The Sueño or Primero Sueño?

Abstract

The poem that sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (México ¿1648/1651?-1695) considered her best work already circulated as a manuscript when, in 1692, it was printed in Sevilla in the Segundo Volumen with a title that, since then, would organize its reading very eloquently: “Primero Sueño, que así intituló y compuso la madre Juana Inés de la Cruz, imitando a Góngora”. That bond, not only with Góngora but also with the “pens of Europe”, that is to say, with that poetic tradition and that continent, has been discussed more than once, but has always been confirmed by the critics, even when it is known that it was not sor Juana who wrote the titles that, once printed, introduced her poems, including this one. On this matter, the following study proposes to thoroughly inquire into not only the name of the poem, but, fundamentally, to consider its critcal effect in its reading, since its printed version until today