Whole Faith

"In a tour de force, Denise DuPont has brought to life Emilia Pardo Bazán's frequently underestimated Catholicism through rigorous research, perceptive readings, and an engaging prose style. Whole Faith convincingly places religion at the center of Emilia Pardo Bazán's being, challenging the widespread ad hominem attacks on her beliefs and practices in her own day—and misperceptions of her Catholicism in ours. Through close examination of Pardo Bazán's vast output of essays DuPont astutely molds a coherent vision of the author's life, writings, and religion that profoundly affects our understanding of one of Spain's most distinguished women authors. Her book nails the portrait of a 'writer whose vocation was the expression of faith in art' and who saw her artistic vocation as 'steady work in service to others.'"—Maryellen Bieder, Indiana University, Bloomington

"Constitutes a remarkable and groundbreaking approach to the works and thought of the complex Spanish nineteenth- century writer Emilia Pardo Bazán. DuPont brilliantly argues how Pardo Bazán's embrace of a Franciscan cosmovision of inclusiveness and tolerance is at the basis of her envisioning of the role of the arts in society (as a Eucharistic contribution of the individual toward the community) and her plea for gender equality. DuPont pointedly marks the choosing of charitable St. Francis over rationalist Tolstoy in Pardo's approach to religion and in her writing. Thanks to this carefully crafted and documented study, Emilia Pardo Bazán's last three novels and many of her essays and short stories are further illuminated by the understanding of her personal, utterly modern, and feminist understanding of the Catholic faith."—Carmen Pereira-Muro, Texas Tech University

"Whole Faith forms a significant and interesting contribution to the study of Spanish Catholicism at the turn of the century and contributes significantly to the Pardo Bazán scholarship by analyzing how the author's explicitly Catholic spirituality paved the way for her later spiritually based social liberalism."—Joyce Tolliver, University of Illinois-Urbana

"Denise DuPont provides Pardo Bazán scholars with a thoroughly researched and highly readable account of the countess' spiritual beliefs. Her conclusions challenge critics of different periods who have doubted the sincerity of the writer's faith and shows how her beliefs informed her literary and non-literary endeavors. This makes this book an essential reading for anyone who wants to better understand the life and work of Emilia Pardo Bazán."—Anales Galdosianos