The Modern Novel

Biography

Javier Marías was born in Madrid in 1951. His father was a well-known philosopher. As he had supported the Republicans during the Civil War, he found it difficult to get teaching assignments in Spain and spent much time in the United States, so that his son Javier learned English at a young age. While they were at Wellesley, they lived in the same house as Jorge Guillén and Nabokov. Javier was educated at the Colegio Estudio and then studied philosophy and literature at the Universidad de Complutense. By this time he had started writing, having written a novel (still unpublished) while aged fifteen and had a story published. He had also done translations for his uncle, Jesús (Jess) Franco, the film director and written the screenplay for Gospel, a short film directed by his cousin, Ricardo Franco.

During his first year at university, he started work on Los dominios del lobo [The Domains of the Wolf], a novel based on the USA as seen in Hollywood films. Much of it was written in Paris, while staying in Jesús (Jess) Franco‘s apartment there and while watching a huge number of American films at the Cinémathèque Française and busking on the Champs-Elysées in the evening to earn money for food. On returning to Spain he continued his studies but was persuaded by Juan Benet to publish Los dominios del lobo [The Domains of the Wolf]. He published a second novel, finished his studies and then went to work for Alfaguara, the publishing house. He was writing articles for newspapers and magazines, as well as translating writers such as Thomas Hardy and Laurence Sterne (for which he received the national translation prize). He continued writing novels and translating English works, before going to Oxford in 1983 as a lecturer. In 1987 he started teaching translation at his alma mater, Universidad de Complutense. He continued teaching there till 1992 by which time he had published Todas las almas (All Souls) and Corazón tan blanco (A Heart So White), which brought him both literary and commercial success, both in Spain and elsewhere. He has continued to publish novels, article and stories, which have brought him considerable fame. He has even been named King of Redonda! He died in 2022.

Other sites

Javier Marías
The Spanish Mien
Looking for Luisa (profile)
Questionnaire / Sports
From Fu Manchu to Vampyros Lesbos: Javier Marías on his uncle, the B-movie film-maker
Javier Marías: ‘I gave up on Karl Ove Knausgaard after 300 pages’
Interview
Interview
Interview
Interview
Interview
Interview
javiermarias.es (unofficial but detailed website – in Spanish)
His blog (in Spanish)
Javier Marías (in Spanish)
Javier Marías (in Spanish)
Javier Marías, todas las voces (in Spanish)
Interview (in Spanish)
Interview (in Spanish)
Interview (in Spanish)
Interview (in Spanish)
Interview (in Spanish)
Obituary (in Spanish)
Obituary (in Spanish)
Obituary (in Spanish)
Obituary (in Spanish)