Forbidden love was a forbidden topic. Decorum was everythingin society, where Catholicism dictated the terms, and in literature, where a code of decency governed writers and readers alike. To women were left the pale love stories that conducted appropriate partners in proper settings to socially acceptable outcomes. So it was in Latin America well into the twentieth century.
The stories in this volume announce a dramatic change, a transformation of the literature of love in Latin America, and of the roleeven the natureof women in this most feminine literary tradition. These stories, by exciting new writers as well as by the renowned, are violations of the most exhilarating sort, flouting conventions of language, behavior, subject matter, and style to remake and widen our once-narrow view of the literary landscape of Latin America. Here women writers from Mexico and Brazil, Colombia and Argentina, Cuba, Peru, and Uruguay break social, religious, political, and sexual barriers in
Trade Review
"Hughes translates with tremendous grace. Each piece retains a distinct, powerful voice, treating readers to a chorus of accomplished Latin American authors. . . . Each writer displays a mastery of storytelling and the beauty of the written word. . . . The stories are erotic, but the prose remains elegant, tasteful, and sophisticated. . . . [A] fiery and very contemporary collection."—Foreword Magazine
“The stories announce a dramatic change, a transformation of literature of love in Latin America, and of the role—even the nature—of women in this most ‘feminine’ literary tradition.”—Psiche Hughes, The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education
“These stories reflect radically feminist views of the religious and social traditions of Latin America. . . . narrations skillfully molded by the structuring of actions and the richness of language. . . . The translation does justice to the beauty of the original language.”—Rosita Chazarreta-Rourke, Multicultural Review
