Through the Eyes of a Child: Representations of Violence and Conflict in the Juvenilia of Ana María Matute

Abstract

Until a few years ago mainstream literary critics tended to consider the study of juvenilia as incongruous to contemporary critical research and were quick to dismiss their use in the analysis of an author's work as anachronistic. However, literary researchers today are approaching juvenilia from multidisciplinary points of critical interest to great effect. They no longer consider juvenilia as the experimental or amateurish work of a nascent talent but as 'an alternative to, rather than a preparation for, the adult work' (McMaster 2001: 287). Based on original manuscripts written by the Spanish author Ana María Matute as a child during the Spanish Civil War, this paper analyses various aspects of violence and conflict as represented in her facsimile juvenile magazine La Revista de Shibil, and considers the possible reasons for their inclusion in the same.

Until a few years ago mainstream literary critics tended to consider the study of juvenilia as incongruous to contemporary critical research and were quick to dismiss their use in the analysis of an author's work as anachronistic. However, literary researchers today are approaching juvenilia from multidisciplinary points of critical interest to great effect. They no longer consider juvenilia as the experimental or amateurish work of a nascent talent but as 'an alternative to, rather than a preparation for, the adult work' (McMaster 2001: 287). Based on original manuscripts written by the Spanish author Ana María Matute as a child during the Spanish Civil War, this paper analyses various aspects of violence and conflict as represented in her facsimile juvenile magazine La Revista de Shibil, and considers the possible reasons for their inclusion in the same.

Hasta hace unos años, conocidos críticos literarios consideraban el estudio de la juvenilia en cualquier investigación crítica contemporánea como incongruente y de una manera muy rápida descartaban su uso como anacrónico, en el análisis de la obra de un autor. Sin embargo, ya no se considera como 'un trabajo experimental o amateur, una obra de un talento naciente, sino como una alternativa, más que una preparación del trabajo adulto' (McMaster 2001: 287). Usando escritos de la conocida autora Ana María Matute, este artículo analiza los elementos narrativos presentes en las representaciones de violencia y conflicto evidentes en la revista juvenil La Revista de Shibil y considera las posibles razones de su inclusión en la misma.