Sor Juana de la Cruz (1481 - 1534)

Bibliography

• Ronald E. Surtz. The Guitar of God. Gender, Power and Authority in the Visionary World of Mother Juana de la Cruz (1481 - 1534), Universitry of Pennsylvania Press, 1990.
• Ronald E. Surtz, Writing Women in Late Medieval and Early Modern Spain. Phildelphia, 1995.

You may find interesting perspectives on religious women in the Middle Ages in the following:

• Caroline Bynum. Holy Feast and Holy Fast. The Religious Significance of Food to Mediaeval Women, 1987.
• Rudolph Bell. Holy Anorexia, 1985.

For a history of spirituality, and particularly its unorthodox expressions (i.e. Illuminism) in the Spain of Sor Juana's lifetime, there is an important study by Alistair Hamilton.

If you wish to follow up the posthumous existence of Sor Juana, the landmark is Tirso de Molina's trilogy, La santa Juana. To see how the cult of Juana was promoted in the plays and for what possible motives, see Alan K.G.Paterson, "Teatro para canonizar: Tirso de Molina y Sor Juana de la Cruz", in Tirso de Molina: immagine e rappresentazione. A cura di Laura Dolfi, Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 1991, 53 - 63.