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This is to certify that the

dissertation entitled

THE DETECTIVE FICTION
OF

MANUEL VAZQUEZ MONTALBAN
presented by

Sandra J. Puvogel

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

Ph. D. degree in M

A
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Date Jung 4, 19§§

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THE DETECTIVE FICTION
OF

MANUEL VAZQUEZ MONTALBAN

By

Sandra Jean Puvogel

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Romance and Classical Languages

1986

Copyright by
3mm JEAN puvoem.
1987

ABSTRACT
THE DETECTIVE FICTION
0F
MANUEL VAZQUEZ MONTALBAN
By

Sandra Jean Puvogel

Manuel Vazquez Montalbén's literary production includes poetry, drama,
vanguardist novels, essays, and journalistic articles. In 1974, he published
Tatuaje, his first entry into yet another genre: detective fiction. This
thesis focuses on the six detective novels published to date.

Chapter one surveys two main categories into which detective fiction
is generally divided: classical and hard-boiled. The emphasis lies with
the hard-boiled novel since it is that form which Vazquez MOntalban uses
as a model for his own works.

An outline of the development of the detective novel in Spain is given
in Chapter two. During the latter part of the 19703 and into the 803
there has been an outpouring of detective stories in Spain. This section
of the thesis is a discussion of the possible causes of this literary
phenomenon.

Chapter three is an overview of Vizquez Montalban's extensive creative
and journalistic production, showing their links to his formulaic novels.

Chapter four points out the ways in which Vazquez Mbntalban utilizes
the notable events of the transition to democracy in Spain as an ever pres-
ent background to the detective story lines. In this way, these novels

can be seen not only as a valid subject for literary analysis but also for

Sandra Jean Puvogel

a social and political study of Spain.

The detective novels themselves are studied in Chapter five. Emphasis
is placed on the character deve10pment seen in his detective protagonist,
Pepe Carvalho.

Chapter six analyzes the recurring secondary characters, pointing out
their main function as another means of developing the character of the
protagonist.

The style and structure of the detective novels are discussed in Chap-
ter seven. This section emphasizes the ways in which elements of metafiction
are very similar to those already utilized in his vanguardist novels.

This thesis demonstrates that Vazquez Montalbén's detective fiction
can be read on many different levels as he interweaves mystery, metafiction,
social and political commentary, and his chronicle of Spain into one cohe-
sive whole. These varied and separate elements are brought together in the
character of the protagonist, Pepe Carvalho. In many ways, Pepe Carvalho
represents Vizquez MOntalban's View of Spain: the pain of its past, the

uncertainty of its present, and the hope of its future.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

IntrOduction 0.0.0....0.0..OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

l. The Hard-801.1...ed “Odel O. O .0... O. 0.... OOOOOOOOOOOOOO 0..

2. The Develooment of the Spanish Detective Novel

3. The Literarv and Nonliterarv Works of
Manuel Vazquez Montaibén ....................

4. Manuel Vazquez Montaibén’s Detective Novels
As a "Crénica Sentimental" of Spain's
Transition to Democracv ......... ............

5. The Development of the Protagonist ..........

6. The Role of the Secondary Characters in
Manuel Vézquez Montaibén’s Detective Fiction

7. The Stvle and Structure of
Manuel vazauez Montaibén’s Detective Fiction

conCIuSion 0.0.0.... ........ OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO .....

Notes .00...O....0...OOOOOIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0....

Bibliographv--Manuel Vézouez Montalbén’s Works ..

Bibliography—"Secondarv sources. 9 o o o o o o o o o o e o o o o 0

iv

210

229

274

280

299

301

Introduction

Manuel Vézquez Montalen was born in Barcelona. Spain in
1939. Although he holds a degree in Hispanic literature. it is
the field of journalism that has allowed him to earn his living
since 1969. through collaborations with many of Spain’s leading
newspapers and magazines, especially Triunfo. the weekly for
which he wrote from 1969 until its demise in 1982. In 1984. he
was contracted by El Pais. the country's most widely circulated
daily. universally recognized as its best. to write regularly and
exclusively for it. Collections of his most famous journalistic
pieces and other essays on contemporary issues both confirm
VAzquez Montalbén’s position as one of Spain's most sought—after
journalists and allow him to lay claim to a position as one of
its most important political commentators.

