Cross-dressing, a Monstrous Success: The Lieutenant Nun

Abstract

The seventeenth century was a century of discovery between two continents: Europe and America. Catalina de Erauso known as the Lieutenant Nun is an example of such an identification. Destined to become a nun, she entered the convent of San Sebastián el Antiguo in the North of Spain at the age of four and escaped at the age of fifteen transforming her novice clothes into those of a “he”. Different professions she did as a young man and different places she wandered first, in Spain and then, in the New World where she became a conquistador and a constant fighter, not only to conquer the Americas, but also to maintain her status as a man of the time. Under these masks, I would like to question the society expectations towards her? Was she a monster or a success, a myth, a goddess? Secondly, although I will make reference to Catalina’s brief account of her life, I will especially study Catalina, mi padre (Catalina, my father) (2004) by Gloria Durán, one of the most recent novels inspired by this historical woman in which she is presented as the father of another noteworthy past woman, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Finally I aim to see Catalina’s relevance in the field of arts and more specifically, of women’s studies.