Colonial Angels: Narrative of Gender and Spirituality in Mexico, 1580-1750 (review)

308 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies en el arte "underground" de los hermanos Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer y Valeriano Bécquer, con el estudio de algunas de las imágenes de la colección en acuarela titulada Los Borbones enpehta. La mayorÃ-a de las ilustraciones estudiadas en este libro están extraÃ-das de las revisras semanales La Ilustración Españohy Americana, La Ilustración ArtÃ-stica, La Ilustración Ibérica, Madrid Cómico y B^icoy Negro. Lou Charnon-Deutsch toma el tema de las representaciones visuales de las mujeres en los peri ódicos y revistas españolas del siglo XDCy lo integra hábilmente en un marco histórico y cultural. No hay duda de que Fictions ofthe Feminine contribuye enormemente a nuestro entendimiento de la cultura española del siglo XDC Este es un libro esencial para todo aquel que le interese los estudios culturales españoles, los estudios de géneros sexuales, y también para los historiadores del arte. Nuria Morgado The University of Arizona CohnialAngels: Narrative of Gender and Spirituality in Mexico, 1580-1750 University of Texas Press, 2000 By Elisa Sampson Vera Tudek ColonialAngeh is a timely addition to the ever growing study of religious writing, particularly that of women in the colonial era. In recent years more and more scholars have published manuscripts of colonial women authois and have proven the existence of a fascinating corpus of neglected texts othet than die traditional chronicles that, up until recently, were considered the "be and end all" of colonial literature. Although at first glance, the five chapters of Elisa Sampson VeraTudek's book seem to treat a wide diversity of themes, in actuality, she carefully links each ofthe chapters through the subtext of hagiography. Thus, it is from this rather strict form of religious writing that the author juxtaposes women's texts and circumstances from colonial Mexico with those from the Old World. The first chapter, "Moving Stoiies: New Spanish Hagiographies and Their Relation to Travel Narrative," examines the founding of convents in Mexico by Spanish nuns and the representations of these experiences in their writings. The author opines that the tradition of hagiography played a major role in the style of their works, especiaUy when these texts were prepared for publication . In the next chaptei, "Chronicles of a Colonial Cloistei: The Convent of San José and the Mexican Carmelites," Sampson Vera Tudek analyzes the specific case ofthe Carmelite convent of San José. In addition to the backdrop of hagiography , she looks at howTheresian narrative effects the writings of Mexican nuns. The thiid chapter, "From the Confessional to the Altar: Epistolary and Hagiographie Foims," focuses on the confessional letters by the Franciscan nun, Soi Sebastiana Josefa de la SantÃ-sima Trinidad and her biography written by José Eugenio Valdés. This chaptei makes some direct observations on the differences between men and women's religious writing. The fourth chaptei, "The Exemplary Cloister on Trial: San José in the Inquisition" examines the writings and proceedings from two opposing groups of nuns within the convent. In this complicated scandal each band accuses the othet of heretical behavior and uses hagiography as the master narrative to prove theii point. The last chaptei, "Cacique Nuns: From Saint's Lives to Indian Lives," analyzes the founding of the Convent of Coipus Christi for noble Indian women in 1728 and its repercussions foi these religious women. Like in the previous chaptei , vaiious opposing factions come into play. In this case, in the founding ofthe convent, cleigy from the Jesuits and the Franciscans rely on the basic stiuctuie of hagiogiaphy to support theii case. In addition to these five chapteis, Sampson Vera Tudek includes a useful appendix with excerpts ofthe documents studied throughout hei book. Her bilingual version of the manuscripts make some of these accessible for the fitst time to both English and Spanish speakeis alike. Considered as a whole, this work on Mexican "colonial angels" offers valuable insight into the complicated world of religious writing. Al- Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 309 though there existed a wide variety of circumstances that shaped the religious atmosphere of colonial Mexico, Elisa Sampson Vera Tudek finds and...