Javier Calvo Perales is a Spanish writer born 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 ...

in 1973.

Life

Javier Calvo graduated in journalism at the

Autonomous University of Barcelona The Autonomous University of Barcelona ( ca, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; , es, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona; UAB), is a public university mostly located in Cerdanyola del Vallès, near the city of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. ...

and studied

comparative literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

Pompeu Fabra University Pompeu Fabra University ( ca, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, UPF, ; es, link=no, Universidad Pompeu Fabra) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. The university was created by the Autonomous Government of Catalo ...

. He's married to American writer and photographer Mara Faye Lethem. They have two children.

Work

''Laugh Tracks''

His first short-story compilation, ''Risas enlatadas'' (''Laugh Tracks'', 2001), shows stylistic elements that differ extremely from those of contemporary Spanish narrative: sampling or movie snippets, manipulated quotes of other texts, compressed plots from other novels and an "open" conception of narration, taken from

Free Cinema Free Cinema was a documentary film movement that emerged in the United Kingdom in the mid-1950s. The term referred to an absence of propagandised intent or deliberate box office appeal. Co-founded by Lindsay Anderson (but he later disdained the ' ...

and the montage techniques of filmmakers such as

Jean Eustache Jean Eustache (; 30 November 1938 – 5 November 1981) was a French filmmaker. During his short career, he completed numerous short films, in addition to a pair of highly regarded features, of which the first, ''The Mother and the Whore'', is c ...

John Cassavetes John Nicholas Cassavetes ( ; December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. First known as a television and film actor, Cassavetes also helped pioneer American independent cinema, writing and dire ...

. Other influences, recognizable in this book are the

English novel The English novel is an important part of English literature. This article mainly concerns novels, written in English, by novelists who were born or have spent a significant part of their lives in England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland ( ...

and the audiovisual world of cinema and television, with many of his short stories using the world of television as a theme.

''The Reflecting God''

Along the same line of his short story book, the novel ''El Dios Reflectante'' (The Reflecting God) was published in 2003. It is the

epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements Epic or EPIC may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and medi ...

- comical chronicle of the shooting of a science fiction film in London and of the many ways that the eccentricity of its director, Matsuhiro Takei, has unpredictable consequences in the life of the film's crew. In the pages of this book, the author repeats the sampling technique, the manipulation of fragments of other movies and the organization of the novel's parts following certain

montage sequence Montage (, ''mon-TAHJ'') is a film editing technique in which a series of short shots are sequenced to condense space, time, and information. The term has been used in various contexts. In French, the word "montage" applied to cinema simply de ...

techniques. The novel was a unanimous critical success and was immediately translated to Italian and German.

''The Lost Rivers of London''

In 2005, he published ''Los Ríos Perdidos de Londres'' (''The Lost Rivers of London''), his darkest book yet. It comprises four short novels, ''Una belleza rusa'' (''A Russian Beauty''), ''Crystal Palace'', ''Rosemary'' and ''Mary Poppins: los ríos perdidos'' (''Mary Poppins: The Lost Rivers''). In this book, his style becomes dense and picks up influences not only of Gothic and Victorian narrative, but of

Gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

and

post punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...

. ''Una belleza rusa'' is a free version of the

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...

story '' A Russian Beauty'', where he uses characters and elements from the TV series

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film of the same name, also written by W ...

. ''Crystal Palace'' is an autobiographic story about the author's relationship with the series

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

during his childhood. ''Rosemary'' combines elements from the

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a (né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two ...

movie Rosemary's Baby with the history of the band

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...

. And ''Los ríos perdidos'' is a tribute to the novels of the

Mary Poppins It may refer to: * ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fantasy novels that introduced the character. * Mary Poppins (character), the nanny with magical powers. * ''Mary Poppins'' (film), a 1964 Disney film sta ...

series by P.L. Travers and the work of British musician and occultist Jhonn Balance.

