Writing Teresa: The Saint from Avila at the fin-de-siglo examines the Teresa de Jesus "boom" of roughly 1880-1930 and offers an in-depth study of five major Spanish participants in the turn-of-the-twentieth-century explosion of literary treatments of St. Teresa. This historical period's interest in the Saint from Avila relates to popularization and nationalization of aspects of Catholicism, technological advances, a modernist fascination with saintly heroes, the search for new Spanish identities, and the evolving role of women writers and intellectuals. Teresa was mysticism in its historical context, energy in a time of doubt, the possibility of reconciling science and spirituality, a new vision for writing, and a maternal figure linked to the religion of the past for those who had lost the faith of their childhood.

Emilia Pardo Bazan (1851-1921), the most important female author of Spain's nineteenth century, was a prolific writer of novels, short stories, critical articles, chronicles of modern life, and plays. Active in the age of Catholic social teaching inaugurated by Pope Leo XIII, Pardo Bazan imagined religion as an underpinning for personal and social organization. She addressed the individual experience of faith and culture, and focused on the tension between individualism and the social aspects of religious practice. As a talented literary artist herself, Pardo Bazan was no stranger to the challenges faced by gifted, privileged members of society, particularly in the form of temptations offered by modernity and its widespread encouragement of self-seeking. She wrote repeatedly about the change of heart that may be experienced by intellectually and materially advantaged individuals, and shared details of her own spiritual journey, arguing that once the creative person redefines herself as Franciscan instrument, she is able to contribute through her art and actions to the realization of a personalist society rich in sacramentality. Whole Faith: The Catholic Ideal of Emilia Pardo Bazan, then, is an analysis of how this early feminist put her unique talents to work for her nation, and blended into the worshipping body of Spain by creating for her compatriots a sacramental vision that enriched and commemorated their daily lives.

This volume brings together cutting-edge research on modern Spanish women as writers, activists, and embodiments of cultural change, and simultaneously honors Maryellen Bieder’s invaluable scholarly contribution to the field. The essays are innovative in their consideration of lesser-known women writers, focus on women as political activists, and use of post-colonialism, queer theory, and spatial theory to examine the period from the Enlightenment until World War II. The contributors study women as agents and representations of social change in a variety of genres, including short stories, novels, plays, personal letters, and journalistic pieces. Canonical authors such as Emilia Pardo Bazán, Leopoldo Alas “Clarín,� and Carmen de Burgos are considered alongside lesser known writers and activists such as María Rosa Gálvez, Sofía Tartilán, and Caterina Albert i Paradís. The critical analyses are situated within their specific socio-historical context, and shed new light on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Spanish literature, history, and culture. Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press. 

This volume brings together cutting-edge research on modern Spanish women as writers, activists, and embodiments of cultural change, and simultaneously honors Maryellen Bieder’s invaluable scholarly contribution to the field. The essays are innovative in their consideration of lesser-known women writers, focus on women as political activists, and use of post-colonialism, queer theory, and spatial theory to examine the period from the Enlightenment until World War II. The contributors study women as agents and representations of social change in a variety of genres, including short stories, novels, plays, personal letters, and journalistic pieces. Canonical authors such as Emilia Pardo Bazán, Leopoldo Alas “Clarín,� and Carmen de Burgos are considered alongside lesser known writers and activists such as María Rosa Gálvez, Sofía Tartilán, and Caterina Albert i Paradís. The critical analyses are situated within their specific socio-historical context, and shed new light on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Spanish literature, history, and culture. Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.