Our Next Play: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz’s Amor es más laberinto

Diversifying the Classics is pleased to announce that our next translation will be Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz’s Amor es más laberinto (1689), one of only three extant plays by the playwright, poet, and proto-feminist philosopher of the Spanish Golden Age. Sor Juana, known as “the Tenth Muse” and “the Phoenix of Mexico,” was a self-educated writer born in Nueva España (present-day Mexico) who entered a convent as a young woman. She became a well-known writer in her own day, and is a figure of fascination today as an example of the possibilities for women authors in the Hispanic tradition.  

The play, as yet untranslated, is a generic hybrid which places the characters of Greek myth—Teseo, Ariadna, Fedra (Theseus, Ariadne, Phaedra) and the legendary Cretan Minotaur—into a plot featuring intricate love pentangles, masquerade balls, and other features of Hispanic classical drama, a transatlantic form in the 17^th century. Written in Mexico City, Sor Juana’s play reflects on the nature of tyranny and the complications of love, timely and timeless themes for today’s audiences, and especially for those eager to celebrate the contributions of women writers throughout history. 

Our translation will complement the two pieces based on Sor Juana’s writing that will be featured at the upcoming LA Escena Festival in November 2020: “Y es mayor dolor la ausencia que la muerte,” the “experiencia digital” from Spanish theater company Grumelot, and “Finjamos que soy feliz” by Mexican theater company Teatro Clásico MX. The festival will fittingly take place November 12-16, on Sor Juana’s birthday weekend. Read more about Diversifying the Classics’ work on Hispanic female playwrights and the Jubilee Year celebrating diversity in the theater here: https://howlround.com/female-playwrights-hispanic-comedia