Pepe Carvalho

Main character: Pepe Carvalho
Country of origin: Spain
Main location: Barcelona

Creator: Manuel Vázquez Montalbán
Born in: Barcelona, Spain
Born on: July 14, 1939
Died in: Bangkok, Thailand
Died on: October 18, 2003
Nationality: Spanish

Literary series started in: 1972, Yo maté a Kennedy (Eng. transl.: I’ve killed Kennedy)
Original language: Spanish
Publisher: Planeta (Madrid, Spain)
Number of books (original editions): 25
Latest title published in: 2004, Milenio Carvalho II. En las antipodas
Translations: Yes

Film and TV-Film Adaptations

Film Title: Tatuaje
Film produced in: 1978
Producer: Profilmar P.C.
Director: Bigas Luna
Script: Bigas Luna, José Ulloa, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán
Transnational distribution: Yes

Film Title: Asesinato en el Comité Central
Film produced in: 1982
Producer: Acuarius Films S.A., Impala, Lolafilms, Morgana Films
Director: Vicente Aranda
Script: Vicente Aranda, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán
Transnational distribution: No

Film Title: Los mares del sur
Film produced in: 1992
Producer: Cyrkfilms, Institut del Cinema Català (ICC)
Director: Manel Esteban
Script: Manel Esteban, Gustavo Hernández, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán
Transnational distribution: No

TV Film Title: Olímpicament mort
TV Film produced in: 1986
Producer: Televisió de Catalunya (TV3)
Director: Manel Esteban
Script: Manel Esteban, Jean-Claude Izzo, Andreu Martín
Transnational distribution: No

TV Film Title: El laberinto griego
TV Film produced in: 1993
Producer: Impala, Televisión Española (TVE), Trabala
Director: Rafael Alcázar
Script: Rafael Alcázar, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán
Transnational distribution: Yes

TV Series Adaptations

Television Series Title: Las aventuras de Pepe Carvalho
Television series started in: 1986
Producer: Radio Televisión Española (RTVE)
Number of seasons: 1
Latest season broadcast: 1986
Transnational distribution: No

Television Series Title: Pepe Carvalho. La serie
Television series started in:1999
Producer: Creativos Asociados de Radio y Televisión (Spain), Estudios Picasso (Spain), Institut del Cinema Català (Spain), Solaris Cinematografica (Italy), Tanaïs Productions (France)
Number of seasons: 1
Latest season broadcast: 2000
Transnational distribution: Yes

Television Series Title: Pepe Carvalho
Television series started in: 2004
Producer: Institut del Cinema Català (ICC), Televisió de Catalunya (TV3), Televisión de Galicia (TVG) S.A., Voz Audiovisual
Number of seasons: 1
Latest season broadcast: 2004
Transnational distribution: Yes

Case study rationale

Pepe Carvalho is the protagonist of a fortunate Spanish transmedia crime series. Created in 1972 by the famous Catalan poet, journalist and writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán and developed through twenty-five books spanning a thirty-two-year period, Carvalho’s investigations are one of the most enduring examples of Iberian crime fiction. The Carvalho saga has been a major influence for many Mediterranean noir writers, including Jean-Claude Izzo in France and Andrea Camilleri in Italy.
Ex-cop, ex-CIA agent, and ex-Marxist, Carvalho is portrayed as a disenchanted and cynical private eye, obsessed with gastronomy—which has become a staple element in the style of Mediterranean Noir narratives—and with chasing women. He operates in Barcelona, flanked by his assistant Biscuter and his girlfriend, the prostitute Charo. Carvalho’s stories depict the complexities and contradictions of Spanish society (particularly in the Catalan region), highlighting both its most apparent cultural traits (the Catalan food, the streets and districts of Barcelona, its architecture, and so on) and the political problems connected to legacy of the Civil War and the Francoist dictatorship. Although the series portrays the history, culture and politics of Spain, and particularly of Barcelona, it is not a mere representation of a regional or national belonging. Some investigations take place in different European and extra-European countries and often involve people of different nationalities, thus offering to Vázquez Montalbán the opportunity to describe the societies and cultures of foreign nations. Moreover, the transcultural nature of the series is reflected in the history of its transmedia adaptations. Not only the narratives of some of the films and TV series drawn from the Carvalho novels are set outside of Spain, but they are also markedly transnational in terms of their production history: for example, the 1986 TV movie Olímpicament mort was adapted by Vázquez Montalbán with the contribution of Jean-Claude Izzo as screenwriter, while the 1999 TV series is a co-production among Spanish, French and Italian production companies.

