Emilia PARDO BAZÁN, “San Francisco de Asís. Siglo XIII”. Edición de J. López Quintáns, Estudio crítico de J. M. González Herrán, Apéndices de C. Patiño Eirín. Consorcio de Santiago-Alvarellos Editora, Santiago de Compostela, 2014, 773 págs.

Abstract

With this new edition, a first work by Emilia Pardo Bazán is rescued, to remember the crisis of values that Western societies experienced in the 19th century, as well as the decline of Ibero-American cultures, pessimism, the struggle between faith and science, etc. Pardo Bazán wrote this work to challenge herself and delve into evolutionism, through the figure of Francisco de Asís and taking into account many authors of the time to spread didacticism and her own reflection. In the introduction she reviews the history of Catholicism and insists on the equality of all human beings. She later sees Tolstoy's influence on his writings and thoughts, and she focuses on the figure of Saint Francis and the wake he left behind. The review highlights some contradictions or learnings of the then novel writer and she concludes that she seemed to want to balance her faith with modernity, science and Krausism.