"Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor (1590-1650?) published two collections of novellas, Novelas amorosas y exemplares (1637) and Desenganos amorosos (1647), which were immensely poplar in her day.". "In this study of Zayas's prose, Margaret Rich Greer explores the relationship between narration and desire, analyzing both the "desire for readers" displayed by Zayas in her Prologue and the sexual desire that drives the telling within the novellas themselves. Greer examines Zayas's narrative strategies through the twin lenses of feminist and psychoanalytic theory."--BOOK JACKET.