Juan Marsé


Juan Marsé Carbó was a Spanish novelist, journalist, and screenwriter who used Spanish as his literary language. In 2008, he was awarded the Cervantes Prize, "the Spanish-language equivalent" to the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Biography

Marsé was born Juan Faneca Roca in Barcelona. His mother died in childbirth, and he was soon adopted by the Marsé family, taking the name Juan Marsé Carbó.
At age 14, without finishing his studies, Marsé began to work as a jewelry apprentice. He spent some time working in the Barcelonès magazine Arcinema, and began his literary career in 1958 with some stories that appeared in 'Insula' and 'El Ciervo' magazines. His story, "Nada para morir", won the Sésamo Prize, and in 1958 he published his first novel, Encerrados con un solo juguete, which was a finalist of the Biblioteca Breve Seix Barral Prize.
Afterwards, he spent two years in Paris working as a garçon de laboratoire at the Pasteur Institute and translating screenplays and teaching Spanish. Back in Spain he wrote Esta cara de la luna, which was repudiated and never included in his complete works. In 1965 he won the Biblioteca Breve Prize with Últimas tardes con Teresa.
He married Joaquina Hoyas and began working in advertising and writing dialogues for films. He wrote La oscura historia de la prima Montse, which was not very successful, and Si te dicen que caí, based on the murder of Carmen Broto. The latter was published in Mexico due to Francoist censorship and won the Novel International Prize.
In 1974, he started a column in the magazine Por Favor while continuing writing for the film industry. His novel La muchacha de las bragas de oro won the Planeta Prize in 1978, which made him known to the general public.
He wrote two novels about post-war Barcelona, Un día volveré and Ronda del Guinardó, followed by the collection of short stories, Teniente Bravo.
In the 1990s, he received numerous prizes, including the Ateneo de Sevilla Prize for El amante bilingüe and the Critic Prize and Aristeion Prize for El embrujo de Shanghai. In 1997 he was awarded the Juan Rulfo Prize for Latin American and Caribbean Literature. After seven years of silence he published Rabos de Lagartija, which won the Critic Prize and Narrative National Prize. Marsé was the winner of the 2008 Cervantes Prize, the most prestigious award for Spanish-language literature.
MacLehose Press published The Calligraphy of Dreams in 2014.
Marsé died on 18 July 2020.

Works

Narrative

Encerrados con un solo juguete Esta cara de la luna Últimas tardes con Teresa, Premio Biblioteca BreveLa oscura historia de la prima Montse Si te dicen que caí La muchacha de las bragas de oro , Premio PlanetaUn día volveré Ronda del Guinardó, El amante bilingüe El embrujo de Shanghai Rabos de lagartija Canciones de amor en Lolita's Club Caligrafía de los sueños Noticias felices en aviones de papel Esa puta tan distinguida
  • ''Viaje al sur''

Short story

Teniente Bravo Cuentos completos.

Film adaptations