Tunja, New Kingdom of Granada, 1713. Behind the cloistered walls of the Santa Clara la Real convent, Sor Francisca Josefa de la Concepción de Castillo (1671-1742), a Poor Clare nun, comes into possession of two remarkable artifacts: the account book of her late brother-in-law and the writings of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. These seemingly disparate objects, obtained through her sister and confessor, spark a silent yet profound literary encounter—one that challenges both the limits of colonial authority and the boundaries imposed on women’s voices.
At a time when the Spanish Empire’s authority spoke with the noise of conquest and control, the women of the convent resisted not only with words, but with silence. Sor Josefa’s Afectos espirituales turns silence into an act of defiance, transforming it into a powerful discoursive device. By refusing to simply emulate the imperial languages, she reclaims alternative spaces of female spirituality, redefines devotional repertoires, and reshapes the literate practices of copying and translation. In silence, she speaks louder than words.
Estos son los tiempos de callar, written by Héctor Pineda Cupa, invites readers to journey through the corridors of conventual life in the New Kingdom of Granada, uncovering how the silence of a nun's pen reveals hidden narratives of resistance and epistemological exploration. It challenges us to rethink what silence means—was it mere submission, or was it a fruitful form of power? By exploring the account book, devotional writings, and mystical revelations, this study reinterprets Sor Josefa’s manuscripts, where silence becomes a liminal form of expression.
The book is available at: https://acortar.link/mpqiBy
