Cynthia Schmidt-Cruz is Associate Professor of Spanish and Director of the Latin American Studies Program at the University of Delaware. She is the coauthor (with Frank Sedwick) of Conversation in Spanish: Points of Departure, Sixth Edition.

• Acknowledgments Chronology of Cortazar's Stories 1. Introduction: Cortazar's Female Space and the Configuration of Masculinity Cortazar's Psychological Obsessions: What's Mom Got to Do with It?It's Not Me, It's My Dream: The Unconscious and the Unraveling of Sexual IdentityThe Evolution of Female Space: A Cautious Rapprochement 2. The Personal and Cultural Context Cortazar and Women, Cortazar on Women, Cortazar's WomenValues Associated with Motherhood 3. The Omnipotent Mother "La salud de los enfermos": Caring Exquisitely for Mama"Cartas de mama": Fantasies of Persecution 4. Mothers and Lovers A Freudian Fallacy "Historias que me cuento": The Walter Mitty Complex"Deshoras": Desperately Seeking SaraMother's DarlingLove Affairs: Frustration, Betrayal, Violence 5. Defiant Women, or Coming to Terms with Difference "Cambio de luces": What Does Luciana Want? 6. "Euridice, Argentina": Women and the Guilty Expatriate The Family Allegory"El otro cielo": Dispassionate Patriotism"Cartas de mama": Mama in the Empty House"Recortes de prensa": Rage and Impotence during the Proceso"Diario para un cuento": Anabel/Eurydice Shows OrpheusWhat a Cad He Was 7. Women and the "Dirty War" A War Waged on Women's Bodies"Pesadillas": The Anguished Patria"Graffiti": The Female Body—Erotic Object versus Cautionary MessageThe Politicization of Motherhood"Recortes de prensa": Frustrated Writers, Juxtaposed Mothers, Guilty Revenge"Nuevo elogio de la locura": Motherhood, Madness, and Cortazar's "zona sagrada" Conclusion Notes Bibliography Works by CortazarInterviews of CortazarStudies of Cortazar's Works and LifeGeneral Bibliography Index