ABSTRACT
The devotional books published in Spanish between 1500 and 1554 differed from the literary texts which have formed the Golden Age canon in that they were not generally seen as a source of entertainment or aesthetic pleasure. They also differed from the existing theological treatises in Latin in that their purpose was not to transmit objective and abstract ideas such as the notion of the Trinity among scholars, but a more subjective form of knowledge which required individual assimilation and practical application by their readers. While Teresa's self-belittling claims have been explained by critics as part of a calculated rhetoric, they can be further understood in terms of the attitude of humility which Teresa had been encouraged to cultivate, and which she tried to teach others through her exemplary autobiographical writing.
