Manuel Vzquez Montalbn

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Manuel Vzquez Montalbn (14 June 1939 in Barcelona[1] 18

October 2003 in Bangkok) was a prolific Spanish writer: journalist,
novelist, poet, essayist, anthologue, prologist, humorist, critic and
political prisoner as well as a gastronome and a FC Barcelona
supporter.[2]

Contents
Manuel Vzquez Montalbn
1 Biography Native Manuel Vzquez
2 Detective Carvalho saga name Montalbn
3 The gastronome Born Manuel Vzquez
4 Essays Montalbn
5 Awards in his name 14 June 1939
6 Books available in English Barcelona
7 Notes
8 External links Died 18 October 2003
(aged 64)
Bangkok, Thailand
Occupation Author
Biography
Language Spanish
Vzquez Montalbn was born in Barcelona on 14 June 1939. His Nationality Spaniard
parents did not register his birth until 27 July; many sources show 27 Citizenship Spaniard
July or 14 July as his birth date.[1] He studied Philosophy at the Notable Pepe Carvalho
Autonomous University of Barcelona and was also a member of the works
Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia. He spent 18 months in prison after
attending a 1962 miner's strike.[3]

He began writing poetry in 1967. He is one of the Novsimos from Jose Mara 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 (The South Seas), 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 Crculo de Lectores. This children's book includes fun facts, trivia, and information accompanied
by photos and Willi Glasauer's illustrations of the likes of Ramn del Valle-Incln, Gabriel Garca Mrquez,
Hermann Hesse, Agatha Christie, Federico Garca Lorca, William Shakespeare, Samuel Beckett, Gnter Grass,
Marguerite Duras, Miguel de Cervantes, Elias Canetti, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Albert Camus, Jonathan
Swift, Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka, Doris Lessing, Vladimir Nabokov, Jorge Luis Borges, James Joyce, Jean-
Paul Sartre, Thomas Mann, William Faulkner, and Ernest Hemingway.[4]

Other narrative works include narrative productions Galndez (1991), winner of the National Narrative Award;
El estrangulador (The strangler) (1994) and Erec y Enide (Erec and Enide) (2002). In 1992 he published
Autobiografa del general Franco, which was awarded the 1994 international prize Premio Internacional de
Literatura Ennio Flaiano. For many years, he contributed columns and articles to the Madrid-based daily
newspaper El Pas.
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.[5]

Detective Carvalho saga

The first novel featuring the 50-year-old gastronome-detective Pepe Carvalho is Yo mat 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 (Southern Seas) 1979

Asesinato en el Comit Central (Murder in the Central Committee) 1981
Los pjaros de Bangkok (The Birds of Bangkok) 1983
La rosa de Alejandra (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 olmpico (Olympic Sabotage) 1993
El hermano pequeo (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
Vzquez Montalbn 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 fideu" that Carvalho prepares in
Los pjaros de Bangkok. He displays all his gastronomic knowledge, with erudition and humility, in Contra los
Gourmets (Against Gourmets), 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 Montalbn are Cocina
Catalana (Catalan cuisine), Recetas inmorales (Immoral recipes) and Reflexiones de Robinsn ante un bacalao.

Essays
He wrote essays about journalism, politics, sociology, sports, history, cuisine, biographies, literature or music.
His first essay, Informe sobre la Informacin (Report about Information) (1963) is still one of the best studies
on journalism ever published in Spain. Some of his other works are:

Crnica sentimental de Espaa (Sentimental Chronicle of Spain), 1971

Joan Manuel Serrat, 1972
El libro gris de Televisin Espaola (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 Gonzlez's government.
Y Dios entr en La Habana (And God entered La Habana), 1998, about Cuba, Fidel Castro and the visit
of the Pope John Paul II.
Marcos: el seor 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 Vzquez Montalbn International Journalism Award since 2004.[6] 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.

Books available in English

Tattoo (Tatuaje) 1975, 2013
The Angst-Ridden Executive (La soledad del manager) 1977, 2012
Southern Seas (Los Mares del Sur) 1979, 2012
Murder in the Central Committee (Asesinato en el Comit Central) 1981, 2012
Scenes from World Literature and Portraits of Greatest Authors (Illustrated by Willi Glasauer), (Crculo
de Lectores) 1988
Offside (El delantero centro fue asesinado al atardecer) 1989, 2012
An Olympic Death (El laberinto griego) 1992
Galndez 1991, translation 1992, Carol and Thomas Christensen
The Buenos Aires Quintet (Quinteto de Buenos Aires) 1997, 2012, 2012
The Man of My Life (El hombre de mi vida) 2000, translation 2005, Nick Caistor

Notes
1. Note 126 (http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/?url=http://www.enmitg.com/izquierdo/literatura/mvm/octav
odia.pdf&title=la%20note%20no%C2%A0126%2C%20p.%C2%A0194)
2. Spanish Noir: Tattoo: A Pepe Carvalho Mystery by Manuel Vzquez Montalbn (http://quarterlyconversa
tion.com/spanish-noir-tattoo-a-pepe-carvalho-mystery-by-manuel-vzquez-montalbn)
3. Manuel Vzquez Montalbn (https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/oct/21/guardianobituaries.bookso
bituaries1)
4. http://www.todocoleccion.net/coleccionismo/almanaque-cultural-retratos-biografia-grandes-autores-
nuevo-1988~x45327688
http://www.todocoleccion.net/calendarios-antiguos/almanaque-cultural-1988-circulo-lectores~x31510195
http://www.todocoleccion.net/calendarios-antiguos/almanaque-cultural-1988-circulo-lectores~x15649149
http://www.williglasauer.de/assets/buecher.pdf
http://www.todocoleccion.net/calendarios-antiguos/calendario-o-almanaque-cultural-1988-ilustrado-por-
willi-glasauer-carlos-garcia-gual-fotos-abajo~x71817243
5. Presentacin pstuma del ltimo libro de Vzquez Montalbn, La aznaridad (La Voz de Galicia) (htt
p://www.lavozdegalicia.es/se_cultura/noticia.jsp?CAT=106&TEXTO=2192077)
6. Manuel Vzquez Montalbn Awards (https://foundation.fcbarcelona.com/campaigns/manuel-vazquez-mo
ntalban-awards)

External links
Very good website about Manuel Vzquez Montalbn
(in Spanish) Some of his poems in Spanish

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This page was last edited on 30 May 2017, at 21:14.

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