Ana María
Matute
Ana
María Matute, (b. July 26, 1926,
Barcelona, Spain), Spanish novelist
known for her sympathetic treatment of
the lives of children and adolescents,
their feelings of betrayal and
isolation, and their rites of passage.
Matute’s education suffered because of
childhood illnesses, the family’s
frequent moves between Barcelona and
Madrid, and the disruptions of the
Spanish Civil War (1936–39), which left
her family largely housebound in
Barcelona. She broke the monotony of the
war years by editing a magazine for her
siblings. While in her teens, she
published short stories and became a
professional musician.
Matute
frequently used biblical allusion in her
works and often used the story of Cain
and Abel to symbolize the familial
division caused by the Spanish Civil
War; her first novel was titled Los Abel
(1948; “The Abel Family”). The novels
Fiesta al noroeste (1952; “Celebration
in the Northwest”), Pequeño teatro
(1954; “Little Theatre”), and Los hijos
muertos (1958; The Lost Children)
followed. Matute then wrote a trilogy
consisting of Primera memoria (1959;
U.K. title, The Awakening; U.S. title,
School of the Sun), about children
thrust into an adult world by the
Spanish Civil War; a war novel, Los
soldados lloran de noche (1964; “The
Soldiers Cry by Night”); and La trampa
(1969; “The Trap”), in which the
children of Primera memoria are
presented as adults. Matute set La torre
vigía (1971; “The Watchtower”) in
10th-century Europe to examine the
themes of chivalry, idealism, poverty,
and prejudice. After publishing this
novel, she was silent for 25 years. Her
novel Olvidado Rey Gudú, a massive
allegorical folk epic that spans four
generations in the story of rulers,
gnomes, witches, and other creatures in
the mythical medieval kingdom of Olar,
was published in 1996.
In
addition to the novels for which she is
best known, Matute wrote several
collections of short stories, including
Los niños tontos (1956; “The Foolish
Children”) and Algunos muchachos (1968;
The Heliotrope Wall). She also wrote
several works for children.
