Javier Cercas

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Cercas and the second or maternal family name is Mena.
Javier Cercas
Cercas in 2019
Born
Javier Cercas Mena

6th of April1962 (age 61–62)
NationalitySpanish
Alma materAutonomous University of Barcelona
Occupation(s)Professor, writer, journalist and translator
Notable workSoldiers of Salamis; The Speed of Light; The Impostor
ChildrenRaúl Cercas
AwardsIndependent Foreign Fiction Prize; European Book Prize
Seat R of the Real Academia Española
Incumbent
Assumed office
TBA[a]
Preceded byJavier Marías

Javier Cercas Mena (born 1962) is a Spanish novelist with great international recognition. In 2001, he published Soldados de Salamina (Soldiers of Salamis). It was a resounding success both in Spain and abroad, receiving praise from prestigious authors such as Mario Vargas Llosa, George Steiner, J.M. Coetzee and Susan Sontag[1].

Cercas’ work is characterised by a daring exploration of the boundries between reality and fiction (he himself has defined some of his novels as 'real tales'[2]) always with the view to throwing light on to the present. The Lord of all the Dead (February 2017) brings to a close this literary engagement in writing of a personal memoir about the Spanish Civil War.

His novels have gained a wide readership around the world and been translated into over thirty languages winning numerous national and international awards such as The European Book Prize 2016 for his novel El Impostor (The Impostor translated by Frank Wynne), the André Malraux Award 2018 for The Lord of all the Dead (translated by Anne McLein) and the Premio Planeta de Novela 2019 for Even the Darkest Night.

Biography

Javier Cercas was born in Ibahernando, Cáceres, Spain.[3][4] He is a frequent contributor to the Catalan edition of El País and the Sunday supplement.In 1985 he graduated in Spanish Philology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), and from 1987 to 1989 he taught Spanish and pursued further studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (USA). He worked for two years at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Illinois, United States.[5]In 1989 he began teaching Spanish literature at the University of Girona and he read his doctoral thesis two years later. He is a frequent contributor to the Catalan edition of El País and the Sunday supplement.

He is part of a group of well-known Spanish novelists who have published "historical memory" fiction, focusing on the Spanish Civil War and Francoist state, including Julio Llamazares, Andrés Trapiello, and Jesús Ferrero.[6]

In 2001, Cercas published his novel Soldados de Salamina (Soldiers of Salamis)Soldiers of Salamis (translated by Anne McLean) with which he gained worldwide recognition, receiving favourable reviews from leading writers. McLean's translations of his novels The Speed of Light and Outlaws were also shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award, in 2008 and 2016 respectively.

During the 2014–15 academic year, he was the Weidenfeld Visiting Professor of European Comparative Literature at St Anne's College at Oxford, England.[7] He was awarded the 2016 European Book Prize for The Impostor.

His works have been translated into over thirty languages.

Bibliography

Awards and honors


Notes

  1. ^ Elected on 13 June 2024

References

  1. ^ "Javier Cercas, Biografia". Agencia Literaria Carmen Balcells. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  2. ^ "Javier Cercas, Biografia". Agencia Literaria Carmen Balcells. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  3. ^ Clubcultura. "Biografía" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 20 March 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  4. ^ ABC (26 September 2012). "Javier Cercas: 'No soy independentista y no me gustan las aventuras'" (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  5. ^ "Javier Cercas in conversation". 'SPAIN arts & culture' is the official website for the promotion of Spain's arts and culture in the USA. Archived from the original on 2022-10-13. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
  6. ^ Gina Herrmann, Mass Graves on Spanish TV, essay in Unearthing Franco's Legacy, p.172, 2010
  7. ^ "Weidenfeld Visiting Professorship in Comparative European Literature".
  8. ^ Geli, Carles (20 October 2016), "Cercas regresa a la Guerra Civil con la historia de un familiar falangista", El País (Spanish).