Barcelona novelist Juan Marsé dies aged 87

Widely considered one of the Catalan capital's most important post-Spanish Civil War writers, novelist Juan Marsé (né Juan Faneca Roca) has passed away aged 87.

The member of the Generation of '50 literary movement will be remembered for his Spanish-language works including Last Evenings with Teresa ('Últimas tardes con Teresa'), If They Tell You I Fell ('Si te dicen que caí'), Girl with the Golden Panties ('La muchacha de las bragas de oro') or Shanghai Spell ('El embrujo de Shanghai').

His 1966 novel, Last Evenings with Teresa, is set within the social landscape of post-war Barcelona and touches upon themes such as inequality between the Catalan high bourgeoisie and working-class migrants from other parts of Spain. This book won Marsé the Premi Biblioteca Breu Seix Barral.

If They Tell You I Fell also takes place in postwar Barcelona but was published in Mexico in 1973 to escape Francoist censorship and was recognized with the Premio Internacional de Novela Mexico prize.

A number of his novels, such as Girl with the Golden Panties or Shanghai Spell, were adapted into films.