Manuel Vázquez Montalbán

José Saval (University of Edinburgh)

Ed. by Stuart Green, University of Leeds
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.6.2.02: Spanish Writing and Culture: Modern and Contemporary, 1700-present.
Vol. editors: Santiago Bertrán (University of Oxford), Guillem Colom-Montero (University of Glasgow), Stuart Green (University of Leeds), Alexis Grohmann (University of Edinburgh), Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Ellen Mayock (Washington and Lee University), Katharine Murphy (University of Exeter), Duncan Wheeler (University of Leeds)

Dates

Born 14 Jun 1939
Died 18 Oct 2003
Activity 1963-2003

Places

Born in Spain
Active in Spain

Activities

Primary

Essayist
Journalist
Literary Critic/ Historian
Novelist
Poet

Resources

In his work, he created an insightful picture of his times, writing in a wide range of genres from poetry to drama and the essay. However, he became internationally renowned as a novelist, especially for his detective novels. He also wrote a considerable number of books on gastronomy. Politically committed during all his life, he became the voice of the wretched. He reassessed the importance of popular culture by integrating it into his most ambitious works. He was awarded numerous prizes and a honoris causa doctorate by the Autonomous University of Barcelona. As an advocate for utopias in a society which, according to him, urgently needed them, he played an important role as an essayist. His essays La palabra libre en la ciudad libre (The Free Word in the Free City) and Panfleto...

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1198 words

Citation: Saval, José. "Manuel Vázquez Montalbán". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 August 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12001, accessed 14 December 2025.]