Synopses & Reviews
Sor Juana (1651-1695) was a fiery feminist and a woman ahead of her time. Like Simone de Beauvoir, she was very much a public intellectual. Her contemporaries called her "the Tenth Muse" and "the Phoenix of Mexico," names that continue to resonate. An illegitimate child, self-taught intellectual, and court favorite, she rose to the height of fame as a writer in Mexico City during the Spanish Golden Age.
Review
"Edith Grossman's contemporary translation renders the contemplations, rhymes, and drama of la Décima Musa ageless." Ana Castillo
Review
"Edith Grossman is a marvel. With the greatest artistry she has given vibrant, contemporary voice to Sor Juana, legendary proto-feminist bard of seventeenth-century Mexico, capturing the wit, tenderness, and religious fervor of her work." Susan Bernofsky, translator of Kafka's The Metamorphosis
Review
"Edith Grossman's judicious selection and eloquent translation of the writings of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz will bring many new readers to the work of this "Tenth Muse," the first major poet of the New World. The poems chosen for inclusion illustrate her extraordinary range, and the epistolary exchange between 'Sor Filotea' and Sor Juana reveals the perilous context of her writing life." Charles Martin, translator of Ovid's Metamorphoses and cotranslator of The Bhagavad Gita
Review
"Her language is a lesson in speaking to the moment and to the centuries both, and Edith Grossman captures its suggestiveness with a calm elegance." Alberto Ríos
Review
"A welcome new translation of the charismatic Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz! Historians of feminism will be especially drawn to this version of her classic, impassioned letter to the misogynistic bishop whom she mistakenly thought was 'Sor Filotea.'" Sandra M. Gilbert, coeditor, The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women
Review
"Impressive... This careful book may ignite new attention to Sor Juana in English, for which Grossman will deserve even more praise." Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
Latin America's great poet rendered into English by the world's most celebrated translator of Spanish-language literature.
About the Author
Acclaimed for her best-selling translations of Cervantes, Gabriel García Márquez, and Mario Vargas Llosa, Edith Grossman has received many awards including the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation. She lives in New York City.