Ana María Matute

Ana Maria Matute (born 28 July 1926) is an internationally acclaimed author. She is one of the strongest voices from the "posguerra", or period immediately following the Spanish Civil War, and is considered a spokesperson for her generation.

Biography

Matute was born in Barcelona, 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 therecite book |last=Ballesteros |first= Jose |coauthors= Mark Harpring, Francisca Paredes Mendez |title= Voces de Espana |publisher= Thomson Heinle |year= 2005 |id= ISBN 0-7593-9666-3] .

When she was only four years old, she almost died of an illness, and was taken to live with her grandparents in San Mansilla de la Sierra, a small town in the mountains, for a period of convalescence. 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 workcite book |last= Virgillo |first= Carmelo |coauthors = L. Teresa Valdivieso, Edward H. Friedman |title = Aproximaciones al estudio de la literatura hispanica |publisher= McGraw Hill |year= 2004 |id= ISBN 0-07-255846-6] .

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.

She married Ramon Eugenio de Goicoechea, also a writer, on 17 November 1952, and the couple had a son, Juan Pablo, to whom Matute dedicated various children's stories. The couple divorced in 1965. Because of the laws of Spain, following her divorce she was not allowed to see her son, as the law gave full care over to her ex-husband. This caused Matute great emotional distress. However, she refused to use this as material for any of her stories.

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. She claims that, although her body is old, she is young at heart.

Awards and Honors

*Premio Nadal ("Nadal Prize")
*Premio Nacional de Literatura ("National Literature Prize")
*Premio de Literatura Infantil ("Prize of Children's Literature")
*Premio Planeta ("Planet Prize")
*Premio de la Critica ("Critics' Prize")
*Premio "Cafe Gijon"

*Hispanic Society of America
*American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese
*She was made a member of the RAE (Royal Spanish Academy) in 1996. She is the only female member at present and only the third woman who has been a member of the RAE in its whole history.

elect List of Works

*"El chico de al lado"
*"En esta tierra"
*"Los Abel"
*"El arrepentido y otras narraciones"
*"Pequeño teatro"
*"Los hijos muertos"
*"Fiesta al noroeste" ( [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiesta_al_noroeste] )
*"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 oro"
*"Los Chicos"
*"Rafael"
*"El ausente"
*"Bernardino"
*"La Conciencia"
*"El Salvamento"
*"Navidad para Carnavalito"
*"La Rama Seca"

References