Parallel to his essayistic vocation he has also published a
substantial and varied corpus of literature of all genres.
.,These include collections of poetry. 3 drama. and vanguardist
novels. Surveying the whole of his literary production. 1974 is
pivotal. for in that year vazquez Montalbén published three
works which are indicative of his past and present literary
endeavors: La_ggnet§§ci6n emericagg en Espafia (Madrid:
Editorial Cuadernos para el Dialogo. 1974): Cuestiones marxistas
(Barcelona: Anagrams. 1974): and Tatuaie (Barcelona: Jose
Batllo. 1974).

As a social essayist. Vazquez Montaibén focuses on the

Spanish scene and dissects it with an eye for impurities. One

presence in Spain which he definitely sees as an impurity is
North American influence. He discusses this influence and
intervention extensively in La penetracién americana en Espafia.
This work is a scathing indictment of the imperialist attitude of
the United States toward Europe. and specifically, toward Spain
since world War II. It charts the various ways in which United
States’ military. businesses, and values have infiltrated the
Spanish way of life. La penetraciOn americana en Espafla is
symbolic of Vazquez Montalbén’s decidedly critical essayistic
proclivities.

Cuestiones marxistas is an example of those vanguardist
novels which Vézquez Montalbén includes in his "escritura
subnormal.” Though he does not abandon his critical stance in
this phase of his writing. Vazquez Montalbén does put more
emphasis on structural experimentation as he employs various
metafictional techniques to delve more deeply into the literary
process itself. His customary protagonist, Spain. is
subordinate to his experimentation with language and the
relationship between the narrator. the characters, and the
reader. Cuestiones marxistas is a very open novelistic mode
which pays little or no attention to a preconceived formula.

Though decidedly different forms of expression, both Lg
penetracidn americana en Espafia and Cuestiones marxistas would
be classified as "serious" works due to the subject matter of
the former and the stylistic experimentation of the letter. In
addition. they are both indicative of VAzquez Montalbén’s

literary and nonliterary production prior to 1974. However, in

that same year. vazquez Montalbén also published Tatuaje. his
first detective novel which was to be followed in rapid

succession by five others: Lg_§oled§d del manager (Barcelona:
Planeta. 1977): Los mares del sur (Barcelona: Planeta. 1979):

Asesinato en el Comité Central (Barcelona: Planeta. 1981): Los

 

péjaros de Bangkok (Barcelona: Planets. 1983): and La Rosa de
Alejandria (Barcelona: Planets. 1984). VAzquez Montalbén’s
entrance into the world of detective fiction seems at first
glance to be a surprisingly new course for his literary
activities. The detective story has had and today still often
has the rather dubious reputation of escapist literature.
Detective fiction and other works labeled under the category of
formulaic literature are seldom considered ”serious” literature.
Another fact which makes this new direction even more ironic is
that VAzquez Montalbén has chosen to write a brand of detective
novel which is in many ways a descendant of the American hard-
boiled model written in the 1930s and 408 by among others.
Dashiell Hammett-and Raymond Chandler. why would VAzquez
Montalen. a "serious" writer. devote himself to a supposedly
less than serious literary genre popularized in the United
States, a country of which he has been most critical? Is his
switch to detective fiction a totally new and unexpected
literary endeavor with respect to his past production? By
answering these questions and others. this study will prove that
this new trajectory is in many ways a very logical outgrowth of
VAzquez Montalbén's previous works. A basic overview of his

extensive creative and journalistic production will demonstrate

how vazquez Montalen’s detective fiction is. both thematically
and structurally. a synthesis of those works produced before
1974. '

Secondly. this thesis will provide an outline of the
development of the detective novel in Spain. Until recently.
the output of detective fiction written by Spanish authors was
rather sporadic in nature and had not attracted a great many
writers. However. during the latter part of the 19703 and into
the 808 there has been an outpouring of detective stories in
Spain. One of the first to participate in this renewed interest
on the part of peninsular authors was vazquez Montalban. In an
effort to theorize on the possible causes of this literary
phenomenon. the roles played by the following factors will be
discussed: 1) the Spanish publishing houses: 2) the literary
production of the 1960s and 708: 3) the opinion of law
enforcement officers maintained by the general public: and 4) the
political climate in Spain during the years under Francisco
Franco and the changes experienced since the dictator's death as
Spain grappled with the joys and hardships of the transition to
democracy. It will be shown that the combination of all of
these elements has contributed to the development of a literary.
social. and political environment which has been conducive to a
marked increase in detective fiction production.

