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Ana María Matute Ausejo

アナ・マリア・マトゥテ・アウセホ

Ana María Matute Ausejo

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1925-07-26 （Barcelona, Spain）
Died
2014-06-25 （Barcelona, Spain） age 88
Nationality
Spain
Languages
Spanish
Religion
Roman Catholic

Career

Occupations
Writer, Visiting professor/lecturer
Active Years
1942-2014
Affiliations
Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy), Hispanic Society of America (honorary member), American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP)
Memberships
Real Academia Española, Hispanic Society of America (honorary member)

Education

International school, Hilversum
Country: Netherlands
Attended an international school in Hilversum during childhood. Other formal education details are partially unknown.

Awards

Premio Nadal
1959
Work: Primera memoria
Organization: Ediciones Destino (Premio Nadal)
Result: 受賞
Miguel de Cervantes Prize
2010
Work: Lifetime literary oeuvre
Organization: Spanish Ministry of Culture / Cervantes Prize committee
Result: 受賞
Premio Planeta
1954
Work: Pequeño teatro
Organization: Editorial Planeta
Result: 受賞
Café Gijón Prize
1953
Work: Fiesta al noroeste
Organization: Café Gijón
Result: 受賞
National Literature Prize (Premio Nacional de Literatura)
1958
Work: Los hijos muertos
Organization: Spanish government
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Primera memoria

1960 Novel (semiautobiographical)

Part of a semiautobiographical trilogy. Focuses on childhood, coming of age and loss of innocence.

loss of innocencepostwar violence and alienationchildhood perspective
Translations
  • School of the Sun (English translation)

Los hijos muertos

1958 Novel

Set in postwar Spain, it depicts violence, loss and individual isolation.

war and its aftermathisolationviolence

Fiesta al noroeste

1953 Novel

A work portraying rural/local society; one of her early prize-winning novels.

rural communityhuman relationships

Olvidado Rey Gudú

1996 Historical/medieval novel

A large-scale novel with medieval elements, dealing with narrative, lore and royal power.

lorepower and fate

Bibliography

  • Los Abel (1948)
  • Fiesta al noroeste (1953)
  • Pequeño teatro (1954)
  • Los hijos muertos (1958)
  • Primera memoria (1960)
  • La trampa (1969)
  • La torre vigía (1971)
  • Olvidado Rey Gudú (1996)
  • Aranmanoth (2000)
  • Paraíso inhabitado (2008)
  • Demonios familiares (2014, posthumous)

Translations of Works

  • Primera memoria → School of the Sun (English translation)
  • En esta tierra / Luciérnagas → Fireflies (English translation)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
lyrical, poetic prosenarrative blending realism and elements of fantasy
Recurring Motifs
childhood/adolescent perspectivesloss of innocencerural settings and folklore

Health

  • chronic kidney infection in childhood
    幼少期（約4歳頃）
    Childhood convalescence in a mountain village influenced settings and characters in her fiction.
  • fatal heart attack
    2014年
    Died of a heart attack in 2014.

Legacy

Ana María Matute is regarded as one of the foremost novelists of postwar Spain, known for depicting violence, alienation and loss of innocence through childhood and adolescent perspectives. Her work earned international recognition, including the Cervantes Prize.

Academic Societies

  • Real Academia Española (RAE)

Archives

  • Library of Congress, Hispanic Division (audio recording of Matute reading)
  • Instituto Cervantes archives

In Popular Culture

  • Continued recognition in literary circles and inclusion in educational reading lists

Quotes

  • I am tired of repeating it: I was born in 1925, not 1926.
    Source: Interview (El País, 2010) (2010)
  • The villagers I met in childhood had a profound influence on me.
    Source: Autobiographical recollections / interviews

Trivia

  • Published her first story at age 17.
  • Was censored and at times blacklisted under Franco's regime.
  • Third woman to receive the Cervantes Prize (awarded in 2010).
  • Served as a visiting lecturer at several US universities.