successful works are her Novelas Amorosas y ejemplares (Amorous and Exemplary Novels), published in 1637, and Desengaños Amorosos (Disenchantments of Love), published in 1647. They are known as the Spanish Decameron because they followed a structure used by the Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio, consisting of many framed novelle (Spanish novelas) within one. These novelas, which were written in a complex style, were a very popular genre in all of Europe. Zayas was strongly influenced by Miguel de Cervantes's Novelas ejemplares (Exemplary Novels) which were also written in the style of the Italian novella. Use of the genre allowed de Zayas the flexibility to share many stories and while developing several strong characters, and provided a great showcase for her range. The two works feature the central character, Lisis, who has invited a group of her friends to her home to help her recover from an illness. In an attempt to lift her spirits, each of her friends narrates a story about a particular experience. Two stories are narrated per night for a total of five nights. While the first book describes violence and deception, the second one intensifies these themes. The second book is full of description which displays, without censure, the abuse of women. The female characters in both books are well developed, and their experience allows them to eloquently denounce their inferior role in society: "Why vain legislators of the world, do you tie our hands so that we cannot take vengeance? Because of your mistaken ideas about us, you render us powerless and deny us access to pen and sword. Isn’t our soul the same as a man’s soul?.... [Later the husband listens her laments and approaches Laura] moving closer to her and incesed in an infernal rage, (Diego) began to beat her with his hands, so much so that the white pearls of her teeth, bathed in the blood shed by his angry hand, quickly took on the form of red coral" (tran. H. Patsy Boyer, The Enchantments of Love) Criticism As recently as the early 1970s, scant attention was devoted to female writers of the Golden Age of Spain. In the 19th century Emilia Pardo Bazán helped to bring Zayas's work once again to the forefront, with her descriptions of Zayas's settings among the aristocracy of Madrid. With the exception of the occasional paragraph or two in histories of Spanish literature, however, critical studies on