The Answer / La Respuesta (Expanded Edition). Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
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The Answer
The Answer
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
La Respuesta
EXPANDED EDITION
Including Sor Filotea’s Letter and New Selected Poems
Second Critical Edition and Translation by
ELECTA ARENAL and AMANDA POWELL
The Feminist Press at The City University of New York
The Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue, Suite 5406
New York, NY 10016
Second Edition
Published March 2009
Third printing, December 2012
Copyright © 2009 by Electa Arenal and Amanda Powell
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or used, stored in any information retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of The Feminist Press at The City University of New York except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Juana Inés de la Cruz, Sister, 1651–1695.
[Respuesta a sor Filotea de la Cruz. English & Spanish]
The answer : expanded edition, including The letter to which it replies & new selected poems = La respuesta / Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz ; critical edition and translation by Electa Arenal and Amanda Powell. — 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-55861-598-4
1. Juana Inés de la Cruz, Sister, 1651–1695. 2. Authors, Mexican—17th century—Biography. 3. Nuns—Mexico—Biography. 4. Women—Mexico—Social conditions—17th century. I. Arenal, Electa. II. Powell, Amanda. III. Title.
PQ7296.J6R413 2009
861—dc22
This publication is made possible, in part, thanks to the generosity of Ellen Bass, Sallie Bingham, Mariam K. Chamberlain, Helene D. Goldfarb, Joanne Markell, Caroline Urvater, and Genevieve Vaughan.
Cover art: Retrato de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz by Miguel Cabrera, 1750, oil on canvas. Courtesy of Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (CNCA), Mexico.
Cover and text design by Drew Stevens
Contents
Juana Ramírez / Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648/51–1695): A Life Without and Within
A Poet-Scholar: Sor Juana’s Writing
II. La Respuesta / The Answer: A Reading
A Different Worldview, a Different Law: A Woman-Centered Vision
Respuesta de la poetisa a la muy ilustre sor Filotea de la Cruz
The Poet’s Answer to the Most Illustrious Sister Filotea de la Cruz
Annotations to La Respuesta / The Answer
Romance: Prólogo al lector / Ballad: Prologue to the Reader of these Poems
Este, que ves, engaño colorido
Si los riesgos del mar considerara
With all the hazards of the sea in mind
Esta tarde, mi bien, cuando te hablaba
This afternoon, my darling, when we spoke
Detente, sombra de mi bien esquivo