Manuel Vázquez Montalbán
Encyclopedia
Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (Barcelona
, July 27, 1939 - Bangkok
, October 18, 2003) was a prolific Spanish writer
: journalist
, novel
ist, poet
, essay
ist, anthologue
, prologist
, humourist, critic
, as well as a gastronome
and a FC Barcelona
supporter.
He studied Philosophy
at the Autonomous University of Barcelona
and was also a member of the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia
.
For many years, he contributed columns and articles to the Madrid
-based daily newspaper El País.
He died in Bangkok
, Thailand
, while returning to his home country from a speaking tour of Australia
. His last book, La aznaridad, was published posthumously.
.
He began writing poetry in 1967. He is one of the Novísimos
from Jose María Castellet. His poetic works until 1986 are collected in Memoria y deseo ("Memory and desire").
The same characteristic features of his poetry appear in his novels. His narrative productions, apart from the renowned Pepe Carvalho series, includes Galíndez
(1991), winner of the National Narrative Award; El estrangulador
(The strangler) (1994) and Erec y Enide
(Erec and Enide) (2002).
The first novel featuring the 50 year old gastronome-detective Pepe Carvalho
is Yo maté a Kennedy (I killed Kennedy) in 1972, followed by Tatuaje (Tattoo) in 1975 and La soledad del manager (The Angst-Ridden Executive) in 1977.
Los Mares del Sur (The South Seas) won the Planeta Award in 1979, bringing fame for both the writer and the character, who would later be portrayed in films, TV series and comic strips.
In 1992 he published Autobiografía del general Franco
, which was awarded the 1994 international prize Premio Internacional de Literatura Ennio Flaiano.
saga is as follows:
series, which include some unforgettable recipes such as the "rice tagliatelle
fideuà
" that Carvalho prepares in Los pájaros de Bangkok. He displays all his gastronomic knowledge, with erudition and humility, in Contra los Gourmets (Against Gourmet
s), an initiation in the world of gastronomy. Contra los Gourmets concentrates on Spanish cuisine
, but covers international cuisine, traditional cuisine and nouvelle cuisine
. He even considers eating fashions such as "healthy food" and "light products".
Other gastronomic works by Montalbán are Cocina Catalana (Catalan Cuisine
) and Recetas inmorales (Immoral recipes).
His first essay, Informe sobre la Información (Report about Information) (1963) is still one of the best studies on journalism ever published in Spain
.
Some of his other works are:
The award includes two categories:
Also, the Italian
writer Andrea Camilleri
called his main character Salvo Montalbano in honour of him.
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, July 27, 1939 - Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
, October 18, 2003) was a prolific Spanish writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
: journalist
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
, novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist, poet
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
ist, anthologue
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
, prologist
Prologue
A prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Greek prologos included the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance...
, humourist, critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
, as well as a gastronome
Gastronomy
Gastronomy is the art or science of food eating. Also, it can be defined as the study of food and culture, with a particular focus on gourmet cuisine...
and a FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona , also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain....
supporter.
He studied Philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
at the Autonomous University of Barcelona
Autonomous University of Barcelona
The Autonomous University of Barcelona is a public university mostly located in Cerdanyola, near the city of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain....
and was also a member of the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia
Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia
The Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia , was formed on July 23, 1936 through the unification of four left-wing groups; the Catalan Federation of Spanish Socialist Workers' Party , the Partit Comunista de Catalunya , the Unió Socialista de Catalunya and the...
.
For many years, he contributed columns and articles to the Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
-based daily newspaper El País.
He died in Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, while returning to his home country from a speaking tour of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. His last book, La aznaridad, was published posthumously.
Biography
Vázquez Montalbán was born in BarcelonaBarcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
.
He began writing poetry in 1967. He is one of the Novísimos
Novísimos
The Novísimos were a poetic group in Spain who took their name from an anthology in which the Catalan critic José María Castellet gathered the work of the majority of the youngest and most experimental poets in the decade of the 1970s: Nueve novísimos poetas españoles , Barcelona, 1970...
from Jose María Castellet. His poetic works until 1986 are collected in Memoria y deseo ("Memory and desire").
