“I don’t study to know more but to ignore less.” Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Sor Juana’s legacy extends beyond Mexico, her native land, and Spain, the land of her foremothers and forefathers. Sor Juana’s legacy is global. Her work and life have been the subject of many Mexican films, documentaries, songs, and books, academic and non-academic.

A nun, a poet, and a woman of genius, Sor Juana championed women’s right to education. Check out her biography here!

Check out Theresa A. Yugar’s presentation on her book Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Feminist Reconstruction of Biography and Text (2014). Theresa discusses the reason why she wrote the book and her aims to explore the origins of Sor Juana as a feminist figure, the role of women in her life, and her role as a precursor ecofeminist.

Interested in exploring Sor Juana’s poetry? Check out her piece, Arraignment Of The Men.

To learn more about the dynamics of different approaches to Sor Juana’s legacy, check out Theresa A. Yugar’s blog where she discusses the differences between how contemporary 21st century Mexican and Mexican American community discuss Sor Juana.

Sor Juana’s legacy has been subject to many televised production as well. In 1990, Argentine film writer and director María Luisa Bemberg directed the first film adoption of Sor Juana’s legacy, Yo, lo peor de todas- I, the Worst of All.

In 2016, Netflix Original released a seven-episode series on Sor Juana entitled, “Juana Inés.” It was created by Patricia Arriaga-Jordán, directed by, Emilio Maillé, Patricia Arriaga and Julián de Tavira; and produced by Canal Once and Bravo Films.

In addition to her cinematic coverage, Sor Juana has also been featured in operas. In March of 1993, composer Daniel Crozier and liberttist Peter m. Krask publish.

Sor Juana has also been featured in operas. “With Blood, With Ink” premiered on March 7, 1993. The piece is composed by Daniel Crozier, and written by Peter M. Krask.

Currently, Sor Juana scholar and author of Sor Juana’s Second Dream, Dr. Alicia Gaspar de Albais collaborating with Carla Lucero on a Sor Juana opera based on the narrative of her aforementioned book.

Interested in a more advanced study of Sor Juana? Approaches to Teaching the Works of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
is an excellent curricular guide for college or graduate level on how to teach on Sor Juana.

Octavio Paz’s book, Sor Juana: Or, the Traps of Faith (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1990) was seminal in reconstructing the history of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz within New Spain’s history.

Additional reading materials on Sor Juana include the following.
Check out out Mexican author Fr. Alfonso Mendez Placarte’s four volume set, Obras completas de sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1951, 1952, and 1955). Stephanie Merrim’s Feminist Perspectives on Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz is Seminal to feminist studies. (Michigan: Wayne State University Press, 1999)Electa Arenal and Amanda Powell’s Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: The Answer/La Respuesta (New York: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 1994)Sara Poot Herrera’s Sor Juana y su mundo: una Mirada actual (México: Fundo de Cultura Economico, 1995)Pamela Kirk Patrick’s Sor Juana de la Cruz: Classics in Western Spirituality (New Jersey: Paulist Press, 2005)Alicia Gaspar de Alba’s Sor Juana’s Second Dream (Albuquerque, The University of Mexico Press, 1999)

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