Ana Maria Matute

Ana Maria Matute is a famous writer from Spain. She was born in Barcelona. She lived through the Spanish Civil War and under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Her writings often have themes or tones that people find depressing: she deals with such subjects as the loss of innocence, growing up, girls growing into women, and other stories involving children. Most of her stories illustrate the vulnerability of childhood. She wrote of the terrible poverty in which the campesinos lived, but she was never censored because she never directly implied or stated that Franco was responsible. Because of the laws of Spain, following her divorce she was not allowed to see her son, Juan Pablo, as the law gave full care over to her ex-husband. This caused Matute great emotional distress, however, she refused to use this for any of her stories. Although Matute's own childhood influenced her writing, it would be a gross oversimplification to merely write her off as the product of a dramatic childhood. Her childhood, however, must be addressed. When she was four years old, she almost died of an illness, and was taken to the mountains for treatment, where she claims that the people there had a profound influence on her. She was almost ten years old when the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, and is called one of the strongest voices of the posguerra, or period after the war. She is considered a spokesperson for that Spanish generation, and now lectures at universities in the United States. She began to gain recognition for her writings when she was in her twenties, and wrote her first novel Pequeño Teatro to much acclaim. She is outspoken, and talks 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. Ana Maria Matute is an interesting and influential Spanish author.