Ana Maria Matute

Within the large list of Spanish authors, one of the names with capital letters to highlight is, without a doubt, Ana Maria Matute, Spanish novelist who managed to be a member of the Royal Spanish Academy occupying the 'K' seat and winner of the Cervantes Prize.

But who is Ana María Matute? Why is it considered one of the most important literature of the XNUMXth century in Spain? We will discover it below.

Who is Ana María Matute

Ana María Matute Ausejo was born on July 26, 1925 in Barcelona. She was the second daughter of a family of the Catalan bourgeoisie, characterized by being religious and conservative. His father was Facundo Matute Torres, owner of the Matute SA umbrella factory. His mother was María Ausejo Matute. In total there were 7 members, 5 children and parents.

Ana María Matute's childhood was not in Barcelona, ​​but rather in Madrid. However, the stories he has written are not usually focused on this location.

At the age of four, the future author fell ill and that caused the whole family to move to Mansilla de la Sierra, where her grandparents were from, due to her health, in La Rioja.

Ella She was one of the "girls" who lived through the Spanish Civil War of 1936, since at that time he was 11 years old. For this reason, violence, death, hatred, poverty, etc. They were situations that she experienced and that delved deep into her, which is why she was able to write about that time like no one else.

La Ana María Matute's first novel was at age 17. It is Small Theater, although it was not published until 1950. A year earlier, he presented his novel Luciérnagas for the Nadal Prize, which ended up being eliminated in the final round, and also suffered a censorship.

However, this did not stop him from his literary attempts to make a name for himself and he continued to publish for several years. So much so that in 1976 it was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Ana María Matute's work focused on education, since she was a university professor. He also traveled a lot giving lectures to different Spanish and European cities, as well as the United States.

En 1984 obtained the National Prize for Children's and Young People's Literature with "Only one bare foot." In 1996 another of her great works, "Forgotten King Gudú", launched her to stardom again but, without a doubt, the best event of that year was when the Royal Spanish Academy appointed her a member and owner of seat K, being the third woman who was part of the institution.

Awards has received many, not only the mentions that we have mentioned before. As examples, we can cite you: Planeta Prize, Nadal Prize, National Prize for Spanish Letters, finalist for the Prince of Asturias Prize for Letters, Miguel de Cervantes Prize ...

Ana María Matute in love

His love life has been a bit more dramatic. And is that in 1952 she married the writer Ramón Eugenio de Goicoechea. Two years later, his son, Juan Pablo, was born, to whom he dedicated many children's works.

However, 11 years later she separated from her husband and, due to the Spanish laws of that time, she did not have the right to see her son because the guardianship was not her but her husband. This caused him to have emotional problems.

Years later, love knocked on her door again with businessman Julio Brocard. But his death in 1990, precisely on the birthday of the writer, made the depression that was already dragging from before to increase.

Unfortunately, in 2014, Ana María Matute passed away due to cardiorespiratory problems.

What books have you written

By Ana María Matute we can find many novels, But perhaps what you don't know is that she was also a writer of children's stories and plays. In addition, they are still fashionable and surely some of you have read.

Specifically, and with the help of Wikipedia, the titles of all Ana María Matute's books are as follows (divided into three main categories):

Novels

• The Abel
• Fireflies
• Northwest Party
• Small theater
• In this land
• The dead children
• First memory
• The soldiers cry at night
• Some boys
• The trap
• The watchtower
• The sea
• Forgotten King Gudú
• aranmanoth
• Uninhabited paradise
• Familiar demons.

Short stories

• The boy next door
• The little life
• The silly children
• New life
• Weather
• Half way
• History of Artámila
• The repentant
• Three and a dream
• The river
• The Virgin of Antioquia and other stories
• From nowhere
• The true ending of Sleeping Beauty
• The Golden Tree
• The king
• House of forbidden games
• Those in the store; Teacher; All the brutality in the world
• The door of the moon. Complete stories
• Music.

Children's works

• The country of the blackboard
• Paulina, the world and the stars
• The Green Grasshopper and The Apprentice
• The playbook for other's children
• Crazy horse and Carnavalito
• The stowaway of «Ulises»
• Paulina
• The newbie
• Just one bare foot
• The green grasshopper
• La oveja negra
• All my stories.

What is the most important work of Ana María Matute?

Ana María Matute has left us many works to remember her and the truth is that choosing only one of them is complicated. Of all those he wrote, the ones that stood out the most were those in which he narrated the post-war period, but not from an adult point of view, but from a children's point of view. Also his trilogies are important.

But what is the most important work of Ana María Matute? In this case, we could cite several of them, but Perhaps the one that has made the author known the most and has had the most positive evaluations is The Dead Children.

With this book, Ana María Matute won the Spanish National Narrative Prize in 1959. But not only that, but also the Castilian Narrative Criticism Prize.

It tells the story of two men, Daniel, exiled in France who returns to his country sick and unsuccessful; and Miguel, the son of an anarchist who returns to his city and ends up committing a crime.

Why this book? Well, according to the critics, because such is the strength and representation of pain, loneliness, decadence, etc. that made readers feel the same way as those characters.

What was Ana María Matute's favorite book?

Asking an author which of his books he likes best is putting them in a bind. And it is that, for them, all books have parts that they like and they could not opt ​​for one. It is true that there are certain novels and books that authors may like more.

In the case of Ana María Matute, she herself confessed that she had a favorite, Forgotten King Gudú. In it, the author was set in the Middle Ages, specifically in the origin and expansion of the kingdom of Olar, where a southern girl, a strange creature that lives in the subsoil and a sorcerer will cross their paths.

As you can see, it is not a book by which it is usually recognized. And yet it is fantasy, adventure and the way it conveys feelings of love, power, tenderness, passion, etc. which made it the one he liked the most.