Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Letters, Diaries and Self-Reflective Writing
- 2 Cuadernos de todo: Carmen Martín Gaite's Diaries
- 3 Nubosidad variable: Letters and Diaries, Female Friendship through Writing
- 4 La Reina de las Nieves: a Personal Search through Diaries and Letters
- 5 Lo raro es vivir: Personal Reflections from Historical Research
- 6 Irse de casa: Life through the Cinematographic Lens, Writing One's Own Life-Script
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Letters, Diaries and Self-Reflective Writing
- 2 Cuadernos de todo: Carmen Martín Gaite's Diaries
- 3 Nubosidad variable: Letters and Diaries, Female Friendship through Writing
- 4 La Reina de las Nieves: a Personal Search through Diaries and Letters
- 5 Lo raro es vivir: Personal Reflections from Historical Research
- 6 Irse de casa: Life through the Cinematographic Lens, Writing One's Own Life-Script
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The use of diaries, letters and other types of life-writing in literature has evolved during the centuries, developing a more introspective and metafictional character, as well as presenting a therapeutic side of self-writing. That evolution can also be seen in Carmen Martín Gaite's literary career, as diaries and letters have been part of the author's output from her first novels and short stories. She not only used diaries and letters as a narrative strategy, but she also reflected on this kind of writing in many of her essays and articles.
Looking at the development of letters, diaries and life-writing in literature provided me with parameters for understanding the development of these types of writing and their function in Martín Gaite's work. In literature, this went from narratives which started as mirrors of life, presenting novels, especially epistolary novels, as the simple reproduction of ‘real letters’ found by the editor, towards a more clear fictional narrative which indeed copied real life. The development of life-writing goes from an objective representation of female characters portrayed by male writers, to a subjectivity of women who take control of their own narratives and present themselves as the creators and protagonists of their own stories. In relation to the different kinds of life-writing, it was seen that there are differences and similarities between letters and diaries even though it is difficult to separate the different types of life-writing, as many of their characteristics overlap.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Life Writing in Carmen Martín Gaite's 'Cuadernos de todo' and her Novels of the 1990s , pp. 199 - 205Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2013