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Felipe Alfau (1902–1999) was a Spanish-born American novelist and poet. Like his contemporaries Luigi Pirandello and Flann O'Brien, Alfau is considered a forerunner of later postmodern writers such as Vladimir Nabokov, Thomas Pynchon, Donald Barthelme, and Gilbert Sorrentino. == Biography == Born in Barcelona, Alfau emigrated with his family at the age of fourteen to the United States, where he lived the remainder of his life. Alfau earned a living as a translator; his sparse fictional and poetic output remained obscure throughout most of his life. Alfau wrote two novels in English: ''Locos: A Comedy of Gestures'' and ''Chromos.'' ''Locos'' — a metafictive collection of related short stories set in Toledo and Madrid, involving several characters that defy the wishes of the author, write their own stories, and even assume each other's roles — was published by Farrar & Rinehart in 1936. The novel, for which Alfau was paid $250, received some critical acclaim, but little popular attention. The novel was republished in 1987 after Steven Moore, then an editor for the small publisher Dalkey Archive Press found the book at a barn sale in Massachusetts, read it, and contacted Alfau after a friend had found his telephone number in the Manhattan phone book.〔Steven Moore, "Recalled to Life," ''Review of Contemporary Fiction'' (Spring 1993): 245-47.〕 The novel's second incarnation was modestly successful, but Alfau refused payment, instructing the publisher to use the earnings from ''Locos'' to fund some other unpublished work. When Steven Moore asked if he had written any other books, Alfau produced the manuscript for ''Chromos'', which had been resting in a drawer since 1948. ''Chromos'', a comic story of Spanish immigrants to the United States contending with their two cultures, went on to be nominated for the National Book Award in 1990. Alfau also wrote a book of poetry in Spanish, ''Sentimental Songs'' (''La poesía cursi''), written between 1923 and 1987 and published in a bilingual edition in 1992; and a book of children's stories, ''Old Tales from Spain'', published in 1929. ''Locos'', ''Chromos'' and ''Old Tales from Spain'' were translated to Spanish and published in Spain during the 1990s. His last years were spent in an octogenarian nursing home in New York, thanks to an indigent pension granted by the city council. Felipe Alfau died in New York in 1999. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Felipe Alfau」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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