History, myth and fiction. The Cervantine route of María Teresa León during her exile: Cervantes (1969) y Cervantes, el soldado que nos enseñó a hablar (1978)

Abstract

As many other Spanish republicans exiled after 1939, María Teresa León walked that Cervantes’ route which transformed Don Quixote, his most representative character, into a symbol of ethical values defended by the republican people, as well as a model of resistance which reflected them.  In parallel, she considered Don Quixote as the perfect instrument in order to defend the legitimacy of the republican political actions, and in the meantime, claiming for their Spanish roots and exposing the variety of the exiled cultural legacy to the readers of her host country. Following the path of her previous book titles -Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, el Cid Campeador (1954) and Doña Jimena Díaz de Vivar, gran señora de todos los deberes (1960-), which turned those historical creatures into literary characters and converted  them into myths as time goes by, she also published two more biographies during her Argentinian and Italian exile: Cervantes (1960) and Cervantes, el soldado que nos enseñó a hablar (1978). In these last titles she offered the main author’s biographical data and the political facts which had most influence on his life and literary work. She also examined the personal and collective drama carried by displacement and lack of roots felt by those people who had to live far from their countries. León also tried to give some moral guides based on an ethical-political perspective, that is to say, the defense of justice, liberty, truth, legitimacy and diversity, among other values.