Elizabeth Lagresa-Gonzalez

In the scope of Spanish literature of the 17th century, the “novela corta” or Italianate novella, occupies a complex place as a popular though unwieldy category. Lacking in formal generic precepts and associated with ‘lowly’ entertainment, short prose fiction was particularly suited for literary experimentation and grew into a variety of subgenres that complicate conventional classifications. I intend to shift the discussion to genuinely incorporate the production of its only five known female contributors: María de Zayas y Sotomayor (1637 and 1647), Leonor de Meneses (1655), Mariana de Carvajal y Saavedra (1663), María Egual (c. 1655-1730) and Ana Francisca Abarca de Bolea y Mur (1679). This project will be the first study to consider all five authors in a comparative manner, as well as situate them within the larger scope of late-stage early modern novella creation in the Iberian Peninsula.