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Full-Text Articles in Spanish Literature
Blaming The Victim: Deconstructing María De Zayas's Feminism, Jennifer Zundel
Blaming The Victim: Deconstructing María De Zayas's Feminism, Jennifer Zundel
Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts
María de Zayas y Sotomayor (1591 – 1661?) was the best-selling author of two extant collections of novellas, Novelas Amorosas y Ejemplares (Exemplary Tales of Love) (1637) and Desengaños Amorosos (The Disenchantments of Love) (1647). Both collections, consisting of stories of love, marriage, and gendered violence between aristocratic men and women, are explicitly and unapologetically pro-woman. Zayas condemns systemic misogyny and calls for institutional inclusion and protection of women, earning her place as an early modern feminist. Despite her depictions of violence against women and her denunciation of patriarchal institutions, Zayas does not advocate for a radical restructuring of society. …
MaríA De Zayas And The Art Of Breaking Free, Erin Cygan
MaríA De Zayas And The Art Of Breaking Free, Erin Cygan
Audre Lorde Writing Prize
This paper analyzes a short story by the 17th-century Spanish author María de Zayas. In Her Lover’s Slave, Zayas’s protagonist Isabel Fajardo is raped and decides to transform into a Moorish slave woman in order to pursue her rapist throughout the Mediterranean and avenge her honor. I examine the effect of this transformation on Isabel, a Christian noblewoman who is subject to the restrictive honor code of early modern Spain, as well as the effect on her Spanish audience. I argue that Isabel’s tale sends didactic messages to early modern and contemporary readers, messages that promote solidarity among …