Eduardo Mendoza Garriga (born 11 January 1943 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Spain) is a Spanish novelist.

Early life

He studied law in the first half of the 1960s and lived in New York City between 1973 and 1982, working as interpreter for the United Nations, and then tried to become a lawyer and then he realized that he wanted to be a writer. He maintained an intense relationship with novelists

Juan Benet Juan Benet (7 October 1927 – 5 January 1993) was a Spanish novelist, dramatist and essayist who also worked as a civil engineer. Early life Benet was born in Madrid. At the start of the Spanish Civil War, his father was killed, and he left for ...

and Juan García Hortelano, poet

Pere Gimferrer Pere Gimferrer (born 22 June 1945) is a Spanish poet, translator and novelist. He is twice winner of Spain's Premio Nacional de Poesía (National Poetry Prize). He was born in Barcelona in 1945. He writes both in Castilian and Catalan. In Castil ...

and writer (and neighbour)

Félix de Azúa Félix de Azúa Comella (Barcelona, 30 April 1944) is a Spanish professor of aesthetics and philosophy, poet, novelist, essayist and translator, member of Real Academia Española. He taught Spanish literature at the University of Oxford from 1979 ...

. He currently lives in London.

Writing career

In 1975 he published his very successful first novel, ''La Verdad sobre el Caso Savolta'' (''The Truth About the Savolta Case''), where he shows his ability to use different resources and styles. The novel is considered a precursor to the social change in the Spanish post-Franco society and the first novel of the

transition to democracy Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a full ...

. He describes the union fights at the beginning of the 20th century, showing the social, cultural and economic conditions of workers in Barcelona by that time. A year later he was awarded the Critics Prize. His most acclaimed novel is probably ''La Ciudad de los Prodigios'' ('' The City of Marvels'', 1986), about the social and urban evolution of Barcelona between the Universal Expositions of 1888 and 1929. It was film adapted by

Mario Camus Mario Camus García (20 April 1935 – 18 September 2021) was a Spanish film director and screenwriter. He won the Golden Bear at the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival with '' La colmena''. His 1987 film ''The House of Bernarda Alba'' wa ...

in 1999. In 1992, he published the novel, ''El Año del Diluvio'' (''The Year of the Flood''), which tells of the inner conflicts faced by Sister Consuelo after she meets and falls in love with Augusto Aixelâ, with very evocative descriptions of the post-civil war prevailing deprivations in Spain by that time. In 1996, he published his third major Barcelona-related novel, this time set in the 1940s, ''Una Comedia Ligera'' (''A Light Comedy''). Also within Mendoza's work stands the saga of ''the mad detective'', a peculiar character, a nameless accidental-detective locked up in a

mental hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociati ...

. The first of these novels, ''El Misterio de la Cripta Embrujada'' (''The Mystery of the Enchanted Crypt'', 1979) is a

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...

with hilarious moments mixing

hard-boiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...

genre with

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

narrative. In the second novel of the saga, ''El Laberinto de las Aceitunas'' (''The Olive Labyrinth'', 1982), Mendoza confirms his talent as parodist; the novel stands as one of his most successful works. The third novel of the saga, ''La Aventura del Tocador de Señoras'' (''The Adventure of the Ladies' Dressing Table''), and the fourth one, ''El Enredo de la Bolsa y la Vida'' (''The Money and the Life Muddle''), were published in 2001 and 2012, respectively. The 5th novel was released in 2015 under the title of ''El Secreto de la Modelo Extraviada'' (''The Secret of the Missing Model'') with great success. The Spanish newspaper ''

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

'' published two of his novels in instalments, ''Sin Noticias de Gurb'' ( No Word from Gurb, 1990) and ''El Último Trayecto de Horacio Dos'' (''The Last Journey of Horatio Dos'', 2001), both of them science fiction comedy novels. In 1993 appeared his first play, ''Restauració'' (''Restoration''), written in

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

and later translated into Spanish by Mendoza himself. This first theatrical piece was followed by two other titles that the three of them were published together in 2017. In October 2010, he won the literary award

Premio Planeta The Premio Planeta de Novela is a Spanish literary prize, awarded since 1952 by the Spanish publisher Grupo Planeta to an original unpublished novel written in Spanish. It is one of about 16 literary prizes given by Planeta. Financially, it is the ...

for his novel ''Riña de Gatos. Madrid, 1936'' (''An Englishman in Madrid''). In December 2013, he won the

European Book Prize The European Book Prize (french: Le Prix du Livre Européen) is a European Union literary award established in 2007. It is organized by the association Esprit d'Europe in Paris. It seeks to promote European values, and to contribute to European ci ...

