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Comparative Analogy between Silvina Ocampo and Emilia Pardo Bazan

 

Comparative Analogy between Silvina Ocampo and Emilia Pardo Bazan

 

Literary Lives of Silvina Ocampo and Emilia Pardo Bazan

Emilia Pardo and Silvina Ocampo are two female writers from different backgrounds and with similar life experiences, whose work is still being celebrated years after their passing. Emilia Pardo is defined as the most remarkable Spanish intellect of the 19th century; she was born in the year 1851 in La Coruna as an only child to her wealthy aristocratic parents (Partzsch, 2011). Emilia was a voracious reader right from the time she was young and this was encouraged by her parents that ensured that she got a good education and who instilled great ambitions that were not common for most young girls during that era. With her ambition, Emily had her first short story published just when she was fifteen years old which was the beginning of her writing career (Partzsch, 2011). Silvina Ocampo just like Emily was born into an aristocratic family as the youngest of the six sisters in Argentina the year 1903 (Klingenberg, 2003). She also received a good education where she had private tutors at home who taught her French and English and she later on travelled to Paris to study drawing.

The two women went through marriage in different ways whereby Emily found herself in an arranged marriage at the age of seventeen which was very difficult for her and she later separated from the husband at the age of thirty with three children. Silvina on the other hand choose a lover and husband for herself and she received a lot of criticism given that her husband was nine years younger than her, she did not get any children of her own (Klingenberg, 2003). Both these female writers were strong and did not allow the society to define them. Emily was particularly open to new ideas and cultures, which saw her travel extensively through Europe all through her life. Travelling helped in fuelling her interests in modern languages and the literary currents in Germany, France and England (Partzsch, 2011).

 Back in Spain, Emily’s interests in philosophy was evident with her involvement in pedagogical reform movements. She was also a committed catholic and through her essay series ‘The Burning Question’ 1882-83, she openly defended aspects of naturalism (Partzsch, 2011). In her short stories and novels, Emily experimented with different narrative strategies and approached to literature. Emily can basically be defined to have been a prolific journalist, a foreign correspondent and an adventurous publisher who was the first woman to receive a chair at a Spanish University in the year 1916.

            Silvina’s career began in the year 1937 when she published her first book ‘Viaje Olvidado’ and just like with Emily the recognition was eleven years later when her next volume of autobiographies was published in the year 1948 (Klingenberg, 2003). Silvina was able to publish three volumes of award winning poetry in the intervening years and today she is mostly remembered for numerous children stories. Silvina preferred a private life and this made her refuse to participate in any public aspects of a writer’s career.  Silvina received several literary awards in her literary career one of them being the National Prize for Poetry in the year 1962 (Klingenberg, 2003). Her works have since been translated into French, German, English and Italian.

The two female writers lived a fulfilling literary career having achieved so much at an era where women were still struggling to find a place in the male dominated society. Emily died in the year 1921 in Madrid at the age of 69 years, while Silvina died later on in the 1993 in her native Buenos Aires at the age of 90 years.

 

 

 

References

Klingenberg, P. N. (2003). A Life in Letters: Notes toward a Biography of Silvina Ocampo.

Hispanofila, (139), 111–132. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=19443968&site=ehost-live

Partzsch, H. (2011). Emilia Pardo Bazan, Spanish author, 1851-1921. Retrieved 2019, from

            http://www.womenwriters.nl/index.php/Emilia_Pardo_Bazan

 

657 Words  2 Pages
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