author
Madame (Frances Erskine Inglis) Calderón de la Barca
d. 1882
A sharp-eyed 19th-century travel writer, she is best remembered for Life in Mexico, a lively account of Mexican society, politics, and daily life during the early years of independence. Her letters remain valuable for readers interested in history, culture, and the experience of seeing a country through a curious outsider's eyes.
1 Audiobook
Life in Mexico
by Madame (Frances Erskine Inglis) Calderón de la Barca
About the author
Born in Edinburgh in 1804, Frances Erskine Inglis later became widely known as Madame Calderón de la Barca, or Fanny Calderón de la Barca. After spending part of her early life in Europe and the United States, she married the Spanish diplomat Ángel Calderón de la Barca in 1838.
Her best-known work, Life in Mexico (1843), grew out of the time she spent in Mexico while her husband served there as Spain's minister. Written as a series of letters, the book mixes social observation, travel writing, and political commentary, and it has long been regarded as one of the most important English-language accounts of Mexico in the 19th century.
Later in life she was connected with the Spanish court and lived in Spain, where she died in Madrid on February 6, 1882. Today she is remembered for her vivid, thoughtful record of a country in transition and for the rare perspective she brought as a woman writing about public life, culture, and travel in her era.