Florida State University Associate Professor Pablo Maurette has received the Herralde Novel Prize for his novel “El contrabando ejemplar” (“Exemplary Smuggling”). The award, regarded as one of the most prominent literary honors for unpublished Spanish-language manuscripts, was established in 1983 by Jorge Herralde, founder of Anagrama publishing house in Barcelona. Each year, Anagrama publishes the winning novel and awards the author 25,000 euros.
Maurette is only the fifth Argentinian to receive this recognition and is the first faculty member from FSU to do so. He described the honor by saying: “While this prize isn’t very well known in English writing, it might be the most prestigious literary award for young authors writing in Spanish. For that reason, and since my novel competed against almost 900 other novels, I feel extremely fortunate and proud to have earned it. I also feel very humbled because some of my favorite writers in Spanish have won this prize.”
“El contrabando ejemplar” marks Maurette’s seventh publication. His previous works include four books of essays and two other novels. His debut novel was a finalist for an Italian fiction prize.
Describing his approach to writing, Maurette said: “Writing is what I do, and it’s what I’ve done since I can remember. Prizes are important in a writer’s career as they tend to give you, at least for some time, a lot more visibility. Even if I didn’t receive any awards or recognition, however, I would continue to write as long as I live quite simply because it’s how I express myself. I feel lucky that I understood this a long time ago, and I’ve put all my energy and effort into it.”
The story of “El contrabando ejemplar” centers on two aspiring writers who are friends despite their age difference. After the older writer dies while working on a historical novel about Buenos Aires’ clandestine trade system in the 1600s—known as “exemplary smuggling”—the younger writer decides to plagiarize his late friend’s manuscript.
Maurette commented on themes within literature: “Everything we write, even if we think it’s original, comes from something we’ve read and forgotten about. Literature is a type of paramnesia, that phenomenon by which you attribute to yourself memories that happened to others. In relation to the millennia that human beings have spent on this earth telling one another stories, we need to convince ourselves that we create out of nothing, that we are original, that we own what we write. That’s very naive.”
According to Anagrama’s synopsis: “‘Exemplary Smuggling’ is a novel that questions the meaning of what is lost and what is invented. A celebration of the personal and the collective, it transforms the act of storytelling into a unique and moving literary experience. A novel that finds its place within the great tradition of the best Latin American narrative.”
Previous recipients of this prize include Roberto Bolaño and Javier Marias.
Andrew Epstein, chair of FSU’s Department of English said: “The Department of English is absolutely thrilled that Pablo has been given this wonderful award for his new novel — he’s in very elite company. The Herralde Novel Prize further solidifies Pablo’s international reputation as both a celebrated novelist and a scholar of literature. We couldn’t be happier about this amazing and well-deserved recognition.”
Maurette joined FSU’s Department of English in 2019 after earning his doctorate from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2013. He teaches within FSU’s Literature, Media, and Culture program.
More information about FSU’s Department of English can be found at english.fsu.edu.
