ABSTRACT
Of the monumental critical bibliography dedicated to understanding and celebrating the works of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, analyses of her drama, both secular and sacred, are relatively scarce, and those devoted to study of her theological dramas – her three autos sacramentales (mystery plays) and their introductory one-act loas – are, comparatively speaking, a virtual trace element. 1 Still, interest in this segment of the nun’s overall literary output has grown perceptibly in the last twenty-five years. Between 1900 and 1990, for example, the Modern Language Association’s electronic database cites eighteen critical works on Sor Juana’s sacred dramas, one commenting on all three, fifteen dedicated to the Divine Narcissus (El Divino Narciso, c. 1688–1689), two to Joseph’s Scepter (El cetro de José, c. 1680–1690) and none to her historical auto on The Martyr of the Sacrament, Saint Hermenegildo (El mártir del Sacramento, San Hermenegildo, 1692, published). In the next quarter century, however, from 1990 to the present, nearly twice as many critical works were produced on these sorjuanine texts; once again the great majority concerns the Divine Narcissus (hereinafter Narcissus or DN), but now Joseph’s Scepter (Joseph or JS) and Saint Hermenegildo (Hermenegildo or SH) each command a noticeable number of studies. A considerable additional quantity of criticism can be found outside the MLA database; in one source, Octavio Paz’s acclaimed Traps of Faith (1982), all three plays and their playlets are analyzed, while Mauricio Beuchot comments on the trio of loas in a recent article. In many cases, each of the autos’ preliminary playlets receives individual attention, as well. Altogether, this new research constitutes a movement toward the center of sorjuanine scholarship by a heretofore marginalized portion of the erudite nun’s writing.
