María de Zayas

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María de Zayas
Born	12 September 1590 Madrid, Spain
Died	1661 (?) Madrid, Spain(?)

María de Zayas y Sotomayor was an author in the Spanish Golden Age of literature. She is most well known for her early feminist tendencies, with female lead characters often placed in roles rarely seen in her age.

[edit] Biography

Zayas was born in Madrid, the daughter of infantry captain Fernando de Zayas y Sotomayor and María de Barasa. Little is known about her early life, except that it is hypothesised that she went to either Valladolid or Naples with her parents. Whilst she is known primarily today for her prose, she originally debuted as a poet, writing preliminary poems for others such as Lope de Vega, some of whom in turn wrote such poems for her, or otherwise praised her. Alonso de Castillo Solórzano named her the “Sibila de Madrid” (Sibyl of Madrid). By 1632 she had written the play La traición en la amistad and composed a large portion of her first book. She was also a friend of Ana Caro Mallén de Soto, and Julián Olivares speculates that the two possibly co-habitated in Madrid for part of 1637. After 1639, no more publications surfaced for some time, and it is assumed she stopped writing, although Kenneth Brown found some evidence she was in Barcelona at the time. There is no sign of Zayas following publication of her books (indeed, it seems she did not get a chance to edit her final book). No record of her marrying exists, and it is presumed by most scholars that she remained unmarried for all her life. The date of her death is unknown: Manuel Serrano y Sanz found two death certificates for women named María de Zayas (one in 1661 and one in 1669), although both were married.

[edit] Works

1632 (?) La traición en la amistad (The Treachery in Friendship)
1637 Novelas amorosas y ejemplares o Decamerón español (Amorous and Exemplary Novels, or the Spanish Decameron)
- ‘Adventurarse perdiendo’ (Adventuring Losing)
- ‘La burlada Aminta y venganza de honor’ (The Tricked Aminta and the Revenge of Honor)
- ‘El castigo de la miseria’ (The Punishment of the Misery)
- ‘El prevenido engañado’ (The Prevented Deception)
- ‘La fuerza del amor’ (The Force of Love)
- ‘El desengañado amando y premio de la virtud’ (The Loving Informed, and the Prize of Virtue)
- ‘Al fin se paga todo’ (At the End, Everything Pays)
- ‘El imposible vencido’ (The Impossible Victor)
- ‘El juez de su causa’ (The Judge of Her Cause)
- ‘El jardín engañoso’ (The Deceitful Garden)
1647 Novelas y saraos (Novels and Soirées)
1649 Parte segunda del Sarao y entretenimientos honestos (Second Part of the Soirée and Honest Entertainments)
- ‘La esclava de su amante’ (The Slave of Her Lover)
- ‘La más infame venganza’ (The Most Infamous Vengeance)
- ‘La inocencia castigada’ (Innocence Punished)
- ‘El verdugo de su esposa’ (His Wife’s Executioner)
- ‘Tarde llega el desengaño’ (Late Arrives the Realisation)
- ‘Amar sólo por vencer’ (Loving Only to Avenge)
- ‘Mal presagio casar lejos’ (Bad Omen to Marry Afar)
- ‘El traidor contra su sangre’ (The Traitor Against His Blood)
- ‘La perseguida triunfante’ (The Persecuted Victor)
- ‘Engaños que causa el vicio’ (Deceptions that Cause Vice)