The Life & Works of Agustín Fernández Mallo
Agustín Fernández Mallo is a Spanish writer and physicist who is considered to be one of the biggest members of the Nocilla Generation of Spanish authors. In fact, this grouping of writers takes its name from a series of his novels.
Agustín Fernández Mallo - Life
Agustín Fernández Mallo was born in La Coruña in 1967 and read and achieved his degree in Physical Sciences at university. This love of physics and science lead him to coin the term Poesía Pospoética (Post-poetic poetry) in 2000. This style of poetry draws links between literature and science, a topic on which Agustín Fernández Mallo has reflected in a number of his poetry collections such as Yo siempre regreso a los pezones y al punto 7 del Tractatus (2001), Creta lateral travelling (2004), Joan Fontaine odisea (2005), and Carne de píxel (2008); as well as in his book entitled Postpoesía, hacia un nuevo paradigma (which was a finalist for the Anagram Essay Prize in 2009).
In 2006, Agustín Fernández Mallo set up his new project called Proyecto Nocilla, publishing his first novel entitled Nocilla Dream that year. This novel was selected by the magazine 'Quimera' as the best novel of the year, by 'El Cultural de El Mundo' as one of the top ten novels, and in 2009, it was chosen by the critics at 'Quimera' as the fourth most important novel of the decade in the Spanish language.
Nocilla Dream was followed by Nocilla Experience in 2008 which was again selected for many prizes. It was chosen as the best book of the year by Miradas 2, TVE, and the Pop-Eye Prize in 2009 for the best book of the year, as well being nominated in the categories for the Music Prize and the Independent Creation Prize.
The third novel in Fernández Mallo's series, Nocilla Lab, was published in 2009, and followed in the footsteps of the previous two. It was picked as the third best novel in the Spanish language of 2009 by the cultural supplement 'Babelia'.
In 2011 he published El hacedor (de Borges), Remake which was a reworking of a piece by the famous Argentinean writer, Jorge Luis Borges. However, Agustín Fernández Mallo is currently involved in a dispute with the writer's widow about how the writer is portrayed. Various authors and writers have come out in support of Fernández Mallo over this matter.
Today, Agustín Fernández Mallo writes for a number of cultural magazines including 'Lateral', 'Contrastes', 'La Bolsa de Pipas' and 'La fábrica', as well as with some of the daily newspapers like 'El País', 'El Mundo', and 'La Vanguardia'. He also works with Eloy Fernández Porta as part of a spoken word duo called 'Afterpop, Fernández & Fernández'.
Agustín Fernández Mallo - Works
The most famous works by Agustín Fernández Mallo are without doubt the three novels that make up the Proyecto Nocilla. These novels not only helped to bring fame and recognition to Fernández Mallo, but they also helped to give a name to the group of writers to which he belongs. The Nocilla Generation is a term that has been coined by journalists across the country, and refers to the group of contemporary Spanish writers such as Agustín Fernández Mallo, Jorge Carrión, Eloy Fernández Porta and Vicente Luis Mora.
Furthermore, along with his cutting edge and innovative poetry style, it is no wonder that the Spanish press and literary critics are saying that Agustín Fernández Mallo has provided a regeneration of narrative in the Spanish language. This means that all of his works are great for those people learning Spanish, particularly those who are interested in Spanish pop culture and contemporary writing.
Fernández Mallo has also experimented with the re-working of older texts, such as the work of Jorge Luis Borges in El hacedor (de Borges), Remake, who is also one of his greatest influences. This work clearly demonstrates the conceptual character of this contemporary Spanish novelist. Among his other influences, Agustín Fernández Mallo has said he draws from both religious and scientific texts, as well as from cinema, advertising and conceptual art.
He says that he prefers to work his texts more like a network rather than a set of linear progressions. Characteristically, Fernández Mallo likes to join high and low culture on the same level of metaphorical importance. If you ever visit Spain, you will see that a lot of the contemporary culture there can be found in his works.