Juan Nicolás Böhl de Faber
Encyclopedia
Juan Nicolás Böhl de Faber (Hamburg
, 1770 - Cádiz
, 1836) was a German
lover of Spanish
literature and culture. He was the father of Spanish/Swiss
novelist Cecilia Böhl de Faber, aka "Fernán Caballero
".
Böhl started his life in Spain at a shop owned by his bourgeois parents. In addition to the work of the store, he was also consul
for Frederick William III
of Prussia
as well as overseeing the warehouse
s held by Sir James Duff and his nephew
William Gordon at Puerto de Santa María. It was in Cádiz that he met Frasquita Larrea (Francisca Javiera Ruiz de Larrea y Aherán, 1775-1838) a devout Catholic
lady of high society who had travelled through France
and Germany
and mastered their languages easily, read Shakespeare, was well-versed in the thoughts of Kant
and Descartes, read Madame Staël
, and delighted in the work of the feminist Mary Wollstonecraft
. The two were married in 1790 and lived for a short time on Lake Geneva
, in the Canton of Vaud, where their daughter was born, the future novelist known as Fernán Caballero
. Later, the couple would have two more children. Returning to Spain
, they spent time living in Cádiz where they enriched the local cultural scene by introducing the first tertulia
s. In 1805, the pair journeyed to Germany for a second time where their union began to show the first signs of stress. Frasquita returned to Spain alone, where she would experience the Peninsular War
with her two daughters while living in Chiclana de la Frontera
. The family reunited after the end of the war in Cádiz.
Böhl de Faber's hispanophilia prompted him to collect many works of Spanish literature
and build an important library
. While travelling in Germany he obtained many of the Aesthetic
works of the brothers August Wilhelm Schlegel and Friedrich Schlegel concerning art, literature, and above all Pedro Calderón de la Barca
. In 1814, he published an article entitled "Reflexiones de Schlegel sobre el teatro traducidas del alemán" (Schlegel's Reflections upon Theatre as Translated from German) in the newspaper
El Mercurio Gaditano. This article identifies Romanticism
with absolutism
and argues for a return to traditional and Catholic thought. It totally condemns the Enlightenment
and exalts Spanish nationalism. The theater of Calderón de la Barca is treated as a symbol of the Spanish spirit, and any dislike of it is deemed unpatriotic. The contemporary Neo-classical Enlightenment writer José Joaquín de Mora countered that the worst thing to befall Spanish culture was the work of Calderón, in which bad taste was the norm. This exchange ignited a row between the two that would appear in newspapers in Madrid
. Between 1818 and 1819, Böhl de Faber published in the Diario Mercantil Gaditano a series of articles defending Spanish theater of the Siglo de Oro, a genre much maligned by the Spanish Neo-Classicists who rejected its style along with the reactionary and traditionalist ideology it represented. José Joaquín de Mora and Antonio Alcalá Galiano, liberal authors who would later become fervent Romantics
, argued bitterly against him. Mora's words especially focused on the way that Faber's own wife was a vocal admirer of Calderón, and that she ran an ultra-Catholic tertulia in Cádiz. Additionally, whereas Faber was a supporter of Fernando VII, Mora and Alcalá Galiano were liberals; the ideological divide provoked still more disputes and the controversy became rife with personal attacks.
Nevertheless, Böhl remained an active publicist whose labor did much to bring traditionalist Romanticism
to Spain. He published articles about English poetry derived from Romanticism. With the end of the Trienio Liberal of the 1820s, Mora and Alcalá Galiano left Spain with other liberal emigrants, though in order to better counter Böhl de Faber they had to study Schlegel's theories concerning the Romancero
and the theater of the Siglo de Oro, and in this way Romanticism
was introduced into Spain. Faber actually became one of its progenitors in the country. Faber associated Christianity
with Romanticism and maintained that the movement had already occurred in medieval Spain and that Neo-Classicism constituted an interruption in the true indigenous Spanish cultural tradition. He would also eventually publish essays about Lope de Vega
as well as Pedro Calderón de la Barca
and a collection of romances and popular poetry.
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, 1770 - Cádiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
, 1836) was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
lover of Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
literature and culture. He was the father of Spanish/Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
novelist Cecilia Böhl de Faber, aka "Fernán Caballero
Fernán Caballero
Fernán Caballero was the pseudonym adopted from the name of a village in the province of Ciudad Real by the Spanish novelist Cecilia Francisca Josefa Böhl de Faber....
".
Böhl started his life in Spain at a shop owned by his bourgeois parents. In addition to the work of the store, he was also consul
Consul (representative)
The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...
for Frederick William III
Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...
of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
as well as overseeing the warehouse
Warehouse
A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...
s held by Sir James Duff and his nephew
Nephew
Nephew is a son of one's sibling or sibling-in-law, and niece is a daughter of one's sibling or a sibling-in-law. Sons and daughters of siblings-in-law are also informally referred to as nephews and nieces respectively, even though there is no blood relation...