(fiction) also for ''An Englishman in Madrid''. Later on, in June 2015, he received the

Franz Kafka Prize The Franz Kafka Prize is an international literary award presented in honour of Franz Kafka, the Jewish, Bohemian, German-language novelist. The prize was first awarded in 2001 and is co-sponsored by the Franz Kafka Society and the city of Prag ...

, the first Spanish writer to win it. In 2016 he was awarded the

Premio Cervantes The Miguel de Cervantes Prize ( es, Premio de Literatura en Lengua Castellana Miguel de Cervantes) is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language. History The prize was established in 1975 ...

, the current most prestigious prize for Spanish-written literature. 2018 saw the launch of the novel ''El Rey Recibe'' (''The King Receives''), the first book in the Three Laws of Motion trilogy, which explores the major developments of the second half of the 20th century. Eduardo Mendoza's narrative studies divides his work into serious or major novels, and humorous or minor ones, although recent studies have shown the seriousness, criticism and transcendence in his parodic novels, as well as the humor present in his serious ones, due to the influence of the characteristics of the postmodern novel. Eduardo Mendoza is considered among the most important Spanish living writers, alongside novelists like

Arturo Pérez-Reverte Arturo Pérez-Reverte Gutiérrez (born 25 November 1951 in Cartagena) is a Spanish novelist and journalist. He worked as a war correspondent for RTVE for 21 years (1973–1994). His first novel, ''El húsar'', set in the Napoleonic Wars, was ...

and

Andrés Pascual Andrés Pascual Carrillo de Albornoz (Logroño, La Rioja, Spain, 1969) is a Spanish writer, conference speaker and lawyer. He is also a classically trained pianist and composer, as well as being a past member of several rock bands. He currently shar ...

, all of them included in the so-called Spanish New Narrative.

Bibliography

Novels

* 1975: ''La verdad sobre el caso Savolta'' * 1979: ''El misterio de la cripta embrujada'' (1st novel from the nameless detective series) * 1982: ''El laberinto de las aceitunas'' (2nd from the nameless detective series) * 1986: '' La ciudad de los prodigios'' * 1989: ''La isla inaudita'' * 1990: '' Sin noticias de Gurb'' (published in instalments by ''

'') * 1992: ''El año del diluvio'' * 1996: ''Una comedia ligera'' * 2001: ''La aventura del tocador de señoras'' (3rd novel from the nameless detective series) * 2002: ''El último trayecto de Horacio Dos'' (published in instalments by ''El País'') * 2006: ''Mauricio o las elecciones primarias'' * 2008: ''El asombroso viaje de Pomponio Flato'' * 2010: ''Riña de gatos. Madrid 1936'' (

) * 2012: ''El enredo de la bolsa y la vida'' (4th novel from the nameless detective series) * 2015: ''El secreto de la modelo extraviada'' (5th novel from the nameless detective series) * 2018: ''El rey recibe''

Short stories

* 2009: ''Tres vidas de santos'' (''La ballena'', ''El final de Dubslav'' and ''El malentendido'') * 2011: ''El camino del cole'' (children's book)

Theatre

* 1993: ''Restauración'' * 2000: ''Gloria: Comedia en un acto'' * 2004: ''Grandes preguntas'' * 2017: ''Teatro reunido'' (''Restauración'', ''Gloria'' and ''Grandes cosas'')

Essays

* 1986: ''Nueva York'' * 1989: ''Barcelona modernista'' (co-written with his sister Cristina) * 2001: ''Baroja, la contradicción'' (biographic essay) * 2007: ''¿Quién se acuerda de Armando Palacio Valdés?'' * 2017: ''Las barbas del profeta'' * 2017: ''¿Que está pasando en Cataluña?''

References

External links

*
Lecturalia / Eduardo Mendoza
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendoza Garriga, Eduardo 1943 births Living people Writers from Barcelona Spanish novelists Spanish male novelists Spanish translators United Nations interpreters 20th-century Spanish novelists 21st-century Spanish novelists 20th-century Spanish male writers 21st-century Spanish male writers Spanish officials of the United Nations Premio Cervantes winners