Preview of In Praise of the Stepmother Summary:

Conceived as a novel of eroticism, this short work is centered on the quest for worldly happiness and the individual's prospects of attaining it. The medium of the quest is sensory and sexual fulfillment, and Vargas Llosa's characters conduct their lives assuming that this fulfillment is both the cause and the effect of their happiness. As in other erotic texts, the characters' responses and relationships are fueled exclusively by sensual and sexual stimulation...