Fernan Caballero

Fernan Caballero

Fernan Caballero, realy name Cecilia Francisca Josefa Böhl de Faber, was destined to gain attention. Born on Christmas day in 1796, she would go on to become a famous novelist and journalist, with her works translated into several languages. Her background was a great influence on her future career; her father, a respected author originally from Germany who settled in Spain with her mother, both of whom encouraged her to learn and achieve. She was unfortunate in her love life, as each of her three husbands had passed away within relatively short periods of time considering the circumstances.

Her writing, which she published under the male pseudonym Fernan Caballero, started in the field of journalism. She did articles for the newspaper 'La Ilustracion Española y Americana'. She later moved on to her fiction pieces starting in 1849, though she stayed true to her origins as the first piece she published came from a newspaper. The name of this piece is La Gaviota (The Seagull); an interesting fact to point out is that its popularity came from its later translation in 1868.

She went on to write other impressive follow up pieces which included La Familia de Albareda and Elia. She also showed a knack for writing short stories, capturing the plot perfectly without sacrificing any detail with the constraints of its purpose.