The same characteristic features of his poetry appear in his novels. His narrative productions, apart from the renowned Pepe Carvalho series, includes Galíndez
Galíndez
Galíndez is a novel by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, published in 1991 that centres on a real, dramatic and dark episode of the history of the Dominican Republic: the kidnapping, torturing and murdering of Jesús de Galíndez in 1956, representative of the Basque government in exile before the U.S...
(1991), winner of the National Narrative Award; El estrangulador
El estrangulador
El estrangulador is a novel from Manuel Vázquez Montalbán.It is a complex work in which the main character -since his internment in a psychiatric hospital- remembers his own history, full with false or authentic clues which make the reader doubt about the veracity of everything what is being...
(The strangler) (1994) and Erec y Enide
Erec y Enide
Erec y Enide , novel from Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, is -in a certain way- a re-reading of Erec et Enide, first part of the arthurian cycle of Chrétien de Troyes....
(Erec and Enide) (2002).
The first novel featuring the 50 year old gastronome-detective Pepe Carvalho
Pepe Carvalho
Pepe Carvalho is a fictional private detective, the protagonist of a series of novels written by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán.-The character:Carvalho has a rich, complex and contradictory personality. The author uses his adventures to describe, and in many instances criticize, the political and...
is Yo maté a Kennedy (I killed Kennedy) in 1972, followed by Tatuaje (Tattoo) in 1975 and La soledad del manager (The Angst-Ridden Executive) in 1977.
Los Mares del Sur (The South Seas) won the Planeta Award in 1979, bringing fame for both the writer and the character, who would later be portrayed in films, TV series and comic strips.
In 1992 he published Autobiografía del general Franco
Autobiografía del general Franco
Autobiografía del general Franco is a novel by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán. In 1994 it was awarded the international prize Premio Internacional de Literatura Ennio Flaiano.-Translations:...
, which was awarded the 1994 international prize Premio Internacional de Literatura Ennio Flaiano.
Detective Carvalho saga
The rest of the Pepe CarvalhoPepe Carvalho
Pepe Carvalho is a fictional private detective, the protagonist of a series of novels written by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán.-The character:Carvalho has a rich, complex and contradictory personality. The author uses his adventures to describe, and in many instances criticize, the political and...
saga is as follows:
- Asesinato en el Comité Central (Murder in the Central Committee) 1981
- Los pájaros de Bangkok (The Birds of Bangkok) 1983
- La rosa de Alejandría (Alexandria's Rose) 1984
- El balneario (The Spa) 1986
- El delantero centro fue asesinado al atardecerEl delantero centro fue asesinado al atardecerEl delantero centro fue asesinado al atardecer is a novel from Manuel Vázquez Montalbán.- Plot :The private detective Pepe Carvalho is enquiring about a list of death threats arriving after that FC Barcelona purchases the football star Jack Mortimer....
(Offside) 1989 - El laberinto griego (The Greek Labyrinth) 1991
- Sabotaje olímpico (Olympic Sabotage) 1993
- El hermano pequeño (The Little Brother) 1994
- El Premio (The Prize) 1996
- Quinteto de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Quintet) 1997
- El hombre de mi vida (The Man of My Life) 2000
- Milenio Carvalho (Carvalho Millennium) 2004, edited in two parts.
The gastronome
Vázquez Montalbán was also a gastronome. Gastronomical references can be found in all the novels of the Pepe CarvalhoPepe Carvalho
Pepe Carvalho is a fictional private detective, the protagonist of a series of novels written by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán.-The character:Carvalho has a rich, complex and contradictory personality. The author uses his adventures to describe, and in many instances criticize, the political and...
series, which include some unforgettable recipes such as the "rice tagliatelle
Tagliatelle
Tagliatelle and tagliolini are a traditional type of pasta from Emilia-Romagna and Marches, regions of Italy. Individual pieces of tagliatelle are long, flat ribbons that are similar in shape to fettuccine and are typically about 0.65 cm to 1 cm wide...
fideuà
Fideuà
Fideuà or Fideuada is a dish typical of the Valencian Community, in Spain. It originated in the 1960s in the city of Gandia when thin noodles like vermicelli were used instead of rice in the popular dish paella....
