" Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695) wrote poetry, prose, and plays
and is considered the greatest of Mexican women writers. She was an
intellectual prodigy, reportedly mastering Latin in twenty lessons, and
at sixteen she entered a convent so that she might continue her
learning. One of the most influential early feminists in the New World,
she answered a bishop's criticism in a letter that has become a classic
defense of the education of women. She collected a private library of
4,000 volu