La mujer católica y la regeneración de España: género, nación y modernidad en Fernán Caballero

Abstract

The author proposes a reading of the work of Cecilia Böhl de Faber (Fernán Caballero) that takes into account the political and literary context. Her work has to be seen in relation to the romantic myth which placed Spain beyond the pale of European «modernity» and cultivated the notion of the immoral Spanish woman. In response to this myth, Fernán Caballero propounded the image of an open, frank and order-loving Andalusian people, and of a virtuous and profoundly religious Spanish woman. Her views gibed with those of moderate liberalism, which applauded her works in the years following 1848. With the passage of time, however, her anti-liberal propensities drove her away from moderate liberalism and her work fell into the camp of neo-Catholicism. Fernán Caballero advocated a movement for national regeneration, seeking the rehabilitation of the Spanish character, in which a new model of femininity was to have a central role: a Spanish woman at once home-loving and Catholic, cultivated in mind and endowed with great moral authority.

Keywords

• 19th century
• gender
• literature
• nation
• political cultures
• Spain