Eduardo Mendoza: Biography and best books

Biography and best books of Eduardo Mendoza

Winner of the Planeta Prize in 2010 and the Cervantes Prize in 2016, Eduardo Mendoza is one of the great spanish writers of our time. Direct and spontaneous, the style draws on archaisms that explore the most widespread nuances of our own language, often accompanying the stories of marginal characters in a misunderstood world or, rather, a Spanish country seen from different perspectives. We immerse ourselves in the biography and best books of Eduardo Mendoza. Are you coming?

Biography of Eduardo Mendoza

Eduardo Mendoza

Born in Barcelona on January 11, 1943, Eduardo Mendoza is the son of a prosecutor, Eduardo Mendoza Arias-Carvajal, and a housewife, Cristina Garriga Alemany, who in turn was the sister of historian Ramón Garriga Alemany. After studying at various religious schools, he graduated in Law from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 1965 and then traveled around Europe, at that time he got a scholarship to study Sociology in London, followed by his work as a consultant for a time in Spain. until in 1973 the opportunity arose to practice as UN translator in the United States.

It would be in this country from which I would post his first and most iconic novel, The Truth About the Savolta Affair, considered by many as a visionary work, since it was the first to show signs of a political transition that would be confirmed a few months later with the death of Franco. A debut feature turned into a bestseller that confirmed the author's ability to express Spanish reality from a different prism and perspective, more specifically that of a city in Barcelona turned into a canvas for most of his works. This novel earned him the Critics Award in 1976.

Three years later, the publication of The mystery of the haunted crypt, a combination of parody and Gothic novel, continued the success of his previous novel to start a new saga: that of the nameless detective who would also star in three two volumes, The Labyrinth of Olives (1982), The Adventure of the Ladies' Toilet ( 2001) and The entanglement of the bag and life (2012).

After returning to Spain in 1983, Mendoza continued working as a translator both in his native Barcelona and in other cities such as Vienna or Geneva. A work that he has always combined with the publication of his works, being The city of prodigies, launched in 1986, the one considered his masterpiece, or the curious No news from gurb, a story published in installments in El País on the occasion of the arrival of an alien in Barcelona during the months leading up to the 1992 Olympic Games.

In 1995 he began to teach at the Pompeu Fabra University, in Barcelona, ​​combining his activity with writing and experimenting with other genres such as the short story, the essay, or even the theater. All this radiating an irony and sarcasm that macerate an unmistakable bibliography and a totally recognizable style.

In addition to the aforementioned Critics Award, Mendoza has won awards such as the Kafka Prize, the Medici Prize, the Elle Magazine Prize, the José Manuel Lara Foundation Prize, the Cervantes Prize or the Planeta Prize, which he won under the pseudonym Ricardo Medina with his novel Riña de gato. Madrid 1976.

Prolific and active, Mendoza's latest release has been Las barbas del propeta, a revisitation of various passages from the Bible.

Best books by Eduardo Mendoza

The verdict on the Savolta case

The verdict on the Savolta case

Mendoza's first work was published while he was living in the United States, revolutionizing the Spanish cultural and social panorama as complex. Despite the title The soldiers of Catalonia, a title vetoed by the Franco dictatorship, the new name was not a problem in making a big impact. The protagonist, Javier Miranda, is a young man from Valladolid who left for Barcelona to look for work in 1918, a troubled time in Barcelona due to the insurrection of the proletarian classes and the counterattack of the bourgeoisie through thugs. The book was published a few months before Franco's death, winning the Critics Prize a year later.

Would you like to read The verdict on the Savolta case?

The mystery of the haunted crypt

The mystery of the haunted crypt

The first installment of the anonymous detective series was published in 1979 after a time when Mendoza himself decided to spend time away from Spain to "have fun" writing. This is how this hodgepodge of gothic and black novel in which Commissioner Flores, who is investigating the disappearance of a girl of Lazarist mothers, ends up with the help of a criminal with few lights who has been locked up in prison for five years. First title in a saga of four novels published until 2012.

You've read The mystery of the haunted crypt?

No news from gurb

No news from gurb

One of the Mendoza's most famous novels and one of the ones that has best transcended in popular culture is this curious story published by articles in El País and set in the days leading up to the Barcelona Olympic Games. A story that tells as the protagonist with an alien arrived from another planet in search of Gurb, another alien camouflaged in Barcelona under the body of Marta Sánchez. The perfect excuse to travel that surreal and picturesque Spain through different places and celebrities from a time and space.

Do not miss No news from gurb.

The city of prodigies

The city of prodigies

Published in 1986 and instantly converted into one of the masterpieces of Eduardo Mendoza, The city of prodigies It is set in the City of Barcelona between the Universal Exhibitions path held in 1888 and 1829. The period in which Onofre Vouvila developed, a humble young man who represents those lower classes of the city between anarchist propaganda and the sale of hair growth, after making Using his wiles and lack of scruples, he ends up becoming one of the richest men in Spain. Radiography of an era adapted by Mario Camus to the big screen in 1999.

Cat fight. Madrid 1936.

Cat fight Madrid 1936

The work that raised Mendoza as winner of the Planeta Award in 2010 It is set in the Madrid at the dawn of the Civil War, a scene in which the Englishman Anthony Whitelands unfolds, who arrives to decipher the value of a painting belonging to Primo de Rivera and that could change the course of the greatest warfare of our country. country throughout the XNUMXth century. As a comedy as a consequence of the tragedy, the author provides a solid work, totally worthy of his praise.

Read Cat fight?

What are, in your opinion, the best books by Primo de Rivera?


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