Conflictos bélicos desde una perspectiva transnacional: Testimonio y compromiso de una exiliada, María Teresa León

Abstract

During her long exile in Buenos Aires (1940-1963), the dramatist, stage director, scriptwriter, writer, and activist María Teresa León dedicated her narrative production, including Contra viento y marea (1941, Against all odds) and Juego limpio (1959, Clean Game), to the memory of the Spanish War. Drawing on her experience as a stage director and dramatist, León made use of dramatic prose composed of short scenes, monologues, and dialogues. By establishing links between the Spanish civil war and the political and military conflicts that arose in the young Latin American nations, León built a broad base of shared roots and values for engaging with the Latin American host societies of the Spanish exiles. Similarly, in her radio talks broadcast between 1942 and 1943 through the Buenos Aires’ Radio El Mundo, León gave evidence of a keen interest in strengthening the existing ties between Spain and Latin America. During the next stage of her exile in Rome (1963-1977), she wrote Memoria de la melancolía (Memory of Melancholy), a key book in which she reflects on the dilemmas of exile while viewing the Spanish War in the broader context of another conflict, the Second World War. Behind this conflict, she perceives the struggle towards liberty and against fascism, as in the case of the Spanish Civil War.