La(s) Lectura(s) en la Obra de Manuel Vicent: Biografía Literaria e Imagen de Autor

Abstract

The present work seeks to make a reconstruction of the literary biography of Manuel Vicent from two novels: Verás el cielo abierto and Tranvía a la Malvarrosa and a selection of journalistic articles that thematize reading and return to those authors or genres that have been pillars in the literary formation of the author. Both fictional texts and journalistic articles that include the subject of reading and literary training come together in the conformation of an image of a writer whose traces can be traced in his style and career. In the literary biography of Manuel Vicent, classical works (canonical) coincide with genres that have traditionally been placed on the sidelines. The choice of defining oneself as a man of letters and as a writer since journalism is in tune with the author's image that he is creating from his autobiographical novels and opinion pieces.

From a biographical point of view, reading is identified with rebellion against the family mandate; in turn, it is also linked to the discovery of the pleasures of life; finally, it can be related to the political awakening of the writer and to the gradual understanding of the historical context of his childhood and adolescence.