Abstract

This book reconstructs the poetics of Carmen Martín Gaite by viewing the concept of journey as a fundamental principle upon which she bases and elaborates her narrative writing of the 1990s. Five novels published in this period receive critical attention, all of which coincide with the last trips taken by the writer to New York: Caperucita en Manhattan (1990), Nubosidad variable (1992), La reina de las nieves (1994), Lo raro es vivir (1996) and Irse de casa (1998). To the extent that the journey is the essence of the narrative under consideration, the concept is analysed as an aesthetic practice and an attempt to identify a series of actions, which allow us to link the writer’s novels with two areas that have previously received only scant critical scrutiny: geography and the visual dimension. This book presents a comparative and interdisciplinary analysis of space in Martín Gaite’s narrative as well as in her collages, drawings and paintings.