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El Cuarto De AtráS : The Challenge Of The Autobiographical Text, Linda Kathleen Helton

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines the notion of autobiography as presented in Carmen Martin Gaite's novel El cuarto de atras. I propose that the novel is intended not to be read as a straightforward autobiography, rather, the reader is invited to consider the autobiographical elements that function on various levels within a fictional mode. Although events from the author's childhood and adolescence are included in the novel, they are recounted through the use of a fictional protagonist.

By analyzing the narratological fabric that comprises the text, I show how the framework of the fictional mode provides a background for the various autobiographical …