HUM 2461 Humanities of Latin America Spring 2013

1. Day 23 12th of November HUM 2461Humanities of Latin AmericaSpring 2013 Attendance Renassaince and “lo barroco” in SorJuana Inés de la Cruz. POP QUIZ

2. Activity #1 • Students have to take notes from this presentation. • End of class student will take a quiz for EXTRA CREDIT in the MIDTERM exam.

3. Sorjuaninés de la cruz Aztec Empire Mesoamérica México

4. lo barroco in mexico • A profusion of adornment in all the arts, and • A complicated façades, abundant foliage, plaster darts, crossings, coiling, scrolls, and conical shapes mixed with traditional shapes in sculpture and architecture.

5. characteristics of lo barroco in literature • Extreme decoration • Subtle conceits (clever plays on words): language is “slippery ground” • Maximum culture (knowledge, all the reading of humanities) • Pessimism • Metaphor • Stark opposites (light/dark) • Veras and burlas

6. METAPHOR • A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison, as in "a sea of troubles" or "All the world's a stage" (Shakespeare). • Which is your?, get a piece of paper and write down a metaphor!

7. Veras & burlas

8. Veras&burlas THE CREST THE COPLA

9. Sorjuanainés de la cruz(17th century) • Juana de Asbaje y Ramírez • Sor Juana • México, nov. 12th, 1651-April 17th, 1695 • Writer and poet.

10. 1651 - 1695 / San Miguel Nepantla / Mexico

11. Two main contributions • Against the role of church. Expressed in prose, mainly. • Against patriarchal societies. Expressed in poetry.

12. Most important literary work • Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was an exceptional XVII-century nun who set precedents for feminism long before the term or concept existed. • Her defense (letter) "Respuesta a SorFilotea” (Reply to Sister Philothea) is a maverick work outlining the logical sense of women’s education more than 200 years before Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own.”

13. Most important literary work IN POETRY: • Her poetry, meanwhile, states in bold language the potency of the feminine in both love and religion. • Poems such as “You Men” and “First Dream” pointed out how women were mistreated by men and society.

14. 1) Against the role of church:“Respuesta a sorfilotea” It is an answer to the Bishop of Puebla (México), Fray Manuel Fernández de Santa Cruz, defending herself. What is “Respuesta a SorFilotea”?

15. 1) Against the role of church:“Respuesta a sorfilotea” Sor Juana critiques a famous sermon given —40 years earlier— by the eminent Portuguese Jesuit, Antonio de Vieira (Baroque Brazil) What is “Respuesta a SorFilotea”?

16. 1) Against the role of church:“Respuesta a sorfilotea” • Sor Juana writes —by his request— “Cartaatenagérica” • Fray Manuel Fernándezalso includes a letter of his own titled “Missive Worthy of Athena.” (1691) • In the letter he is admonishingSor Juana for her intellectualism under the pen name SorPhilothea de la Cruz.

17. Fragments of“respuesta a sorfilotea” • The publication of my work is a blessing which makes me feel unworthy. • I can’t thank you because I don’t know how, not because I’m ungrateful. I want to benefit more from your goodness; you can help to shape my intellect. • Butyour kindness does prompt me to answer, and I understand your warning to be against my secular writings. But how should I write of sacred things if I might misunderstand them? I don’t study to write or teach but to be less ignorant.

18. Fragments of“respuesta a sorfilotea” • How much harm would be avoided in our country if older women were as learned as Laeta and knew how to teach in the way Saint Paul and my Father Saint Jerome direct! • Instead of which, if fathers wish to educate their daughters beyond what is customary, for want of trained older women and on account of the extreme negligence which has become women's sad lot, since well-educated older women are unavailable, they are obliged to bring in men teachers to give instruction…

19. Fragments of“respuesta a sorfilotea” • As a result of this, many fathers prefer leaving their daughters in a barbaric, uncultivated state to exposing them to an evident danger such a familiarity with men breeds.

20. Some points • Laeta’s knowledge  Be able to learn (women can have knowledge as Laeta). • Saint Paul and Father Saint Jerome be able to teach (women can teach women). • Uneducated women Ignorance is dangerous. • Women become an easy prey  Opens discussion over rape.

21. Last lines of “respuesta…” • And if you say I shouldn’t write poetry because I am a woman, you are saying the evil is in my being a woman – because there is no evil in poetry. Besides, I’ve only written when begged to by others. Even the piece you respond to [the prose critique] was not written by my own volition and I did not intend someone like you to ever read it.

22. Last lines of “respuesta…” • It has been criticized, but I deem it better not to defend it, because the truth will speak for itself. Praise is more harmful than criticism, anyway, as it tempts one to pride. • I will ask your correction of any further writing I do. • I hope I have not been too familiar. • I request God’s blessings on you.

23. Conclusions for “RESPUESTA…” • Sor Juana turned around the logic used by the Church to justify her oppression and subverted it into a magnificent defense for women's intellectual rights and education.

24. Conclusions for “RESPUESTA…” • Though the letter’s tone is superficially humble, Sor Juana forcefully insists that women have a natural right to the mind. Her use of biblical evidence to support her call for strong, educated women is downright clever -- and has earned her recognition for her rhetorical skills.

