An instant best-seller in Spain in 1637, The Enchantments of Love is a collection of shrewd and timeless tales in the tradition of Bocaccio's Decameron and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Although some of the tales have appeared in English through the centuries, this delightful translation by H. Patsy Boyer is the first complete text.The structure of the book is provided by a series of lavish soirees at which five men and five women entertain with stories their ailing hostess, the lovely Lysis. Each of the ten tales explores some aspect of "enchantment," or love, between a handsome gallant and a lovely lady. The sharp contrast between the women's and men's stories transmits a subtle, often ironic feminism. Their originality, frankness, and powerful style make them as readable today as they were 350 years ago.The women storytellers emphasize the perspective of female protagonists, all of whom are deceived or abused by their husbands or by suitors. Each is finally driven to perform some act of heroism before finding satisfaction in marriage, or a haven in the convent. The men's stories all point to moral flaws in the characters' behavior: egotism, avarice, shortsightedness, lust, and unfaithfulness.Maria de Zayas portrays every theme from eroticism and brutal rape to the most exalted love. Her success with this book and its sequel, The Disenchantments of Love (1647), is well documented, although the details of her life are sadly lacking. Her bold treatment of the relationships between men and women challenged the literary conventions of her day, and her defense of women has earned her a reputation as a pioneering feminist.

The Enchantments of Love: Amorous and Exemplary Novels

Literature & Fiction

de Zayas, María

History & Criticism

University of California Press

Published in 1647, these ten tales are among the earliest narratives in Western literature to focus on women's experiences and points of view in love relationships.

The Disenchantments of Love: A Translation of Desenganos Amorosos (Suny Series, Women Writers in Translation)

State University of New York Press

Published in 1647, these ten tales are among the earliest narratives in Western literature to focus on women's experiences and points of view in love relationships. The Disenchantments of Love, published in Spain in 1647 by Maria de Zayas, is a stunning collection of stories about women's amorous experiences in a patriarchal and imperialistic society during the turbulent seventeenth century. Now available for the first time in English translation, the ten examplary novellas are set within an encompassing frame story that continues from the first collection, The Enchantments of Love: Amorous and Exemplary Novels, published in 1637. Both collections of love stories were immediately popular because of the novelty of their plots and the gender of their author. What is new in the disenchantments is the deliberately feminist purpose stated in the rules for telling stories: only women are to narrate "true cases intended to disenchant women about men's deceptions," pointedly denying men the opportunity to dominate the storytelling. In the frame, however, the subtly ironic commentaries on the stories highlight the differences between masculine and feminine points of view. The conclusion of the frame reiterates the exemplary message that women are safe from men's physical and psychological abuse only in the sisterhood of the convent. These ten sensational and bizarre tales focus on the ways lovers deceive women in order to "get their way," through magic, cross dressing as women, and rape--to the torture and murder of innocent women at the hands of their protectors--their fathers, brothers, and husbands. The graphic depictions of women's multilated bodies are unprecedented in Western literature, as is the meticulous description of domestic violence that has traditioanlly remained private and hidden. A fascinating dimension of these fast-paced narratives is what they suggest through omission, silence, and ambiguous detail: the untold story that fires the reader's imagination.

The Disenchantments of Love: A Translation of Desengaños Amorosos (Women Writers in Translation)

United States

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Books by de Zayas, María

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by de Zayas, María. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Enchantments of Love: Amorous and Exemplary Novels

The Disenchantments of Love: A Translation of Desenganos Amorosos (Suny Series, Women Writers in Translation)

The Disenchantments of Love: A Translation of Desengaños Amorosos (Women Writers in Translation)