La fábula medieval como espacio para la reflexión moral: La torre vigía de Ana María Matute

The first part of the so-called medieval trilogy by Ana María Matute, The Watchtower (1971), approaches the mythical world of the Middle Ages with a manifestly modern sensibility, preoccupied by lack of communication, isolation, violence and the conflictive nature of human relations. The use of inherent properties distinguishing the medieval culture (castles, warriors, weapons, etc.) allows, on the one hand, to accentuate the brutality of the world and, on the other hand, to reach an unreal dimension through the pre-rational imagination (witches, spells, animals in bestiaries, etc.), generating the universal meaning of the story. Focusing the narrative on a teenage character, the writer delves into one of the essential themes of her creation: the discovery of ferocity in human relations. Thus, in this Bildungsroman inscribed in the aesthetics of medievalizing fantasy (with Gothic elements that intensify the terrifying experience), moral problems are discussed, with a special attention to the consequences of affective deficiencies, violence, war, etc.