Online research resources

 

Watch

A clip from Las aventuras de Pepe Carvalho showing Biscuter (Ovidi Montllor) cooking and serving Pepe Carvalho’s (Eusebio Poncela) favourite meal [in Spanish]:

Caleidoscopio Montalbán, a documentary directed by Jordi Segú, which recalls the Barcelona that Montalbán lived and portrayed through the eyes of his fictional character [in Spanish]:

Manuel Vázquez Montalbán interviewed about his character Pepe Carvalho [in Spanish]:

Manuel Vázquez Montalbán interviewed by journalist Carmelo Maiorca in 1997 [in Italian]:

Las aventuras de Pepe Carvalho, 1986, “Young Sierra, peso pluma” [in Spanish]:

Pepe Carvalho, 1999, episode 1x05, “Shéhérazade” [French dubbed]:

Explore

Map showing European Transmedia Seriesin the Atlas section on DETECt Portal

Map showing the Number of European Transmedia Series by Main Locationsin the Atlas section on DETECt Portal

Map showing the spread of Mediterranean Noirin Europe in the Atlas section on DETECt Portal

Browse

Manuel Vázquez Montalbán’ s complete bibliography, filmography and more curiosity on his life and his characters at vespito.net

Webpage of the “Asociación de Estudios Manuel Vázquez Montalbán”

Read

• Bakhtiarova, Galina. “Food Education: Manuel Vázquez Montalbán and the Invention of Contemporary Spanish Cuisine.” Capitale Culturale. 2020.10 (2020): 73-83.

• Bayo Belenguer, Susana. “The Carvalho Series of Manuel Vázquez Montalbán: A Passing in Review”. Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Detective Fiction: Essays on the Genero Negro. Ed.  Renée W. Craig-Odders, Jacky Collins, Glen S. Close, Jefferson: McFarland, 2006. 17-45.

• Colmeiro, José F., editor. Manuel Vázquez Montalbán: el compromiso con la memoria. Woodbridge: Tamesis, 2007.

• Palacio, Manuel, Concepción Cascajosa. “Comunicar Europa/Communicating Europe: Spain, Television Co-productions and the Case of Pepe Carvalho”. VIEW Journal of European Television History and Culture, 1(2), (2021): 25–37.

• Palacio, Manuel. “The Hard Route to Europeanness. The Case of the Series Pepe Carvalho”. Transnational Cinema in Europe, Ed. Manuel Palacio, Jörg Türschmann, Berlin and Zurich: Lit Verlag, 2013. 27-48.

• O’Donnell, Kevin. “Lost in the Supermarxist: The Appeal of Pepe Carvalho.” Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 9 (2005): 137-47. Accessed January 10, 2021.

• Ritaine, Évelyne. “Gastronomicamente incorrecto? La cocina politica de Pepe Carvalho en la obra de Vazquez Montalban”. Cocinas del mundo. La politica en la mesa. Ed. Letamendia Francisco and Coulon Christian. Madrid: Editorial Fundamentos, 2000. 101-118.

• Zapatero, Javier Sánchez, and Àlex Martín Escribà. “Manuel Vázquez Montalbán y la novela negra del desencanto”. MVM: Cuadernos de Estudios Manuel Vázquez Montalbán 1(1), (2013): 46-62.

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