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A review by butchriarchy
Poems, Protest, and a Dream: Selected Writings by Juana Inés de la Cruz
Sorry to be Like That but she reads so much like me (double meaning intended) it's unreal. How we analyze and observe the most mundane shit for hours particularly, wondering how things work, and being interested in literally everything because it's all connected. I did enjoy reading how her mind worked a lot. Primero sueño was a delight as well; I definitely want to go over it again a few times. It's such a surreal piece that honestly do reads like a dream. She was pretty funny, too. I can only say this reading the English translation because my Spanish is not nearly advanced enough to reliably understand her work in its original language. One complaint would be that I think it condensed so much of her work in a little volume; I think it could've been stretched further, but perhaps this was considered her definitive work... at the same time, reading this, I feel like she produced a lot more work of similar caliber. The colonialist fantasy play was unnerving, too, but what else can you expect? The bit in the introduction mentioning how she was the only one of her time to honor indigenous forms of storytelling and art yet she wrote something (I don't remember what) that laughed at Black and indigenous peoples beholding the face of Holy Mary held some cognitive dissonance as well.