Many of the authors who have participated in this recent
detective fiction production have chosen to pattern their works

after the American hard—boiled model. As mentioned previously.

V62quez Montalen's detective novels fit into that category in

many ways also. In order to define the ways in which his
detective fiction does and does not adhere to the general
characteristics of the hard-boiled school. this study will
provide a detailed description of the structural, stylistic. and
thematic focuses of that model. This description will also
demonstrate why this type of detective fiction is in fact a very
fitting vehicle for VAzquez Montalbén's literary production.

These outlines of the development of the Spanish detective
novel and the American hard-boiled novel will supply the
background for the main focus of the thesis: an exhaustive
analysis of the style and structure of VAzquez Montalbén's six
detective novels as well as the progression observed in the
character of the private investigator. Pepe Carvalho. throughout
the series. Through this detailed structural and stylistic
examination. it will be possible to analyze Vazquez Montalbén’s
detective novels not only within the contexts of Spanish and
hard-boiled detective fiction. but also in relation to the
larger context of.contemporary Spanish narrative.

Throughout VAzquez Montalbén's literary and nonliterary
production. one of the main characters of his works has always
been Spain. At times he focused on the virtues of his native
country and other times the faults. but the spotlight was seldom
allowed to stray too far away from his favorite topic. This
analysis of the six detective novels written to date by VAzquez
Montalbén will prove that he has not abandoned Spain as he
entered the literary world of formulaic fiction. These novels

written during the last ten years encompass the time

immediately preceding Francisco Franco’s death until the
present. The Spain that they depict and the characters that
they present are all products of the history of a country that
has suffered through three years of brutal civil war. thirty-six
years of the stifling Franco regime. and the struggle in the
years since his death to regain some level of equilibrium. In
many ways these books are a chronicle of this most recent and
turbulent period of Spanish history. The notable events of the
transition to democracy. the legalization of political parties.
especially the Communists. the first.free elections since before
the Civil War. the attempted military coup in the Cortes. the
atmosphere of ”desencanto" which followed on the heels of the
initial euphoria. all provide the ever present background to the
detective story lines. These events and specifically the
cynical and mistrustful protagonist. Pepe Carvalho. are all
examples of how Spain and the Spanish people are still feeling
effects of the legacy left behind by the Civil War and Francisco

Franco. Thus. this thesis will prove that Vazquez Montalen’s

detective fiction is not only a valid subject for literary

analysis but also for a social and political study of Spain.

Chapter 1
The Hard-Boiled Model

Though seemingly different. the western. the romance and
the detective novel can all be included within the same basic
literary category-that of formulaic literature--because
their structure is composed of certain formulae that respond to
reader expectations. The reader knows that the detective will
be confronted with a mystery and through the discovery and
analysis of various clues will succeed in his search for the
solution. If the novels form a series in which there is a
recurring protagonist. the reader not only counts on the
resolution of the riddle but also the actions of this character.
After reading a few of these novels. a perception of the
characters is developed and if they do not live up to it. the
reader feels as if the unwritten contract between himself and
the author has been broken. Formulaic literature. though very
popular among the mass reading population. has seldom attained a
level of scholarly approval. Critics have employed pejorative
terms such as sub-literature. para-literature. and mass—
literature when addressing it. all indicating the rather dim
view they have taken of the formula novel. According to John G.
Cawelti in his insightful study of the various manifestations of
formulaic art. Adventure. Mzgtery. gag Romancg. "Two central
aspects of formulaic structures have been generally condemned in
the serious artistic thought of the last one hundred years:

