Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (14 June 1939–18 October 2003) was a prolific Spanish writer from

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

: journalist, novelist, poet, essayist, anthologue, prologist, humorist, critic and political prisoner as well as a gastronome and an

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

supporter.

Biography

Vázquez Montalbán was born in

on 14 June 1939. His parents did not register his birth until 27 July; many sources show 27 July or 14 July as his birth date. He studied philosophy at the

Autonomous University of Barcelona The Autonomous University of Barcelona (; Spanish: ; ; UAB) is a public university mostly located in Cerdanyola del Vallès, near the city of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. , the university consists of 57 departments in the experimental, lif ...

and was also a member of the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia. He spent 18 months in prison after participating in a 1962 miner's strike. 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. '' Los mares del Sur'', part of the Pepe Carvalho series, won the Planeta Award in 1979, bringing fame for both the writer and the fictional detective, who would later be portrayed in films, TV series and comic strips. In 1988, he wrote and published a children's book called, ''Escenas de la Literatura Universal y Retratos de Grandes Autores'' (English version as "Scenes from World Literature and Portraits of Greatest Authors"), which is illustrated by Willi Glasauer, and published by Círculo de Lectores. This children's book includes fun facts, trivia, and information accompanied by photos and Willi Glasauer's illustrations of the likes of Ramón del Valle-Inclán, Gabriel García Márquez,

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern philosophy, Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophic ...

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, Günter Grass,

Marguerite Duras Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu (, 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), known as Marguerite Duras (), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (1959) ea ...

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Albert Camus Albert Camus ( ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the s ...

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, Doris Lessing,

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, and

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. Other narrative works include narrative productions ''

Galíndez ''Galíndez'' is a novel by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, published in 1990. It 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, representa ...

'' (1991), winner of the National Narrative Award; '' El estrangulador'' (The strangler) (1994) and '' Erec y Enide'' (Erec and Enide) (2002). In 1992 he published '' Autobiografía del general Franco'', which was awarded the 1994 international prize ''Premio Internacional de Literatura Ennio Flaiano''. He also wrote non-literary works in Catalan, notably ''L'art del menjar a Catalunya'' (1977). For many years, he contributed columns and articles to the

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

-based daily newspaper '' El País''. In 1974, he wrote the libretto for

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

's opera-poem ''Être Dieu (To Be God)'', with music by French avant-garde composer Igor Wakhévitch. He died in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, while returning to his home country from a speaking tour of Australia. His last book, ''La aznaridad'', was published posthumously.

Detective Carvalho saga

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. The rest of the Pepe Carvalho saga is as follows: *'' Los mares del Sur'' 1979 *''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 atardecer'' (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.

Other prose fiction

*''Recordando a Dardé'' (in ''Recordando a Dardé y otros relatos'', Seix Barral, 1969, and in ''Tres novelas ejemplares'', Bruguera, 1983, Espasa-Calpe, 1988) *''Happy end'', Gaya Ciencia, 1974 (also in ''Tres novelas ejemplares'', Bruguera, 1983, Espasa-Calpe, 1988, and in ''Escritos subnormales'', Seix Barral, 1989, Mondadori, 2000) *''La vida privada del doctor Betriu'' (in ''Tres novelas ejemplares'', Bruguera, 1983, Espasa-Calpe, 1988) *''El pianista'', Círculo de Lectores, 1985, Mondadori, 1996 *''El matarife'', Almarabu, 1986 (also in ''Pigmalión y otros relatos'', Seix Barral, 1987, Mondadori, 2000) *''Los alegres muchachos de Atzavara'', Seix Barral, 1987, Mondadori, 2000 *''Pigmalión'' (in ''Pigmalión y otros relatos'', Seix Barral, 1987, Mondadori, 2000) *''Cuarteto'', Mondadori, 1988 and 2001 *''Autobiografía del general Franco'', Planeta, 1992 *''El estrangulador'', Mondadori, 1994 and 2000 *''O César o nada'', Planeta, 1998 *''El señor de los bonsáis'', Alfaguara, 1999 *''Erec y Enide'', Planeta, 2002 *''Los papeles de Admunsen'', Navona, 2023 (posthumous)

The gastronome

Vázquez Montalbán was also a gastronome. Gastronomical references can be found in all the novels of the Pepe Carvalho series, which include some 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 Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by their high level of refined and elaborate food preparation techniques and displays of balanced meals that have ...

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 also considers eating fashions such as "healthy food" and "light products". Other gastronomic works by Montalbán are ''L'art del menjar a Catalunya'' (Cocina Catalana), ''Recetas inmorales'' (Immoral recipes) and ''Reflexiones de Robinsón ante un bacalao''.

Essays

He wrote essays about journalism, politics, sociology, sports, history, cuisine, biographies, literature and 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. Some of his other works are: *''Crónica sentimental de España'' (Sentimental Chronicle of Spain), 1971 *'' Joan Manuel Serrat'', 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 - meaning a Catalan, here used ironically - 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

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

and the visit of the Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

. *''Marcos: el señor de los espejos'' (Marcos: the Lord of the Mirrors), 1999.

Awards in his name

To commemorate him, the FC Barcelona Foundation and the Catalan College of Journalists have 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 writer Andrea Camilleri called his main character Salvo Montalbano in honour of him.

Notes

External links

Website about Manuel Vázquez Montalbán

Some of his poems in SpanishBibliography on the works of Manuel Vázquez Montalbán. A bibliography with about 1300 entries run by the University Library in Oslo together with the International association AEMVM
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vazquez Montalban, Manuel 1939 births 2003 deaths Writers from Barcelona Spanish male novelists Journalists from Catalonia Novísimos Spanish mystery writers Food writers from Catalonia Spanish communists Spanish crime fiction writers Spanish male poets Spanish gastronomes Autonomous University of Barcelona alumni 20th-century Spanish poets 20th-century Spanish novelists 20th-century Spanish journalists