SOURCE: Harvey, Sally. “Dominator-Dominatrix: Sexual Role-play in Julio Cortázar's ‘La señorita Cora’.” In Love, Sex & Eroticism in Contemporary Latin American Literature, edited by Alun Kenwood, pp. 99-106. Melbourne: Voz Hispánica, 1992.

In the following essay, Harvey delineates the sexual power dynamic in “La señorita Cora.”

As critics have pointed out on various occasions,¹ Cortázar's short stories have lacked in general the attention they deserve. “La señorita Cora,”² which is the focus of our study here, is no exception. In spite of its literary merit, it has warranted only scant mention in broader studies on Cortázar's work. On such occasions, critics have tended to view it as an outstanding example of Cortázar's art of narration, both in terms of the “múltiple punto de vista,” or multiple perspective, achieved by juxtaposing interior monologues and conversations, and his move towards deeper psychological studies...