Chromos

Chromos is the second novel of Spanish-born American writer Felipe Alfau (1902–1999), written in 1948 and published in 1990.

This article is about the novel. For the printing technique, see Chromolithography.

First edition

Composition and publication

Alfau described how he wrote the novel: "In the office between one document and another, I would write a paragraph or two. I then pasted together the whole book, as in a collage."[1] He completed it in 1948, but not published until 1990[2] when Dalkey Archive Press released the first edition.[3]

Reception and legacy

The novel was nominated for a National Book Award[3] in 1990.[2]

Chromos had an influence on the works of fellow Spanish-American writer Eduardo Lago, whose Llámame Brooklyn shares stylistic, structural, and thematic similarities with Alfau's novel, such as a novel-within-a-novel.[4]

References

1. Galasso 2010, p. 44.
2. Villeneuve 2013, p. 1.
3. Galasso 2010, p. 43.
4. Galasso 2010, pp. 43–44.

Works cited

• Galasso, Regina (2010). "The Lifeline of Chromos: Translation and Felipe Alfau" (PDF). TranscUlturAl. 1 (3): 43–55. doi:10.21992/T97H0M.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Villeneuve, Philippe (2013). Confabulation, Collaboration, and Chromolithography: Memory as Construct in the Works of Felipe Alfau (Ph.D.). University of Ottawa. hdl:10393/24408.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading

• Scott, Joseph B. (2005). Thundering out of the shadow: modernism and identity in the novels of Felipe Alfau (Master of Arts). University of Missouri–Columbia. hdl:10355/4277.