The Divine Recluse

<p><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The Divine Recluse</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> first published in 1938 and now translated into English for the first time is a modernist historical novel set in Antigua Guatemala in the 1620s. In Soto Hall's account Antigua is the quintessential periphery always mindful of the city and court of Madrid and of other more established cities of the empire. Part anti-colonial satire part historical romance and part pastiche of 17th-century Spanish novels </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The Divine Recluse</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> focuses on the lives of the inhabitants of a colonial town who see the world as a game of Spanish shadows projected on a canvas brought from Mexico City or Lima.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Soto Hall's novel is based on the mysterious history of a nun who has fascinated several writers. </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Since very little was really known about her the author concentrated on imagining the world around her sprinkling the tale with enigmatic and nefarious characters bringing to light the many conflicts between Church and state in Antigua at the time.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The known fragments of Sor Juana's life served as a catalyst to expose corruption and in-fighting in the various religious orders of the Church in Guatemala and to provide entertaining background material for a colorful historical novel set in Antigua. </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)><span>?</span>For more than five decades Máximo Soto Hall (1871-1944) was a leading anti-imperialist writer and journalist in Central America. Born in Guatemala he lived and published in Spain France Costa Rica Venezuela Honduras Argentina and Chile. His other major novels include </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>El Problema</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> (1899) and </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>La Sombra de la Casa Blanca</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> (1927).</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Juana de Maldonado y Paz (1598-1666) also known as Juana de la Concepción was a Guatemalan poet and nun.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>RoseAnna Mueller Ph.D. Emerita at Columbia College Chicago is the author </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Teresa de la Parra: A Literary Life</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> (2012). In 2016 she translated </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Ana Isabel: A Respectable Girl</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> by Antonia Palacios.</span></p>