Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

CABALLERO, FERNAN (1796-1877)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 913 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

CABALLERO, FERNAN (1796-1877) , the See also:pseudonym adopted from the name of a See also:village in the See also:province of See also:Ciudad Real by the See also:Spanish novelist See also:Cecilia Francisca. Josefa Bohl de See also:Faber y Larrea. See also:Born at Morges in See also:Switzerland on the 24th of See also:December 1796, she was the daughter of Johan Nikolas Bohl von Faber, a See also:Hamburg See also:merchant, who lived See also:long in See also:Spain, married a native of See also:Cadiz, and is creditably known to students of Spanish literature as the editor of the Floresta de rimas antiguas castellanas (1821-1825), and the Teatro espanol anterior a Lope de See also:Vega (1832). Educated principally at Hamburg, she visited Spain in 1815, and, unfortunately for herself, in 1816 married See also:Antonio Planells y Bardaxi, an See also:infantry See also:captain of See also:bad See also:character. In the following See also:year Planells was killed in See also:action, and in 1822 the See also:young widowmarried Francisco See also:Ruiz del Arco, marques de Arco Hermoso, an officer in one of the Spanish See also:household regiments. Upon the See also:death of Arco Hermoso in 1835, the marquesa found herself in straitened circumstances, and in less than two years she married Antonio Arr6n de See also:Ayala, a See also:man considerably her junior. Arr6n was appointed See also:consul in See also:Australia, engaged in business enterprises and made See also:money; but unfortunate speculations drove him to commit See also:suicide in 1859. Ten years earlier the name of Fernan Caballero became famous in Spain as the author of La Gaviota. The writer had already published in See also:German an See also:anonymous See also:romance, Sola (184o), and curiously enough the See also:original draft of La Gaviota was written in See also:French. This novel, translated into Spanish by Jose Joaquin de See also:Mora, appeared as the See also:feuilleton of El Heraldo (1849), and was received with marked favour. Ochoa, a prominent critic of the See also:day, ratified the popular See also:judgment, and hopefully proclaimed the writer to be a See also:rival of See also:Scott. No other Spanish See also:book of the 19th See also:century has obtained such instant and universal recognition.

It was translated into most See also:

European See also:languages, and, though it scarcely seems to deserve the intense See also:enthusiasm which it excited, it is the best of its author's See also:works, with the possible exception of La Familia de Alvareda (which was written, first of all, in German). Less successful attempts are See also:Lady See also:Virginia and Clemencia; but the See also:short stories entitled Cuadros de Costumbres are interesting in See also:matter and See also:form, and Una en otra and Elia o la Espana treinta anos ha are excellent specimens of picturesque narration. It would be difficult to maintain that Fernan Caballero was a See also:great See also:literary artist, but it is certain that she was a born See also:teller of stories and that she has a graceful See also:style very suitable to her purpose. She came into Spain at a most happy moment, before the new See also:order had perceptibly disturbed the old, and she brought to See also:bear not alone a See also:fine natural See also:gift of observation, but a freshness of See also:vision, undulled by long familiarity. She combined the advantages of being both a foreigner and a native. In later publications she insisted too emphatically upon the moral See also:lesson, and lost much of her See also:primitive simplicity and See also:charm; but we may believellser statement that, though she occasionally idealized circumstances, she was conscientious in choosing for her themes subjects which had occurred in her own experience. Hence she may be regarded as a See also:pioneer in the realistic See also:field, and this See also:historical fact adds to her See also:positive importance. For many years she was the most popular of Spanish writers, and the sensation caused by her death at See also:Seville on the 7th of See also:April 1877 proved that her naive truthfulness still attracted readers who were interested in records of See also:national customs and See also:manners. Her Obras completas are included in the Coleccion de escritores castellanos: a useful See also:biography by Fernando de See also:Gabriel Ruiz de Apodaca precedes the Ultimas producciones de Ferndn Caballero (Seville, 1878). (J. F.-K).

End of Article: CABALLERO, FERNAN (1796-1877)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
CABAL (through the Fr. cabale from the Cabbala or K... 		[next]
CABANEL, ALEXANDRE (1823-1889)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries