Line #19 Creator/CarlosRuizZafon

Context Creator / CarlosRuizZafon

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1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zafon.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:The master.]]
3	->''"Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you."''
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5	Carlos Ruiz Zafón (September 25, 1964 – June 19, 2020) was a Spanish novelist.
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7	Although not very prolific in comparison with most authors of his level, having published only eight books before his death, Zafón went down in history as the most widely published contemporary Spanish writer, with fans hailing from 45 countries and speaking 40 languages. A bona fide reader and writer, who was just 14 years old when he first tried to publish a 500-page novel that disturbed editors, Zafón built some fame in TheNineties with his young adult work ''Trilogy of Mist'' before making the jump to fame with the 2001 novel ''Literature/TheShadowOfTheWind'', after which he prolonged the story in a loosely-connected tetralogy named ''The Cemetery of Forgotten Books'', which remains as his last and main work.
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9	Prematurely deceased in 2020, Zafón left an unique mark in the Spanish literary landscape with his signature writing style, based on [[FirstPersonSmartass snarky narrators]], [[AmbiguousSituation dreamlike stories]], [[SceneryPorn highly evocative visuals]], and tons of [[CreatorProvincialism historical memory of his beloved Barcelona.]] He named as main inspirations 19th century classics, crime novels and noir fiction.
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11	!!Works
12	* ''Trilogy of Mist''
13	** ''Literature/ThePrinceOfMist'' (1993)
14	** ''Literature/TheMidnightPalace'' (1994)
15	** ''The Watcher in the Shadows'' (1995)
16	* ''Literature/{{Marina\|1999}}'' (1999)
17	* ''The Cemetery of Forgotten Books''
18	** ''Literature/TheShadowOfTheWind'' (2001)
19	** ''Literature/TheAngelsGame'' (2008)
20	** ''Literature/ThePrisonerOfHeaven'' (2011)
21	** ''Literature/TheLabyrinthOfSpirits'' (2016)
22	* ''The City of Vapor'' (2020, posthumous) - Recompilation of short stories
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24	!!Tropes found in his work
25	* CreatorProvincialism: From ''Marina'' onwards, all of their long stories were set in Barcelona, generally in a period around mid-20th century.
26	* FirstPersonSmartass: Whenever he wrote in first person, it was guaranteed to be one of those, with minimal variations in the tone depending on the protagonist's age.
27	* NestedStory: A trademark of his. All of their works, from the first to the last, feature a main plot and at least one more story that happened years earlier, generally told through flashbacks, letters, testimonies and the like, which has some connection to the current events.
28	* PowerBornOfMadness: The villain Lahawaj's powers come explicitly from this, and Julián shows superhuman abilities too.
29	* SexAsRiteOfPassage: Subtlely done, but always present when there are teenaged protagonists around. Ironically, in two of those occasions the act is made with prostitutes.

Context Creator / CarlosRuizZafon