Island, Grove, Bark, and Pith: Nature Metaphors in Teresa de Cartagena
Abstract
Teresa de Cartagena was born in 1424 or 1425 to one of the most important Judeo-Converso families in Spain. She professed as a nun, initially in the order of the Clarisas, and lost her hearing when she was about 29 years old. Some 20 years after becoming deaf, sometime between 1473 and 1479, Teresa penned her first work, Arboleda de los enfermos [Grove of the Infirm]. In it, she seeks to console other disabled or infirm individuals by relating her own path toward acceptance of her condition. She uses a series of metaphors from the natural world to illustrate the spiritual awakening brought on by her deafness. Teresa’s discussion of her ...
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