Ana María Matute: de la literatura realista de la posguerra a la fantasía épica de Olvidado Rey Gudú

Abstract

Ana María Matute (1925-2014) is a clear representative of Spanish’s Children and Young Adult literature. Her first novels, very influenced by her stays at her grandparents’ house in Mansilla de la Sierra and the beginning of the Spanish Civil war, will protest against social class differences and the loss of innocence in childhood. Great defender of childhood and of the possibility to evade reality through imagination and literature, will evolve from the more realistic novels published in the 40’s and 50’s to the epic fantasy which we can find in Olvidado Rey Gudú (1995). Some of her more emblematic titles include: Los Abel (1948), Primera Memoria (1960), El polizón de Ulises (1965), La torre vigía (1971) Sólo un Pie Descalzo (1983), El verdadero final de la Bella Durmiente (1995). She was awarded with the Premio Cervantes in Spanish Literature in 2010.