Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

<i>Teresa de Ávila, Lettered Woman</i> (review)

2010; University of Pennsylvania Press; Volume: 78; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/hir.0.0130

1553-0639

Jodi Bilinkoff,

Spanish Literature and Culture Studies

Reviewed by: Teresa de Ávila, Lettered Woman Jodi Bilinkoff Keywords Jodi Bilinkoff, Teresa de Ávila, Lettered Woman, Barbara Mujca, Teresa of Avila, Teresa de Ávila, Catholicism, Sainthood, Saints, The Interior Castle, Saint Teresa in Ecstasy, Hagiography, Epistolary Literature, Spanish Saints Mujica, Bárbara . Teresa de Ávila, Lettered Woman. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt UP, 2009. xiv + 278 pp. For many, Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) remains the quintessential mystic among the pantheon of Catholic saints. If one were only to read her spiritual classic, The Interior Castle, or view Gianlorenzo Bernini's amazing study in marble, Saint Teresa in Ecstasy, one might conclude that this was a woman so otherworldly, so rapt with visions, that her feet literally never touched the ground. Over the last thirty-five years, however, scholars of history, literature, and religious studies have worked to recover a different Teresa, a flesh-and-blood woman whose feet were very much planted on the ground. Bárbara Mujica's readable new book makes a significant contribution to this endeavor. In this, the first full-length study in English of Teresa's extant letters, Mujica amply demonstrates how an examination of Teresa's epistolary efforts provides "insight into the workings of her personality, relationships, and world" (103). Mujica begins with an introduction, "The Pen and The Sword," which provides the historical background necessary to understand Teresa's life and work as a monastic reformer and founder of a new religious order, the Discalced Carmelites. She also situates Teresa as a writer of letters. The saint probably composed thousands of letters during her lifetime, but even the 450 that have remained contain a wealth of information on everything from court politics to remedies for rheumatism. [End Page 437] In chapter 1, "From Teresa de Ahumada to Saint Teresa," Mujica summarizes Teresa's life and reform efforts, highlighting the personal and societal circumstances that would inspire her to devote so much of her time and energy to the production of letters. This chapter also serves as an excellent review of the recent literature on Teresa of Avila and the Discalced reform of the Carmelite order. I found particularly intriguing and convincing Mujica's discussion of Teresa's position as a member of a family of conversos (converts from Judaism and their descendants). Like so many conversos, her father and uncles were active merchants and property owners who were involved in numerous lawsuits. Teresa, Mujica argues, would have had early exposure to the world of lawyers, notaries, contracts, and licenses, and become acutely conscious of "the importance of the written word" (23). This orientation toward writing and record-keeping would serve her well as she later engaged in her own legal battles and business dealings as the administrator of some fourteen convents. Chapter 2, "Teresa de Jesús: Woman of Letters," one of the book's strongest, contributes to a growing body of scholarship on letter-writing as a literary genre, means of expression, and vehicle for life-writing in early modern Europe, especially for women. For Teresa, letter-writing was a political tool as well, as she attempted to protect and promote her reform movement and direct a growing network of religious houses. Mujica traveled to Spain to examine Teresa's remaining autograph letters, and her attention to detail is readily apparent in this chapter. The reader learns fascinating information about the actual mechanics of letter-writing, such as the types of pens used by Teresa, the state of her handwriting at various stages in her life, and the logistics of postage and delivery. An ascetic who spurned worldly titles and honors, Teresa nevertheless understood the strategic importance of deference and diplomacy when corresponding with elites who could aid the Discalced Carmelite reform. Thus she "took care to use fine paper and ink" and paid almost obsessive attention to correct forms of address and other matters of "epistolary etiquette" (58). Although Teresa founded a new religious order for women, she had to deal with a great many men, some sympathetic to her cause, many skeptical or overtly antagonistic. In chapter 3, "God's Warrior and Her Epistolary Weapons," Mujica uses Teresa's letters to reconstruct her protracted struggle to establish Discalced Carmelite houses...