Juan Marsé Carbó (8 January 1933 – 18 July 2020) was a Spanish

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

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 The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

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'' (''Locked up with a Single Toy''), which was a finalist of the Biblioteca Breve Seix Barral Prize. Afterwards, he spent two years in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

working as "garçon de laboratoire" at the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (, ) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines for anthrax and rabies. Th ...

and translating screenplays and teaching Spanish. Back in Spain he wrote ''Esta cara de la luna'' (''This Side of the Moon''), repudiated and never included in his complete works. In 1965 he won the Biblioteca Breve Prize with ''Últimas tardes con Teresa'' (''Last Evenings with Teresa''). He married Joaquina Hoyas and began working in

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

and writing dialogues for films. He wrote ''La oscura historia de la prima Montse'' (''The Dark Story of Cousin Montse''), which was not very successful, and ''Si te dicen que caí'' (''If They Tell You I Fell''), based on the murder of Carmen Broto. The latter was published in Mexico due to

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and won the Novel International Prize. In 1974, he started a

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

in the magazine ''Por Favor'' while continuing writing for the film industry. His novel ''La muchacha de las bragas de oro'' (''Girl with Golden Panties'') won the

Planeta Prize The Premio Planeta de Novela is a Spanish literary award, 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. Financ ...

in 1978, which made him known to the general public. He wrote two novels about

post-war A post-war or postwar period is the interval immediately following the end of a war. The term usually refers to a varying period of time after World War II, which ended in 1945. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, ...

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, ''Un día volveré'' (''One Day I'll Come Back'') and ''Ronda del Guinardó'', followed by the collection of short stories, ''Teniente Bravo''. In the 1990s, he received numerous prizes, including Ateneo de Sevilla Prize for ''El amante bilingüe'' (''The Bilingual Lover'') and the Critic Prize and Aristeion Prize for ''El embrujo de Shanghai'' (''The Shanghai Spell''). 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'' (''Lizards' Tails''), 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'' (1960,

Seix Barral Planeta Corporación, S.R.L., doing business as Grupo Planeta (), is a Spanish mass media conglomerate operating in Spain, Portugal, France and Latin America. It is headquartered in Madrid. Editorial Planeta, founded in 1949, was the seed of Gru ...

) * ''Esta cara de la luna'' (1962, Seix Barral) * ''Últimas tardes con Teresa'' (1966, Seix Barral), Premio Biblioteca Breve * ''La oscura historia de la prima Montse (novela)'' (1970, Seix Barral) * ''Si te dicen que caí (novela)'' (1973, Editorial Novaro) * ''La muchacha de las bragas de oro (novela)'' (1978, Planeta),

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 ...

* ''Un día volveré'' (1982, Plaza y Janés) * ''Ronda del Guinardó'' (1984, Plaza y Janés), * ''El amante bilingüe'' (1990, Editorial Planeta) * ''El embrujo de Shanghai (novela)'' (1993, Plaza y Janés) * ''Rabos de lagartija'' (2000, Plaza y Janés) * ''Canciones de amor en Lolita's Club'' (2005, Lumen) * ''Caligrafía de los sueños'' (2011, Lumen) * ''Noticias felices en aviones de papel'' (2014, Lumen) * ''Esa puta tan distinguida'' (2016, Lumen) * ''Viaje al sur'' (2020, Lumen) (phostumous)

Short story

* ''Teniente Bravo'' (1987, Plaza y Janés) * ''Cuentos completos'' (2002, colección Austral, Espasa).

Film adaptations

*''The Dark History of Cousin Montse'' (Jordi Cadena, 1977) *'' Girl with the Golden Panties'' (

Vicente Aranda Vicente Aranda Ezquerra (; 9 November 1926 – 26 May 2015) was a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer. Due to his refined and personal style, he was one of the most renowned Spanish filmmakers. He started as a founding member ...

, 1980) *''Last Evenings with Teresa'' (Gonzalo Herralde, 1984) *''If you say that I fell'' (Vicente Aranda, 1989) *'' The Bilingual Lover'' (Vicente Aranda, 1993) *''Domenica'' – adapted from Ronda del Guinardó (Wilma Labate, 2001) *''

The Shanghai Spell ''The Shanghai Spell'' () is a 2002 film written and directed by Fernando Trueba. The film is based on the 1993 novel of the same name by Juan Marsé. It is an international co-production among companies from Spain, France and the United Kingdom. ...

'' (

Fernando Trueba Fernando Rodríguez Trueba (born 18 January 1955), known as Fernando Trueba, is a Spanish filmmaker, writer, producer and book editor. Career Between 1974 and 1979, Trueba worked as a film critic for Spain's leading daily newspaper '' El Paí ...

, 2002) *'' Lolita's Club'' (Vicente Aranda, 2007)

External links

Official Site of Juan Marsé
(in Spanish)
Guided tour of locations featured in Marsé's novels

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marse, Juan 1933 births 2020 deaths Writers from Barcelona Premio Cervantes winners 20th-century Spanish novelists 21st-century Spanish novelists Spanish male novelists 20th-century Spanish male writers 21st-century Spanish male writers