted to letters. The luxury afforded Juana did not extend to all nuns but came largely from the patronage of the Viceregal families, most notably that of the marquis and marquise de la Laguna from 1680 to 1688. She is also rumored to have been romantically involves with vicerene Maria Luisa de Paredes.
Maria Luisa Bemberg's film, "Yo la peor de todas," is based on a novel by Octavio Paz on Sor Juana's life. It captures the cloistered world of nuns, confined to cells and kept from the world. Her cage was filled with books, musical, and scientific instruments. Rarely able to leave the convent, Sor Juana received Maria Luisa de Paredes in her cell. Juana produced a large body of literary works that would result in her standing as the most important literary figure of colonial Spanish America. Her renowned, however, was not without costs. She made the grave mistake of entering into an ecclesiastical disagreement with the church hierarchy over interpretation of a sermon by the Portuguese Jesuit, Antonio Vieira. When the Bishop of Puebla published Juana's essay on Vieira without her permission, she became the subject of intense criticism, warned in print to keep to her place. Juana's response was to publish a treatise on the rights of all women to knowledge, Repuesta a Sor Filotea. That radical piece of writing would spell her undoing. She was stripped of her books and possessions, kept from writing, and put to domestic service in the convent before eventually dying from the plague in 1695, at 43 years of age.
Bemberg captures the intense misogyny of 17th century clergy, so repulsed by women they recoil in horror when Sor Juana nearly brushes against them. Women were temptresses, whose power to arouse men was seen as coming from Satan himself. (Recent writings on school girls' dressing as sluts brought this to mind.) Most threatening, however, was Sor Juana's keen intellect and strength of will to challenge a subjugation of women so great, the word patriarchy doesn't do it justice. Bemberg demonstrates the sadism of the priests who enjoyed watching Juana's fall from grace to domestic service, reduced to her rightful place as a woman: demure, obedient, and disarmed of her pen. Her punishment amounted to a metaphorical rape of her mind and soul--the essence of Juana as person. The film ends with her signing a final confession in blood, Juana Ines de la Cruz, "Yo la peor de todas," I, the worst of all.
The full film is available on YouTube:
For a summary of her life and contributions, see: http://www.britannica.com/women/article-9028065
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