Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World
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Named a New York Times Book ReviewNotable Book of 1996
One of the earliest known autobiographies by a woman, this is the extraordinary tale of Catalina de Erauso, who in 1599 escaped from a Basque convent dressed as a man and went on to live one of the most wildly fantastic lives of any woman in history. A soldier in the Spanish army, she traveled to Peru and Chile, became a gambler, and even mistakenly killed her own brother in a duel. During her lifetime she emerged as the adored folkloric hero of the Spanish-speaking world. This delightful translation of Catalina's own work introduces a new audience to her audacious escapades.
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From the "Introduction" by translator Michele Stepto: "Sometime between 1626 and 1630 — that is, between the visit to Naples, which concludes her memoir, and her return to the Americas — she wrote down in manuscript or dictated to an amanuensis an account of her life."
The "Translator's Note" further explains: "Only the Munoz and Ferrer copies of the original manuscript now exist. The present translation into English is based largely on a 1918 edition of Ferrer's Historia [de la Monja Alferez Dona Catalina de Erauso, escrita por ella misma (1829)],though we have also consulted Munoz's Vida y sucesos [de la Monja Alferez...Escrita por ella misma (1784)],recently made available in an excellent edition edited by Rima de Vallbona.
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