At this conference, the historian will talk about the possibilities of an historical analysis from the biography as well as her methods and her new proposals studying the biographical, literary and intellectual trajectory of Emilia Pardo Bazán, one of the most relevant European novelists of the 19th century and an essential figure to understand the cultural background of the end of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century.  Her work, early translated to different languages such as English, French or Japanese, substantially contributed to the renewal of the novel in Spain and encouraged open feminist debates on women’s condition and rights.

Isabel Burdiel is a specialist in political and cultural history of the European and Spanish liberalism of the 19th century and, since 2004, she has been Honorary Research Fellow of East Anglia (RU).  Academically, she has been also interested in the link between history and literature, and in the possibilities of biographical history. This was why she was awarded with the Premio Nacional de Historia in 2011 for her work ‘Isabel II.  Una biografía.’ Between 2008 and 2015 she directed the European Network on Theory and Practice of Biography.  Moreover, she is the author of the two first critical editions in Spanish of the ‘Frankenstein’ of Mary Shelly and of ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects’ of Mary Wollstonecraft.  Currently, she has just published a biography of Emilia Pardo Bazán.

This conference, free-entry until full seating, is programmed in the cycle ‘Women Creators’, organised by the Escola Europea de Pensament Lluís Vives together with the office of the vice-principal of Equality, Diversity and Sustainability and of the Equality Unit of the Universitat de València. In addition, it counts with the collaboration of the Regional Ministry of Transparence, Social Responsibility, Participation and Cooperation.

The Escola Europea de Pensament Lluís Vives is a cultural project, promoted by the office of the vice-principal of Culture and Sports and managed by the Fundació General of the Universitat de València, which was created to discuss and to debate actively and critically on contemporary topics.  Furthermore, some entities of the public administration and civil society are collaborators of the Escola Europea de Pensament Lluís Vives:  The president of the Valencian Government; the city hall of València; the Regional Ministry of Transparence; the Regional Ministry of Education, Research, Culture and Sports; the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua; the Institut Alfons el Magnànim, the Escola Europea d’Humanitats and Caixa Popular.