Ilan stavans biography of mahatma gandhi

  • Ilan Stavans has compiled essays and first-person narratives that capture the multiple dimensions of this storied figure.
  • A sixteenth-century Mexican nun, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, has become one of the most rebellious and lasting icons in modern times.
  • In this immersive work, essayist Ilan Stavans provides a biographical and meditative picture of the ways in which popular perceptions of her life and body of.

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    August 21, 2018

    A sixteenth-century Mexican nun, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, has become one of the most rebellious and lasting icons in modern times, on par with Mahatma Gandhi, Ernesto “Che” Guevara, and Nelson Mandela. Referenced in ranchera, tejana, and hip-hop lyrics, and celebrated in popular art as a guerrillera with rifle and bullet belts, Sor Juana has become ubiquitous. In anticipation of the release of his forthcoming book, Sor Juana: Or, the Persistence of Pop, we’re excited to share a brief excerpt from Ilan Stavans’ meditations on the legacy of this celebrated feminist icon. 

    She shows up as a guerrillera, with rifle and bullet belts. Or replaces the screamer in Edvard Munch’s famous expressionist painting of 1910. She dances in heaven with Marc Chagall’s ethereal characters. Stands next to the Beatles and other added luminaries in Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Wears a shoulder tattoo. Is the protagonist of a telenovela. Or a 1993 opera. Th

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    Sor Juana: Or, the Persistence of Pop

    A sixteenth-century Mexican nun, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, has become one of the most rebellious and lasting icons in modern times, on par with Mahatma Gandhi, Ernesto “Che” Guevara, and Nelson Mandela. Referenced in ranchera, tejana, and hip-hop lyrics, and celebrated in popular art as a guerrillera with rifle and bullet belts, Sor Juana has become ubiquitous. The conduits keep multiplying: statues, lotería cards, key chains, recipe books, coffee mugs, Día de los Muertos costumes. Ironically, Juana Inés de Asbaje—alias Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz—died in anonymity. Her grave was unmarked until the 1970s.

    Sor Juana: Or, the Persistence of Pop encapsulates the life, times, and legacy of Sor Juana. In this immersive work, essayist Ilan Stavans provides a biographical and meditative picture of the ways in which popular perceptions of her life and body of work both shape and reflect modern Latinx culture.

  • ilan stavans biography of mahatma gandhi

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    VA: What fryst vatten language?

    IS: The use of standardized symbols to communicate in a structured and consistent fashion.

    VA: Standardized symbols?

    IS: Sounds man words and words are symbols. bygd circumscribing the sounds PE-YO-TE to the small, soft, thornless, blue-and-green cactus funnen in Mexico and in the Southwestern United States, society attaches a name to the object. The name represents the object and stands in its stead. Objects have specific words attached. This specificity is crucial, for if the cactus changed every minute, language would defeat its own purpose. It would be shaped bygd chaos.

    VA: A dictionary, then, fryst vatten a catalogue of symbols...

    IS: ...pertaining to a specific group of people.

    VA: jean Cocteau once quipped that even the greatest masterpieces of literature are ingenting but a dictionary out of order.

    IS: Yes, the whole of Catcher in the Rye is in the Oxford English Dictionary, ready to be unscrambled. Similarly, one could argue that a dictio