Books That Inspire 2001
 
La Vida es Sueno
Pedro Calderon de la Barca


. . . as a little girl looking out my window I wondered whose reality I beheld. . . no sidewalks, cold unpaved roads. Was I looking in or out? Which one is my real home the shack or the home with the nice window? In high school and college, we had the opportunity to read and discuss Calderón de la Barca’s La Vida es Sueño that spoke of the images from the window of my childhood. As I read it I realized I had been Segismundo. His monologues spoke of social cruelties and power. His modest solitary life challenged the propensity to regard bounty as inadequate. His reflections proposed that life, even if an illusion or dream, was our unique experience and responsibility.
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Rosa Cintron
Dean University College