Introduction -- Construction: archetype, fairy tale, myth. Como agua para chocolate/Like water for chocolate (1989) by Laura Esquivel -- Eva luna (1987) by Isabel Allende -- Deconstruction: exile and gender. La nave de los locos/The ship of fools (1984) by Cristina Peri Rossi -- En breve cárcel/Certificate of absence (1981) by Sylvia Molloy -- Reconstruction: the female body and agency. Arráncame la vida/Tear this heart out/Mexican bolero (1986) by Ángeles Mastretta -- La nada cotidiana/Yocandra in the paradise of nada (1995) by Zoé Valdés