Call Number:

SC85.P2148.891n

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

28 volumes

Language:

Spanish; Castilian

Preferred Citation:

Nuevo teatro crítico de Emilia Pardo Bazán, 1891-1893, Rare Book & Manuscript Library Print Collections, University of Pennsylvania.

Date:

1891-1893 (inclusive)

Creator:

Pardo Bazán, Emilia, condesa de

Form:

Spanish literature, Periodicals, and Spanish drama

Abstract:

El Nuevo teatro crítico, a monthly literary arts periodical was written and produced by Emilia Pardo Bazán (1851-1921), a Spanish novelist, critic, essayist, playwright, poet, and short fiction writer. From 1891 to 1893, a total of 30 volumes were produced, of which the University of Pennsylvania Rare Book & Manuscript Library is lacking no. 18 (June 1892) and no. 28 (April 1893).

Emilia Pardo Bazán was a writer of Spanish fiction, poetry, plays, criticisms and biographies. Her best known works are the novels Los pazos de Ulloa and La madre naturaleza. These and other of her writings are known to be examples of nineteenth-century Spanish Naturalism.

Pardo Bazán was born on September 16, 1851 in La Coruña, Spain, "the only child of aristocratic parents," (Bleiberg, page 1229). She obtained her education in La Coruña and in Madrid. Her education continued throughout her life and from 1871 to 1874, Pardo Bazàn traveled to Paris, Vienna, Venice and London, studying "philosophy and theology, as well as the natural sciences," (Schoenberg, page 191). She became known as a proponent of 19th century Spanish naturalism, which, according to Schoenberg, "as a philosophy and aesthetic, promoted careful, realistic, and detailed observations of both the external world and human behavior," (page 191).

Naturalism did not receive unilateral support from Spanish readers, and her "essays, articles and stories revealed radical and often unpopular ideas about religion, politics and issues of gender inequality, especially the lack of educational opportunities for women in her native Spain," (Shoenberg, page 192). Pardo Bazàn's image was further scrutinized when, in 1885, she separated from her husband José Quiroga, whom she had married in 1868 at the age of 16 or 17 and with whom she had three children.

Pardo Bazàn published her first novel in 1879, and "although she received only moderate recognition early in her literary career, she achieved both critical and popular acclaim in the 1880s with the publication of her major novels, Los pazos de Ulloa and La madre naturaleza." (Schoenberg, page 192). In 1908, for her literary achievements, she was honored as Countess de Pardo Bazàn by King Alfonso III and in 1916, she was appointed a faculty member at the Central University of Madrid, but "many students boycotted her class ... because of her gender and she was eventually forced to leave her position," (Schoenberg, page 191). During the course of her life, Pardo Bazàn was a prolific writer, producing more than five hundred short stories, twenty-one novellas, twenty novels, sixteen volumes of non-fiction, and seven plays.

On May 12, 1921, Pardo Bazàn died. Since her death, her works have been reexamined by scholars, and "feminist critics, in particular, rediscovered her important contributions to women's literature," (Shoenberg, page 191).

From 1891 to 1893, Emilia Pardo Bazán wrote and produced El Nuevo Teatro Crítico, a monthly literary arts periodical, containing short stories, essays, reviews and historical or biographical pieces. According to Walter T. Patterson,

she took her title from her admired Feijóo's [Benito Jerónimo Feijóo] Teatro Crítico and she alone supplied all the contents of the monthly issues. A typical number began with a short story, continued with a literary study, a review of a recent book and a chronicle of literary events. The Countess [Emilia Pardo Bazán] was not always able to provide all new material; sometimes the short story was a reprint from another journal. But the task was certainly Herculean, especially if we remember that in the same years she published a novel ... and contributed to other periodicals, took part in the Pedagogical Congress of 1892, lectured in the Athenaeum, directed a collection of books called La bibliotecca de la mujer, and fought literary and academic battles (pages 78-79).

A total of thirty volumes were produced. This set, dating from January 1891 to December 1893, is lacking no. 18 (June 1892) and no. 28 (April 1893).