Salas Barbadillo and his epigrams in relation to the enigmas of Sor Juana

Abstract

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, immersed in the Baroque world of the New Spain, did not escape the influence of the Spanish aureus; several intertexts are evident in her literature or mentioned by herself. But some other influences lie hidden, as in the case of similarity between the works of Jeronimo de Salas Barbadillo and our Tenth Muse. Salas, popular writer of the early seventeenth century in Spain, but little known in our time, could be a starting point for some of Sor Juana's works, including the lyrical poems. There is similarity between the Enigmas Ofrecidos a la Casa del Placer, and the epigrams of Salas Barbadillo, where we can see a clear transatlantic influence which has been overlooked. In this paper some literary and biographical aspects of Jeronimo de Salas are shown, in an attempt to rescue his work, somewhat neglected by critics. Noticeable coincidences between the epigrams of Salas and the enigmas of Sor Juana will be pointed out, trying to make evident a possible poetic influence.