He was a prominent figure in the Neoavanguardia movement and co-founded Gruppo 63, a literary collective influenced by Marxism and Structuralism.
Some of his most renowned works include La scoperta dell'alfabeto, The Serpent, What Is This Buzzing, Do You Hear It Too?, Dopo il pescecane, Testa d'argento, Il fuoco greco, Le pietre volanti, Roman Ghosts, and Ithaca Forever: Penelope Speaks.
"[3] He was one of the most important exponents of the Italian literary movement called Neoavanguardia, along with Balestrini, Sanguineti, and Manganelli.
Paolo Mauri wrote about him: "Malerba operated within the Neoavanguardia: he liked the idea of turning old narratives upside down and pursuing new, experimental solutions.
With his novels The Serpent and What Is This Buzzing, Do You Hear It Too?, he began to play on the thread of paradox, where investigations lead to nothing, heroes are born from the writer's mind and made to live on the page only to reveal an unexpected trick and a new, absolutely original language.