Pedagogical Literature of the Enlightenment: The Reception of Stéphanie Félicité de Genlis and Its Repercussion in Spain

Abstract

Stéphanie Félicité de Genlis introduced the Spanish people to educational debates which already existed in France an which were gradually beginning to arise in Spain. The pedagogical obsession of the Spanish enlightenment scholars provoked a veritable avalanche of texts aimed at the education and schooling of women throughout the XVIII century, especially in the middle of the century. From this perspective, the works from this French author became recommended reading for Spanish women of this era. The moral objective of these writings sought to occupy idle moments and instruct women in their duties as a good wife, mother and educator