" that Carvalho prepares in Los pájaros de Bangkok. He displays all his gastronomic knowledge, with erudition and humility, in Contra los Gourmets (Against Gourmet
Gourmet
Gourmet is a cultural ideal associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterised by elaborate preparations and presentations of large meals of small, often quite rich courses...
s), an initiation in the world of gastronomy. Contra los Gourmets concentrates on Spanish cuisine
Spanish cuisine
Spanish cuisine consists of a variety of dishes, which stem from differences in geography, culture and climate. It is heavily influenced by seafood available from the waters that surround the country, and reflects the country's deep maritime roots...
, but covers international cuisine, traditional cuisine and nouvelle cuisine
Nouvelle Cuisine
Nouvelle cuisine is an approach to cooking and food presentation used in French cuisine. By contrast with cuisine classique, an older form of French haute cuisine, nouvelle cuisine is characterized by lighter, more delicate dishes and an increased emphasis on presentation.-History:The term...
. He even considers eating fashions such as "healthy food" and "light products".
Other gastronomic works by Montalbán are Cocina Catalana (Catalan Cuisine
Catalan cuisine
Catalan cuisine is a Mediterranean cuisine from Catalonia. It may also refer to the shared cuisine of Roussillon and Andorra, which has a similar cuisine to the Alt Urgell and Cerdanya comarques, often referred to as "Catalan mountain cuisine"...
) and Recetas inmorales (Immoral recipes).
Essays
He wrote essays about journalism, politics, sociology, sports, history, cuisine, biographies, literature or music.His first essay, Informe sobre la Información (Report about Information) (1963) is still one of the best studies on journalism ever published in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
Some of his other works are:
- Crónica sentimental de España (Sentimental Chronicle of Spain), 1971
- Joan Manuel SerratJoan Manuel SerratJoan Manuel Serrat i Teresa is a Catalan Spanish singer-songwriter.Serrat is considered one of the most important figures of modern, popular music in both the Spanish and Catalan languages...
, 1972 - El libro gris de Televisión Española (The Grey TV Book), 1973
- Diccionario del Franquismo, (Dictionary of the Franco times) 1977
- Panfleto desde el planeta de los simios (Pamphlet from the Planet of the Apes), 1995
- Un polaco en la corte del rey Juan Carlos (A Pole in the Court of King Juan Carlos), 1996, an analysis of the political life in Madrid, in the last years of Felipe González's government.
- Y Dios entró en La Habana (And God entered La Habana), 1998, about CubaCubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, Fidel CastroFidel CastroFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
and the visit of the Pope John Paul II. - Marcos: el señor de los espejos (Marcos: the Lord of the Mirrors), 1999.
Awards in his name
To commemorate him, the Colegio de Periodistas de Cataluńa has awarded the Manuel Vázquez Montalbán International Journalism Award since 2004.The award includes two categories:
- Sport Journalism.
- Cultural and/or Political Journalism.
Also, the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
writer Andrea Camilleri
Andrea Camilleri
Andrea Camilleri is an Italian writer.-Biography:Originally from Porto Empedocle, Sicily, Camilleri, began studies at the Faculty of Literature in 1944, without concluding them, meanwhile publishing poems and short stories.From 1948 to 1950 Camilleri studied stage and film direction at the Silvio...
called his main character Salvo Montalbano in honour of him.
Books available in English
- Tattoo (Tatuaje) 1975
- The Angst-Ridden Executive (La soledad del manager) 1977
- Southern Seas (Los Mares del Sur) 1979
- Murder in the Central Committee (Asesinato en el Comité Central) 1981
- Offside (El delantero centro fue asesinado al atardecer) 1989
- An Olympic Death (El laberinto griego) 1992
- The Buenos Aires Quintet (Quinteto de Buenos Aires) 1997
- The Man of My Life (El hombre de mi vida) 2000, translation 2005, Nick Caistor