25. Conclusions for “RESPUESTA…” • “Respuesta a SorFilotea” brought indignation from the Church and unwanted attention from the Inquisition. • To save herself, Sor Juana was forced to stop writing and to give up her books.

26. Characteristics of baroque On her writing (?) On her life (?) On her attitude (?)

27. 2) Against patriarchal societies. through POETRY: “YOU men” Hombres neciosqueacusáisa la mujer sin razón,sin verquesois la ocasiónde lo mismoqueculpáis:si con ansia sin igualsolicitáissudesdén,¿porquéquereisqueobrenbiensilasincitáis al mal?Combatíssuresistenciay luego, con gravedad,decísquefueliviandadlo quehizo la diligencia. Silly, you men-so very adeptat wrongly faulting womankind,not seeing you're alone to blamefor faults you plant in woman's mind.   After you've won by urgent pleathe right to tarnish her good name,you still expect her to behave—you, that coaxed her into shame.   You batter her resistance downand then, all righteousness, proclaimthat feminine frivolity,not your persistence, is to blame.

28. “YOU men” Pues¿paraquéosespantáisde la culpa quetenéis?Queredlascuallashacéiso hacedlascuallasbuscáis.Dejad de solicitar,y después, con másrazón,acusaréis la aficiónde la queosfuere a rogar.   Bien con muchasarmasfundoquelidiavuestraarrogancia,pues en promesa e instanciajuntáisdiablo, carne y mundo. So why are you men all so stunnedat the thought you're all guilty alike?Either like them for what you've made themor make of them what you can like.   If you'd give up pursuing them,you'd discover, without a doubt,you've a stronger case to makeagainst those who seek you out.   I well know what powerful armsyou wield in pressing for evil:your arrogance is alliedwith the world, the flesh, and the devil!

29. Dream vision DREAM ALLEGORY • Emerged as a poetic genre in the Middle Ages. • Kind of narrative. • Narrator falls asleep and dreams the events of the tale. • The story is often a kind of allegory  a tour of some marvelous realm. • Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy (c. 1320) • The dream vision was much favored by medieval poets, most of them influenced by the 13th‐century Roman de la rose by the French poets Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meung.

30. First Dream, 1692 Primero sueño • Her most celebrated work. • Silva(a poetic form combining verses of 7 and 11 syllables) • Describes through the form of a dream the soul's rising toward knowledge, employing extensively Sor Juana's knowledge of the sciences. • The poem is baroque style, yet seems to foreshadow the Enlightenment in its scientifically oriented worldview. • Interpretations of ”Primerosueño” are diverse. It has been variously described as metaphysical, as a defense of the private viewpoint, and as a work that in outlook foreshadows modern Mexican nihilism. • Regardless of interpretation, it is perhaps her most important piece, particularly because of her claim that it was the only work she composed on her own impulse rather than at the request of another.

31. Spanish poets leading topics similar to hers: death • Jorge Manrique (1440-1479) • “Coplaspor la muerte de supadre”/ “Stanzas on his father’s death” Recuerdeel alma dormida, avive el seso y despiertecontemplandocómo se pasa la vida, cómo se viene la muerte tan callando,cuán presto se va el placer, cómo, después de acordado, da dolor;cómo, a nuestroparecer, cualquieratiempopasadofuemejor.

32. Spanish poets leading topics similar to hers: death • “Stanzas on his father’s death” Let from its dream the soul awaken,     And reason mark with open eyes        The scene unfolding,— How lightly life away is taken,     How cometh Death in stealthy guise,—         At last beholding; What swiftness hath the flight of pleasure     That, once attained, seems nothing more         Than respite cold; How fain is memory to measure     Each latter day inferior         To those of old.

33. Spanish poets leading topics similar to hers: dream • *Luis de Góngora y Argote (1561-1627) • “A un sueño”/”A dream” Elsueño (autor de representaciones),En suteatro, sobre el vientoarmado,Sombrassuelevestir de bulto bello. Síguele; mostrárateel rostroamado,Y engañarán un ratotuspasionesDos bienes, queserándormir y vello.

34. Spanish poets leading topics similar to hers: dream • “A un sueño”/”A dream” The Dream (author of representations), In the theater, on the wind armed Shadows usually wear beautiful package. Follow him; mostraráte the beloved face, And deceive a while your passions Two goods, you will sleep and hair.

35. Spanish poets leading topics similar to hers: dream • *Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-81) • “La vidaessueño” (Life is a Dream) ¿Quées la vida? Un frenesí.¿Quées la vida? Unailusión,unasombra, unaficción,y el mayor bienespequeño;quetoda la vidaessueño,y los sueños, sueños son.

36. Spanish poets leading topics similar to hers: dream • “Life is a Dream” What is life? A madness. What is life? An illusion, a shadow, a story. And the greatest good is little enough; for all life is a dream, and dreams themselves are only dreams.

37. What do you think el incagarcilaso and sorjuana have in common? • Illustrated foreigners. • Belong to the Renaissance period, but live under a ruled society (Spain in México). • Educated writers. • No position in the patriarchal world.

38. Pop quiz • What is “lo barroco” in México? • Who is the maximum exponent in literature? • What does she represent? • What did she write? • Which work of hers caused her exile in literature?

39. See you Thursday Hasta el jueves Àjeudi Atéquinta-feira