About the playwright: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

The remarkable life of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz began in 1648. She was born in Mexico to an army officer and the daughter of a wealthy landowner. Juana’s parents were not married, and she was raised in the town of Panoyan, where she had access to her maternal grandfather’s library. She learned to read by age three; by age six, Juana was asking to dress as a boy and attend the university in Mexico City, a request that her mother refused.

Juana then took her education into her own hands, often punishing herself if she didn’t study hard enough to meet her own exacting standards. In 1659, Juana was sent to live with relatives in Mexico City. She stayed with them until 1664, when she became part of the court of Marquesa de Mancera. She began to write, both on secular and religious topics, while at court, but in 1667 she left to join the Carmelite convent of San José.

Juana would stay with the Carmelites for three months, leaving because the strictness of the order caused health problems for her. In 1669, at the request of the Marquesa, she sat for an examination in front of 40 scholars who were assembled to test her knowledge. Her first biographer, the priest Diego Callega, would later write that she performed at this examination like a “royal galleon attacked by canoes.” She passed the examination with flying colors, and shortly afterwards, Sor Juana was admitted to the Order of Saint Jerome, where she would remain until her death.

Though she was cloistered, she was still able to receive visitors, including the Marquesa. She had a two-story home within the convent, and was allowed to collect books, musical and scientifi c instruments, and retain servants.

Most importantly, convent life allowed her ample quiet time to pursue her studies and her writing of poetry, drama, and religious works. House of Desires House of Desires was fi rst performed was first performed in 1683.

In 1690, Sor Juana wrote a critique called “Letter Worthy of Athena” of a famous sermon. The piece was never intended for publication, but Sor Juana sent it to a friend, Manuel Fernandez de Santa Cruz, the bishop of Puebla, at his request. He betrayed her trust by publishing the piece, and followed it with the publication of his own “corrective” treatise, which he claimed was written by “Sor Filotea.” One of her most famous pieces was the “Response to Sor Filotea de la Cruz,” wherein Sor Juana defended the right of women to be educated. Her “Response” drew great hostility from church authorities.

In 1693, Sor Juana renounced her secular intellectual life, selling all of her books and musical instruments. Religious authorities attributed her sudden change of heart to “divine intervention,” but it is also possible that she simply could no longer withstand the constant assault from church offi cials, and gave in to their wishes. In 1694, she signed a renewed declaration of her faith in her own blood, also vowing to give up all secular studies. She died not long after, tending to her fellow sisters during a plague that swept through Mexico City in 1695.

— Lauryn Sasso