Spanish · 1902–1999
Felipe Alfau wrote two English-language novels decades apart that achieved cult status without commercial success. The Spanish-American author published "Locos" in 1936 and "Chromos" in 1990—the latter nominated for the National Book Award fifty-two years after he wrote it. Both novels play metafictional games with character and reality, anticipating later postmodern experiments. Alfau stopped writing when attention finally arrived, leaving a slim bibliography of outsized influence.