Ana María Matute
Encyclopedia
Ana María Matute is an internationally acclaimed Spanish author. She is one of the strongest voices from the posguerra, or period immediately following the Spanish Civil War
. She studied at the international school of Hilversum in the Netherlands.
, Catalonia
, Spain
, the second of five children in a conservative middle class family. Her father, Facundo Matute, owned an umbrella factory and has been credited with inspiring his daughter's creativity. Matute spent a considerable amount of time in Madrid
during her childhood as well, but few of her stories are set there.
At the age of four she almost died from a chronic kidney infection, and was taken to live with her grandparents in Mansilla de la Sierra, a small town in the mountains, for a period of recovery. Matute says that she was profoundly influenced by the villagers whom she met during her time there. This influence can be seen in such works as those published in the 1961 anthology Historias de la Artamila ("Stories about the Artamila", all of which deal with the people that Matute met during her recovery). Settings reminiscent of that town are also often used as settings for her other work.
She was almost ten years old when the Spanish Civil War
broke out in 1936, and this conflict is said to have had the greatest impact on Matute's writing. She considered not only "the battles between the two factions, but also the internal aggression within each one". The war resulted in Francisco Franco
's rise to power, starting in 1936 and escalating until 1939, when he took control of the entire country. Franco established a dictatorship
which lasted thirty-six years, until his death in 1975. The violence brought on by the war continued through much of his reign. Since Matute matured as a writer in this posguerra period under Franco's oppressive regime, some of the most recurrent themes in her works are violence
, alienation
, misery, and especially the loss of innocence
.
Matute is currently a university professor. She travels in various countries, especially the United States
, as a lecturer. She is outspoken about subjects such as the benefits of emotional suffering, the constant changing of a human being, and how innocence is never completely lost.
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. She studied at the international school of Hilversum in the Netherlands.
Biography
Matute was born in BarcelonaBarcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, 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...
, the second of five children in a conservative middle class family. Her father, Facundo Matute, owned an umbrella factory and has been credited with inspiring his daughter's creativity. Matute spent a considerable amount of time 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...
during her childhood as well, but few of her stories are set there.
At the age of four she almost died from a chronic kidney infection, and was taken to live with her grandparents in Mansilla de la Sierra, a small town in the mountains, for a period of recovery. Matute says that she was profoundly influenced by the villagers whom she met during her time there. This influence can be seen in such works as those published in the 1961 anthology Historias de la Artamila ("Stories about the Artamila", all of which deal with the people that Matute met during her recovery). Settings reminiscent of that town are also often used as settings for her other work.
She was almost ten years old when the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
broke out in 1936, and this conflict is said to have had the greatest impact on Matute's writing. She considered not only "the battles between the two factions, but also the internal aggression within each one". The war resulted in Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
's rise to power, starting in 1936 and escalating until 1939, when he took control of the entire country. Franco established a dictatorship
Dictatorship
A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator. It has three possible meanings:...
which lasted thirty-six years, until his death in 1975. The violence brought on by the war continued through much of his reign. Since Matute matured as a writer in this posguerra period under Franco's oppressive regime, some of the most recurrent themes in her works are violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
, alienation
Social alienation
The term social alienation has many discipline-specific uses; Roberts notes how even within the social sciences, it “is used to refer both to a personal psychological state and to a type of social relationship”...
, misery, and especially the loss of innocence
Innocence
Innocence is a term used to indicate a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, sin, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence refers to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime.-Symbolism:...
.
Matute is currently a university professor. She travels in various countries, especially the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, as a lecturer. She is outspoken about subjects such as the benefits of emotional suffering, the constant changing of a human being, and how innocence is never completely lost.
Awards and honors
- El Premio Miguel de Cervantes 2010 (Miguel de Cervantes PrizeMiguel de Cervantes PrizeThe Miguel de Cervantes Prize , established in 1976, is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language. The prize is similar to the Booker Prize, with its candidates from Commonwealth countries, in that it rewards authors from any...
) - El Premio Nadal (Nadal Prize)
- El Premio Nacional de Literatura (National Literature Prize)
- El Premio de Literatura Infantil (Prize of Children's Literature)
- El Premio PlanetaPremio PlanetaThe Premio Planeta de Novela is a Spanish literary prize, awarded since 1952 by the Spanish publisher Grupo Planeta to an original novel written in Spanish . It is one of about 16 literary prizes given by Planeta....
(Planeta Prize) - El Premio de la Crítica (Critics' Prize)
- El Premio "Cafe Gijón"
- Hispanic Society of America
- American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese
- She was made a member of the RAEReal Academia EspañolaThe Royal Spanish Academy is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, but is affiliated with national language academies in twenty-one other hispanophone nations through the Association of Spanish Language Academies...
(Royal Spanish Academy) in 1996. She was the third woman to be elected as a member of the RAE.
Select List of Works
- En esta tierra
- Los Abel
- El arrepentido y otras narraciones
- Pequeño teatro
- Los hijos muertos
- Fiesta al noroeste (Fiesta al noroesteFiesta al noroesteFiesta al noroeste is a novel written by Ana Maria Matute and first published in 1952.- Summary :Dingo is a puppeteer who is travelling when he runs over a small child with his cart. He then goes to Artamila in order to find Juan Medinao, a prominent land-owner and childhood companion, and find the...
) - Historias de la Artamila
- Algunos muchachos
- The semiautobiographical trilogy Los mercaderes:
- Primera memoria
- La trampa
- Los soldados lloran de noche
- Luciérnagas
- Olvidado rey Gudú
- Aranmanoth (novel, 2000)
- El árbol de oroEl árbol de oroEl árbol de oro is a short story by Ana María Matute, written in Spanish. Ana Maria Matute was born in Barcelona in 1926...
- Los Chicos
- Rafael
- El ausente
- Bernardino
- La Conciencia
- El Salvamento
- Navidad para Carnavalito
- La Rama Seca
- Paraíso inhabitado
- El Polizón Del Ulises (novel,1965) (Premio Lazarillo)