The Spanish mystic Teresa of Avila (1515-82) is the author of one of the most acclaimed early modern autobiographies (Vida, 1565), yet this is the first study to examine the impact of textual models on her self-construction. In looking at the issue of the self, Carrera draws on the theories of Ricoeur and Foucault, and also applies a valuable historical perspective. Through a close analysis of devotional books and confessors' manuals, she establishes significant connections between Teresa's autobiography and the practices of meditative reading and confession in sixteenth-century Spain.