William Gordon at Puerto de Santa María. It was in Cádiz that he met Frasquita Larrea (Francisca Javiera Ruiz de Larrea y Aherán, 1775-1838) a devout Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
lady of high society who had travelled through France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and mastered their languages easily, read Shakespeare, was well-versed in the thoughts of Kant
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
and Descartes, read Madame Staël
Anne Louise Germaine de Staël
Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein , commonly known as Madame de Staël, was a French-speaking Swiss author living in Paris and abroad. She influenced literary tastes in Europe at the turn of the 19th century.- Childhood :...
, and delighted in the work of the feminist Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth-century British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book...
. The two were married in 1790 and lived for a short time on Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva or Lake Léman is a lake in Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe. 59.53 % of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland , and 40.47 % under France...
, in the Canton of Vaud, where their daughter was born, the future novelist known as Fernán Caballero
Fernán Caballero
Fernán Caballero was the pseudonym adopted from the name of a village in the province of Ciudad Real by the Spanish novelist Cecilia Francisca Josefa Böhl de Faber....
. Later, the couple would have two more children. Returning to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, they spent time living in Cádiz where they enriched the local cultural scene by introducing the first tertulia
Tertulia
A tertulia is a social gathering with literary or artistic overtones, especially in Iberia or Latin America. The word is originally Spanish, and has only moderate currency in English, in describing Latin cultural contexts....
s. In 1805, the pair journeyed to Germany for a second time where their union began to show the first signs of stress. Frasquita returned to Spain alone, where she would experience the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
with her two daughters while living in Chiclana de la Frontera
Chiclana de la Frontera
Chiclana de la Frontera is a town in southwestern Spain, in the province of Cádiz, near the Gulf of Cadiz. The area is a fertile region, with much agriculture, including vineyards...
. The family reunited after the end of the war in Cádiz.
Böhl de Faber's hispanophilia prompted him to collect many works of Spanish literature
Spanish literature
Spanish literature generally refers to literature written in the Spanish language within the territory that presently constitutes the state of Spain...
and build an important library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
. While travelling in Germany he obtained many of the Aesthetic
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
works of the brothers August Wilhelm Schlegel and Friedrich Schlegel concerning art, literature, and above all Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño usually referred as Pedro Calderón de la Barca , was a dramatist, poet and writer of the Spanish Golden Age. During certain periods of his life he was also a soldier and a Roman Catholic priest...
. In 1814, he published an article entitled "Reflexiones de Schlegel sobre el teatro traducidas del alemán" (Schlegel's Reflections upon Theatre as Translated from German) in the newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
El Mercurio Gaditano. This article identifies Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
with absolutism
Absolutism (European history)
Absolutism or The Age of Absolutism is a historiographical term used to describe a form of monarchical power that is unrestrained by all other institutions, such as churches, legislatures, or social elites...
and argues for a return to traditional and Catholic thought. It totally condemns the Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
and exalts Spanish nationalism. The theater of Calderón de la Barca is treated as a symbol of the Spanish spirit, and any dislike of it is deemed unpatriotic. The contemporary Neo-classical Enlightenment writer José Joaquín de Mora countered that the worst thing to befall Spanish culture was the work of Calderón, in which bad taste was the norm. This exchange ignited a row between the two that would appear in newspapers in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
. Between 1818 and 1819, Böhl de Faber published in the Diario Mercantil Gaditano a series of articles defending Spanish theater of the Siglo de Oro, a genre much maligned by the Spanish Neo-Classicists who rejected its style along with the reactionary and traditionalist ideology it represented. José Joaquín de Mora and Antonio Alcalá Galiano, liberal authors who would later become fervent Romantics
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
, argued bitterly against him. Mora's words especially focused on the way that Faber's own wife was a vocal admirer of Calderón, and that she ran an ultra-Catholic tertulia in Cádiz. Additionally, whereas Faber was a supporter of Fernando VII, Mora and Alcalá Galiano were liberals; the ideological divide provoked still more disputes and the controversy became rife with personal attacks.
Nevertheless, Böhl remained an active publicist whose labor did much to bring traditionalist Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
to Spain. He published articles about English poetry derived from Romanticism. With the end of the Trienio Liberal of the 1820s, Mora and Alcalá Galiano left Spain with other liberal emigrants, though in order to better counter Böhl de Faber they had to study Schlegel's theories concerning the Romancero
Romancero
A romancero is any collection of Spanish romances, a type of folk ballad . The romancero is the entire corpus of such ballads...
and the theater of the Siglo de Oro, and in this way Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
was introduced into Spain. Faber actually became one of its progenitors in the country. Faber associated Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
with Romanticism and maintained that the movement had already occurred in medieval Spain and that Neo-Classicism constituted an interruption in the true indigenous Spanish cultural tradition. He would also eventually publish essays about Lope de Vega
Lope de Vega
Félix Arturo Lope de Vega y Carpio was a Spanish playwright and poet. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Century Baroque literature...
as well as Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño usually referred as Pedro Calderón de la Barca , was a dramatist, poet and writer of the Spanish Golden Age. During certain periods of his life he was also a soldier and a Roman Catholic priest...
and a collection of romances and popular poetry.