en otra and Elia o la Espana treinta años ha are excellent specimens of picturesque narration. It would be difficult to maintain that Fernán Caballero was a great literary artist, but it is certain that she was a born teller of stories and that she has a graceful style very suitable to her purpose. She came into Spain at a most happy moment, before the new order had perceptibly disturbed the old, and she brought to bear not alone a fine natural gift of observation, but a freshness of 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 lesson, and lost much of her primitive simplicity and charm; but we may believe her 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 pioneer in the realistic field, and this historical fact adds to her positive importance. For many years she was the most popular of Spanish writers, and the sensation caused by her death at Seville on 7 April 1877 proved that her truthfulness still attracted readers who were interested in records of national customs and manners. Her Obras completas are included in the Colección de escritores castellanos: a useful biography by Fernando de Gabriel Ruiz de Apodaca precedes the Últimas producciones de Fernán Caballero (Seville, 1878). References Sources Palma, Angélica, 'Fernán Caballero: la novelista novelable', Madrid, Espasa Calpe, 1931 Jarilla Bravo, Salud Maria. "Los refranes recopilados por Fernán Caballero (II)". Paremia, vol. 30, 2020, pp. 199-204. Paremia PDF External links Encyclopædia Britannica Fernan Caballero Tauromachy in Fernán Caballero's Work Guide to the Fernán Caballero Papers 1855-1877 at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center La Mitología contada a los niños e historia de los grandes hombres de la Grecia 1796 births 1877 deaths 19th-century Spanish writers 19th-century male writers 19th-century Spanish novelists Spanish women novelists Spanish people of German descent Spanish people of Irish descent People from Morges Pseudonymous women writers 19th-century Spanish women writers 19th-century pseudonymous writers