Histoire d'une femme autre Doña Catalina de Erauso, « La Monja Alférez »

Resumen

After several years of relative oblivion, the tortuous life of a seventeenth century character has regained interest. Doña Catalina de Erauso, “The Nun Ensign”, came to enjoy fame while still alive. After leading an adventurous novel-like life, where it is impossible to distinguish reality and fiction, she aroused the interest of some nineteenth century writers. During the twentieth, she was briefly resurrected again, and by the early years of the current century, novels concerning her started reappearing, together with new editions of her autobiography. All this occurs at a time when “otherness”, difference and transsexualism are being analyzed under the new light of gender theory and neurobiology. In this article it is review the character's story through her autobiography and other recent historical and literary data.

Key words: La Monja Alférez, The Spanish Military Nun, transvestism, transsexualism, Gender Studies, transgressor characters, paradoxical characters, female soldiers, sexual ambiguity, autobiography, female condition.