Pardo Bazán, Emilia, condesa de

Pardo Bazán, Emilia, condesa de (āmē`lyä kōndā`sä dā pär`thō bäthän`), 1852–1921, Spanish novelist and critic. Her biography of St. Francis of Assisi appeared the same year as her controversial "La cuestión palpitante" (1883), an essay on Zola's naturalism. Her many novels introduced naturalism into Spanish literature. Among those about social decay in her native Galicia are El cisne de Vilamorta (1885; tr. The Swan of Vilamorta, 1891); Los pazos de Ulloa (1886); and its sequel, La madre naturaleza (1887), generally considered her masterpiece.