their essential standardization and their primary relation to

at

the needs of escape and relaxation.”1 Though some view the
standardization of formulaic literature as a lack of creativity
or a crutch. it is also true that it is a technique that can be
beneficial. A known form allows the reader to enter the work
with a certain sense of familiarity. He is thrown immediately
into a new novelistic situation but there is always a certain
common ground to which he can cling. The author must tread a
fine line between the familiar and the original: the reader
wants and expects both.2
Another term often used to describe the formulaic structure
is ”escapist? literature. Though such a label applied to a
literary work is supposed to be quite damning. there is another
way to look at it. Raymond Chandler and Cawelti. to cite two
examples. question the negative connotation tied to escapist
literature. They see the desire for escape from everyday life
as a basic human need. Cawelti wants the critics to see so—
called escapist literature as a separate. valid mode of
expression with its own justification. not "simply as an
inferior or perverted form of something better.” (AME. p. 13)
Chandler takes it a step further as he broadens the definition
of escapist literature itself: ”All men must escape at times
from the deadly rhythm of their private thoughts. It is part of
the process of life among thinking beings. It is one of the
things that distinguish them from the three—toed sloth: he
apparently-one can never be quite sure~-is perfectly content

hanging upside down on a branch and not even reading Halter

Lippman. I hold no particular brief for the detective story as
the ideal escape. I merely say that fill reading for pleasure is
escape ..."3 Chandler feels no compunction to justify the
detective novel as a valid mode of expression merely because it
has been included within the category of escapist literature.

In his opinion. any reading done in the pursuit of entertainment
is a type of escape: thus. such terminology does not condemn a
work to literary oblivion.

In a letter to James Sandoe. the mystery novel critic for
the New York Heggld-Tribune in 1944. Raymond Chandler talks
about the "redlight segregation of detective stories in the
reviews."4 as Sandoe had called it earlier. and the lack of
respect afforded them by the critics. He explains the
irritation felt by himself and other mystery writers due to this
situation: ”... the knowledge that however well and expertly he
writes a mystery story it will be treated in one paragraph.
while a column and a half of respectful attention will be given
to any fourth-rate. ill-constructed. mock-serious account of the
life of a bunch of cotton pickers in the deep south.” (Ray. p.
48) Again. Chandler describes what he considers the unfair
treatment that the mystery novel receives. He feels that the
critics tend to disregard a novel precisely because it is a
mystery while other perhaps poorly written works are at least
given the opportunity to prove their literary worth on merit
alone. without a preconceived. biased point of view. Chandler

and Dashiell Hammett. among others. have helped to increase the

10

acceptance of the detective novel as a form which has the
potential for literary value like any other written work. But
there is still a tendency to view the mystery novel as something
less than literature. a practice which can become a type of
self-fulfilling prophecy. One tends to miss what one is not
looking for.

Though the mystery novel has always had to fight in order
to be considered "serious" literature. there are certain authors
who have helped to improve its image with their writing: Arthur
Conan Doyle. Dashiell Hammett. and Raymond Chandler among
others. Also included in this elite group is the man who is
generally accepted as the originator of the modern detective
story: Edgar Allan Poe. The five tales that he wrote between
1840 and 1845. ”The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” ”The Purloined
Letter." ”The Mystery of Marie Roget." ”Thou Art the Man." and
”The Gold Bug” contain the bulk of the basic premises from which
detective novelists still write today. C. Auguste Dupin is his
brilliant and eccentric detective whose amazing deductions are
penned by a less discerning and perpetually awe-struck friend.
It is this very formula which spawned such famous pairs as
Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Watson and Agatha
Christie's Hercules Poirot and Captain Hastings. Several time-
honored mystery techniques are found in these five stories: the
wrongly suspected man. the crime in the sealed room. the
solution by unexpected means. the trail of false clues laid by

