Rosario Castellanos is one of the preeminent poets in twentieth-century Mexican literature and one of the most significant women writers of Latin America. She was a prolific writer who worked in all literary genres--poetry, short and long fiction, drama, and essays. She was also a professor of literature in Mexico, the United States, and Israel, and for many years she was a regular columnist for some of the most prominent newspapers in Mexico City. She also held several governmental positions. Among her many awards and honors are some of the most prestigious literary prizes in Mexican letters: the Premio Chiapas (Chiapas Prize) in 1958 for her first novel, Balún-Canán (Nine Stars, 1957; translated as The Nine Guardians, 1959); the Premio Xavier Villaurrutia (Xavier Villaurrutia Prize) in 1961 for Ciudad Real (Royal City, 1960; translated as City of Kings, 1993), her first collection of short stories; and the Premio Sor Juana...