University of Chicago Library

Guide to the Fernán Caballero Papers 1855-1877

Descriptive Summary

Title:	Caballero, Fernán. Papers
Dates:	1855-1877
Size:	1.5 linear feet (3 boxes)
Repository:	Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.
Abstract:	Fernán Caballero, pseudonym of Cecilia Francisca Josefa de Arrom, (1796-1877), Spanish author. The papers consists primarily of correspondence from Caballero to French scholar Antoine de Latour, but also includes other correspondence, manuscripts and articles.

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Citation

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Caballero, Fernán. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Biographical Note

Fernán Caballero, the pseudonym of Cecilia Francisca Josefa de Arrom (1796-1877) was born at Morges, Switzerland, the daughter of Johan Nikols Böhl von Faber, a German merchant from Hamburg, married to an Andalusian. Her father was also editor of Floresta de rimas antiguas castellanas (1821-1828), and the Teatro espanol anterior a Lopé de Vega (1832). Educated principally at Hamburg, Fernán Caballero visited Spain at the close of the Napoleonic wars, married, and settled there. Her father had stimulated her interest in Spain's medieval and classical literature, and she began to write of her adopted country. She is famous for her defense of the traditional virtues of Spain - Catholic, monarchist, moral and rural - against the growing strength of nineteenth century liberalism.

After becoming interested in her mother's native Andalusia, Fernán Caballero collected the folklore of the area and published a number of works in which the local customs were the background. The most notable of these were the Cuadros de costumbres, Relaciones and La familia de Alvareda. Although she claimed that she was merely the recorder of fact, her novel Clemencia (1852) is largely autobiographical.

Her most well received novel was La Giovata, for which she won fame in 1849. The original draft was in French, but the novel was subsequently translated into almost all of the European languages. Other works, such as Sola (1840) and La familia de Alvareda were initially written in German.

Fernán Caballero's critics disagree about her being the first author to present a realistic Spanish novel, but they concur in stating that her work was not uniformly successful.

Scope Note

The greater part of this collection consists of 508 letters from Fernán Caballero to her friend, the French scholar and hispanist, Antoine de Latour. The correspondence spans the twenty year period from 1856 to 1876, the closing years of Fernán Caballero's life. Although most of the letters are in Spanish, some are in French, and in some both languages are used.

One hundred forty one of these letters written between 1856 and 1859 were published by Santiago Montoto in the Boletín de la Real Academia Espanola between 1955 and 1959. Other letters, published in the 1960 Boletín, are from Fernán Caballero to people other than Antoine de Latour, and many in this latter group also come from the Chicago collection.

Although most of the material in this collection is centered around Fernán Caballero, there are some items which belong more properly to Antoine de Latour. These are three letters to Latour from the Marques de Salcillo dated 1868, and ten letters to Latour from Juan M. Osborne from the years 1869, 1871, 1876, and 1877.

The Caballero-Latour correspondence is arranged chronologically and contains letters to Jose Fernández Espino, to de Gabriel, Don Miguel Velarde, Don Manuel Asensio, Sr. Carbonero y Sol, and to unknown persons. Many of these letters are copies, not in Fernán Caballero's hand. The compiler numbered the correspondence without regard to chronological order. To avoid confusion, since the numbers are so prominent, the numerical order has been maintained.

The papers also include several manuscripts and articles.

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Subject Headings

Caballero, Fernán, 1796-1877
Latour, Antoine de, 1808-1881

INVENTORY

Series I: Correspondence of Fernán Caballero and Antoine de Latour

Box 1 Folder 1

1856

February 6, 3p, Spanish
February 6, 4p, Spanish
August 19, 1p, Spanish
August 27, 2p, French
August 31, 1p, French
September 29, 3p, French
October 13, 4p, French
October 25, 4p, French
November 7, 3p, French
December 19, 4p, Spanish