ABSTRACT
Sor Juana’s Décima 102 comments on the relationship between an “original” woman and her portrait, but it also prompts consideration of the relationship between the figure of the poet and her translators. The terms offered to conceptualize a work of art – originality, transformation, conquest, and love – resonate with the work of Lori Chamberlain to demonstrate the metaphoric links between discourses around translation and gendered concepts of power. Translations of Sor Juana’s works into English can be divided into two phases of activity: anthologized selections (1890s–1970s), followed by the addition of collected translations and critical editions (1980s–present). The diverse practices of translation represented in both phases provide fertile ground for work in translation history, comparative descriptive translation studies, gender in translation, translating literary representations of oral speech, and translation as performance. This literature review considers scholarship on translations of Sor Juana’s works alongside translators’ statements and analyzes selected translations that either fulfill or swerve away from translators’ stated goals. 1
