This collection of essays is designed to initiate further critical consideration of the women novelistas, their work, and their individual prose tales, and to support an inclusive panorama of literary theories ranging from the more traditional approaches to psychoanalytical perspectives, queer theory, and feminist theory and geography, to enumerate a few. The original essays include one primarily dedicated to each of the novelas by Zayas (from her Novelas amorosas: La burlada Aminta, El prevenido enganado, Al fin se paga todo, and El jardin enganoso; and from her Desenganos amorosos: Tarde llega el desengano, La inocencia castigada, Amar solo por vencer, and Mal presagio casar lejos) and Carvajal (La Venus de Ferrara, El esclavode su esclavo, and Amar sin saber a quien) included in the anthology, and two apiece on Meneses's single novela corta, and Abarca de Bolea and her prose narratives. Any overlap of mention between the individual essays is unavoidable, as can perhaps best be illustrated by the two additional studies in this volume which attain a broader comparative scope, while still respecting the guiding parameter of a focus dedicated to these women writers and their novelas. The component essays stand alone, yet they are similar as well--united by the bonds and purpose of original critical inquiry and continuing discussion. The editors strive to always discern the differences, indeed the individuality of each woman novelista, all the while acknowledging their shared bond of sisterhood--that of facing the hegemony of the patriarchal socio-literary traditions of Golden Age Spain, albeit each escritora in and after her own fashion. A brief overview of their respective lives and works, while signaling further shared socio-literary commonalities, will serve to highlight the novelty of each escritora in her own right and within, or perhaps against, the literary genre of the novela corta and the socio-literary sphere of seventeenth century Spain.