Javier Marías Franco, Spanish writer, translator and publisher, and member of the Royal Spanish Academy, has died, according to the ABC and confirmed by TV3, due to pneumonia.
Last August 15, the publishing house Alfaguara, which has published a large part of his work, shared a statement about the health of the novelist, who had been hospitalized for lung problems for a few days, although stable.
His extensive bibliography includes numerous novels, short stories, essays published in more than 30 countries, and also translations. In addition, it had collections of journalistic articles. It was precisely in the press where the writer continued to collaborate assiduously until the last day, being one of the most outstanding columnists of El País.
Javier Marías, who would have turned 71 on September 20, was the author of ” Los enamoramientos “, “Corazón tan blanco”, “Mañana en la batalla piensa en mí” and “Así empieza lo malo”.
He also had the opportunity to experiment in the world of cinema, thanks to the collaboration he carried out with filmmakers Jesús Franco and Ricardo Franco, whose nephew and cousin he was, respectively. He translated and wrote scripts for both and even made a cameo.
An extensive and well-known work
The writer from Madrid is the author of a total of 16 novels that have brought him a large number of awards. Marías received the Barcelona City Award for “Totes les Ánimes” in 1989.
With “Tu rostro mañana”, considered one of the key works of the writer’s career, he won praise from international critics, who consider the work one of the great contributions of modern literature.
One of his greatest hits, ” Mañana en la batalla piensa en mí “, published by Anagrama in 1994, was awarded the Rómulo Gallegos Prize and the Fasenrath Prize.
Marias won the Castilian Narrative Critics Award with “Corazón tan blanco”, in 1992, and “Berta Isla”, in 2017.
He also took home, in 2012, the National Narrative Award for “Los enamoramientos”, endowed with 20,000 euros, although he refused it due to its status as an institutional award.
Despite harshly criticizing the cultural management of the government at the time, led by the popular Mariano Rajoy, he wanted to separate the decision from politics: “If the PSOE had been in power I would have done the same thing”.
One of the last awards that Javier Marías took home was the XVI Gregor von Rezzori – City of Valencia award, in 2022, for his latest novel, “Tomás Nevinson”. The jury considered that he had managed to “transform the spy story and discover the roots of the psychological novel”.
Javier Marías Franco was the fourth in a family with five children, his mother was the writer Dolores Franco Manera and his father, the philosopher and member of the Royal Spanish Academy, Julián Marías.
Amelia Warner
Amelia Warner writes all the Latest Articles. She mostly covers Entertainment topics, but at times loves to write about movie reviews as well.
