Manuel Vázquez Montalbán
Personal Information
Description
Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (14 June 1939 in Barcelona – 18 October 2003 in Bangkok) was a prolific Spanish writer from Catalonia: journalist, novelist, poet, essayist, anthologue, prologist, humorist, critic and political prisoner as well as a gastronome and a FC Barcelona supporter. 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"). Other narrative works include narrative productions Galíndez (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-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.
Books
Galíndez
Reportaje y novela, la vida y el oscuro final del dirigente nacionalista -en el exilio- Jesús de Galíndez le sirve al autor para adentrarse en los manejos políticos de los EE.UU., y en su incidnecia en las dictaduras lationamericanas. Desde la violación de los derechos humanos a oscuros negociados entre gobiernos, una obra comprometida.
Southern Seas
Barcelona detective Pepe Carvalho’s radical past catches up with him when a powerful businessman—a patron of artists and activists—is found dead after going missing for a year. In search of the spirit of Paul Gauguin, Stuart Pedrell—eccentric Barcelona businessman, construction magnate, dreamer, and patron of poets and painters—disappeared not long after announcing plans to travel to the South Pacific. A year later he is found stabbed to death at a construction site in Barcelona. Gourmand gumshoe Pepe Carvalho is hired by Pedrell’s wife to find out what happened. Carvalho, a jaded former communist, must travel through circles of the old anti-Franco left wing on the trail of the killer. But with little appetite for politics, Carvalho also leads us on a tour through literature, cuisine, and the criminal underbelly of Barcelona in a typically brilliant twist on the genre by a Spanish master.
La rosa de Alejandría
Un marino inicia un viaje hacia el fin del mar. Naturalmente es un viaje imposible, entre otras razones porque su destino le espera en un puerto determinado. Por su parte, Pepe Carvalho acomete una investigación hilvanando personajes y lugares que conforman un sórdido retablo de miedos, angustias y pobrezas de todo tipo. La Rosa de Alejandría representa un esfuerzo literario para conseguir una novela-crónica, heredera de la tradición realista.
10 relatos de mujeres
Intuición femenina / Isaac Asimov Profesor Miseria / Truman Capote La romántica / Patrica Highsmith [Una madre]( / James Joyce Parece tan dulce / Rosa Montero La ciociara / Alberto Moravia Silba para llamar al viento / Rosamunde Pilcher Pigmalión / Manuel Vázquez Montalbán La imagen móvil / Edith Wharton El vestido nuevo / Virginia Woolf
Quinteto de Buenos Aires
El tío de América que nunca faltaba en las familias españolas le encarga a Carvalho que vaya a Buenos Aires a buscar a un primo que ha querido desaparecer después de haberse salvado en los tiempos de la dictadura militar. Carvalho percibe en Buenos Aires el espectáculo de después de una batalla, la reconstrucción de la razón colectiva y personal en tiempos de sustitución de la épica y la crueldad por el cinismo superviviente.
The man of my life
When the son of a rich financier is murdered, Carvalho is called upon to investigate his mysterious death. In his quest for the killer, Carvalho has to infiltrate the world of Satanism and religious sects. Torn between two women-his on-off partner Charo and her eternal hesitations, and the enigmatic Yes, a lover from his youth, the professional and personal merge, and a devastating betrayal leaves Carvalho fighting for his life.