Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a seventeenth-century colonial Mexican nun known for her intellect and writings, wrote El Divino Narciso around 1688. It is a type of theatrical work known as an auto sacramental, peculiar to Spain and its colonies. Autos sacramentales had elements in common with medieval European mystery plays and morality plays and were commissioned to be performed during Corpus Christi, the Catholic feast commemorating transubstantiation. Sor Juana skillfully adapts the Echo/Narcissus myth, a version of which is found in Ovid's Metamorphosis, as a Christian allegorical framework for her drama.
This edition by Kathleen Thornton Spinnenweber of Franciscan University/Steubenville is number 82 in the Cervantes & Co. series of Spanish classic literature designed for English speaking students. The work itself is presented in the original Spanish with an English introduction, marginal glosses, footnotes, and an edition-specific Spanish-English glossary.
