Who doubts, my reader, that you will be amazed that a woman has the audacity not only to write a book, but to send it for printing, which is the crucible in which the purity of genius is tested’?
A pioneer of early modern feminism, María de Zayas y Sotomayor wrote poetry, drama and prose but is best known for two page-turning collections of short stories:
Exemplary Tales of Love (1637) and
Tales of Disillusion (1647). This book provides an engaging introduction to Zayas and her work. It begins by relating what we know of her life, placing her in her socio-political and economic context and addressing the issue of women’s literacy. Following chapters examine her use of sexual desire, violence and humour in her tales; her narrative structures; and her oral style. The book then turns to identity construction in her tales and in society, analysing questions of gender, class, family and ‘race’, and to her treatment of religion, magic and the supernatural. The final chapters explore Zayas’s status as a proto-feminist; her early modern reception in Spain and elsewhere; and various critical readings of her work.
Table of Content
Preface
Chapter I: Zayas: Her Life and Times
Chapter 2: Exemplary Tales of Love: A Contradiction?
Chapter 3: Settings, Styles and Models: Zayas’s Literary Context
Chapter 4: Turning the Tables on Men in
Exemplary Tales of Love
Chapter 5: Bodies in Pain:
Tales of Disillusion
Chapter 6: Identifying the Subject
Chapter 7: I Believe: Religion, Magic, the Supernatural
Chapter 8: Zayas on Women
Conclusion: Zayas’s Afterlives
Appendix: Plot Summaries
About the author
MARGARET R. GREER is Emeritus Professor of Romance Studies at Duke University.
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