Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2008

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Gamboa, Yolanda

Abstract

In my thesis, I argue that the 1 ih -century Spanish writer, Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor, in a unique form of 'mimesis,' uses elements of magic to transform the popular concept of the Spanish witch. Drawing on theories from Jacques Lacan's mirror phase, Homi Bhabha and Barbara Fuchs's notion of mimesis, and Judith Butler's idea of gender performitivity, I demonstrate how Zayas frees the witch from the subjugated language constructed by the Catholic Church and society of her time. I examine six of the short stories in her two novels to show how the author alters the role of the witch associated with the devil, transforming her to a saint associated with "lo magico de los cielos, " assigning the diabolical role to the man.

Extent

92 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FA00000948

Format

pdf

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