Los Pazos de Ulloa

Emilia Pardo Bazan (1851-1921), countess of Pardo Bazan, was a Spanish author, journalist, literary critic, and prominent feminist figure. She is known for introducing naturalism into Spanish literature and for her groundbreaking introduction of feminist ideas into the literature of her era. She was born in the Galician town of A Coruna into an affluent noble family who nurtured her lifelong thirst for knowledge and secured for her an education beyond the expectations of most girls of the period. Bazan went on to become the most controversial, influential, and prolific female Spanish writer of the 19th century, publishing a vast number of essays, social commentaries, reviews, poems, plays, novels and short stories. Probably the best of Bazan's work is embodied in Los pazos de Ulloa (The House of Ulloa), published in 1886, which recounts the slide into decadence of an aristocratic family, notable both for its heros, Nucha and Julian, and for its cast of characters including the political bravos, Barbacana and Trampeta. However, its most abiding merit lies in its depiction of rural life, the gulf between the bourgeoisie and the peasantry vividly portrayed, and all set against the naturalistic descriptions of the Galician countryside. Reprinted from an original Spanish language edition.