''Wonderful World''

''Mundo Maravilloso'' (''Wonderful World'', 2007), more than six-hundred pages long, is a comical thriller set in contemporary

. The main character, Lucas Giraut, is an

antique dealer An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

with emotional problems who gets involved in the world of crime in order to become the person that he believes his father wanted him to be. In order to do so, he associates himself with a group of

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

fanatical thieves and forgers who call themselves "The Down With the Sun Society". ''Mundo maravilloso'' was a finalist of the ''José Manuel Lara Foundation Award'' of 2008 and has recently been translated to English (Harpercollins, 2009).

''Wreath''

His novel ''Corona de Flores'' (''Wreath'', 2010) (Random House-Mondadori, 2010), is a

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 ...

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

novel, set in 19th century Barcelona.

''The Hanging Garden''

''The Hanging Garden'' (''El jardín colgante'') won the 2012

Premio Biblioteca Breve The Premio Biblioteca Breve is a literary award given annually by the publisher Seix Barral (now part of Grupo Planeta) to an unpublished novel in the Spanish language. Its prize is €30,000 and publication of the winning work. It is delivered in ...

for best unpublished novel.

Cinema

Javier Calvo collaborates regularly as screenwriter with the film director Roger Gual. Together they wrote the screenplays of ''Remake'' (Ovideo TV, 2005) and Gual's third feature film ''

Tasting Menu A tasting menu is a collection of several dishes in small portions, served by a restaurant as a single meal. The French name for a tasting menu is ''menu dégustation''. Some restaurants and chefs specialize in tasting menus, while in other case ...

'' (Subotica Entertainment, 2013).

Style and influences

Javier Calvo's style has been described as "post-urban grotesque" by Spanish

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...

Julio Ortega. Among his literary influences are

Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...

E. M. Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly ''A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910), and ''A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous short stori ...

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pro ...

, Pamela Lyndon Travers,

B. S. Johnson Bryan Stanley William Johnson (5 February 1933 – 13 November 1973) was an English experimental novelist, poet and literary critic. He also produced television programmes and made films. Early life Johnson was born into a working-class family, ...

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 ...

, Joan Perucho,

J. G. Ballard James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass medi ...

Iain Sinclair Iain Sinclair FRSL (born 11 June 1943) is a writer and filmmaker. Much of his work is rooted in London, recently within the influences of psychogeography. Biography Education Sinclair was born in Cardiff in 1943. From 1956 to 1961, he was educate ...

Roberto Bolaño Roberto Bolaño Ávalos (; 28 April 1953 – 15 July 2003) was a Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet and essayist. In 1999, Bolaño won the Rómulo Gallegos Prize for his novel ''Los detectives salvajes'' (''The Savage Detectives' ...

and

Rodrigo Fresán Rodrigo Fresán (born 1963 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a fiction writer and journalist. Since 1999, Fresán has lived and worked in Barcelona, Spain. His books have been translated into many languages. ''Mantra'', a portrait of Mexico City ca. ...

. Cinematic influences include

David Lean Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Widely considered one of the most important figures in British cinema, Lean directed the large-scale epics ''The Bridge on the River ...

Alan Clarke Alan John Clarke (28 October 1935 – 24 July 1990) was an English television and film director, producer and writer. Life and career Clarke was born in Wallasey, Wirral, England. Most of Clarke's output was for television rather than cinema, ...

and

Mike Leigh Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English film and theatre director, screenwriter and playwright. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and further at the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Design ...

Works

* ''Risas enlatadas'' (''Laugh Tracks''), Grijalbo-Mondadori, 2001 () * ''El dios reflectante'' (''The Reflecting God''), Random House-Mondadori, 2003 () * ''Los ríos perdidos de Londres'' (''The Lost Rivers of London''), Random House-Mondadori, 2005 () * ''Mundo maravilloso'' (''Wonderful World''), Random House-Mondadori, 2007 () * VV.AA., ''Matar en Barcelona'' (''To Kill in Barcelona''), (short story anthology), Alpha Decay, 2009. * ''Corona de Flores'' (''Wreath''), Random House-Mondadori, 2010

References

External links

Javier Calvo's Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calvo, Javier Writers from Catalonia 21st-century Spanish novelists Spanish male novelists Autonomous University of Barcelona alumni Living people 1973 births Pompeu Fabra University alumni 21st-century Spanish male writers