the real murderer. and the solution by way of the most unlikely

11

person. 5

For almost forty years the formula which Poe had developed
was neglected. However. in 1887. with the publication of A
figggy in Scarlet. Arthur Conan Doyle burst upon the scene with
the most celebrated of fictional detectives. Sherlock Holmes and
his sidekick. Dr. Watson. He picked up where Poe had left off
and went much further. Holmes' method is the sheer genius of a
logical mind that can deduce so much from the seemingly
insignificant detail. As he frequently admonishes Watson. ”You
see but you do not observe. The distinction is clear."6 Though
these deductions seem like magic at first. Holmes is able to
explain them all in his customary. logical fashion. It is a
technique which keeps this amazing detective from becoming
superhuman. It seems that the reader. too. could make these
astute observations had he been given the pertinent information.
The remarkable deductions. the fascinating plot twists. the
eccentricities of the protagonist. and the relationship between
Holmes and Watson are all part of the appeal of Arthur Conan
Doyle's stories.

The Sherlock Holmes series is one of the best and certainly
most famous representatives of what has been called the
classical detective story. However. the distinction must be
made between this category and the hard-boiled detective story
which began to appear in the American pulp magazines of the late
1920s and the early 1930s. In brief. the world of the classical

detective novel could be defined as one of Order and that of the

12

hard-boiled variety as one of Disorder.

Though the latter part of the nineteenth century which
served as the source of the classical detective novel would
perhaps not be considered a period of order when analyzed alone.
in comparison with the disorderly two decade heyday of the hard—
boiled detective novel from the 19303 through the 1940s. it
could so be called. The people of the latter time period
carried within them the fear. violence. and disillusion of the
first World War. These were feelings that had not existed in
the nineteenth century and were only intensified by the events
which followed: the Depression. the Spanish Civil War. World
War II. and the threat of nuclear annihilation. Such happenings
formed the backgound of the hard-boiled detective story and they
had a great influence on the type of world represented therein.

The main focus of the novels themselves is an example of
the order vs. disorder dichotomy. As Cawelti describes it. ”the
creation of the hard—boiled pattern involved a shift in the
underlying archetype of the detective story from the pattern of
mystery to that of heroic adventure.” (AME. p. 142) For Cawelti.
the classical detective story is an example of a pure mystery.
Arriving at the solution of the puzzle is the purpose of the
story and no one or nothing is allowed to distract from the
accomplishment of that goal. In the hard-boiled detective story
on the other hand. the mystery often is subordinate to adventure
or romance. Other interests. besides solving the crime. are

allowed to enter and often dominate the action. The classical

13

form is a more orderly mystery story with its unswerving focus
while the hard—boiled story permits itself to aim in more than
one direction.7
Another distinction within the form of these two categories
lies in the question of the narrator. Arthur Conan Doyle
utilizes a narrative perspective common to many classical
detective stories by having a character other than the
protagonist relate the action. On the contrary. hard-boiled
writers tend to employ the detective as both main character and
narrator. According to Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of
Fiction. both of these types of detective fiction. in their
choice of first person narration. are making use of "dramatized
narrators”. Within this broad classification. Booth makes this
distinction: "Among dramatized narrators there are mere
observers (the ‘I’ of Tom Jones. The Egoist. Iroilus and
Crisezde). and there are narrator-agents, who produce some
measurable effect on the course of events (ranging from the
minor involvement of Nick in Ihg Ggggt Gatsby. through the
extensive give-and—take of Marlow in Heart of Darkness, to the
central role of Tristram Shandy. Moll Flanders. Huckleberry
Finn. and--in the third person--Paul Morel in Sons gnd I..overs)."8
The level of involvement of their respective ”narrative-agents"
is one of the factors which differentiates the classical
detective story from the hard-boiled type. In classical
detective fiction which utilizes a Watsonian narrator. that

person is one more element which separates the reader from the

14

thoughts of the most important character in the story: the
detective. On the other hand. the hard-boiled detective's
perceptions are not filtered through the eyes. ears. and heart
of another character before they reach those of the reader. He
is permitted to take a peek at the workings of the hard-boiled
Tdetective’s mind. Cawelti explains that employing the
detective's point of view in the classical detective story would
hamper the author’s attempts to conceal the solution of the
mystery from the reader. However. ”this problem does not arise
in the case of the hard-boiled detective because he is not
presented as a man of transcendent intelligence or intuition and
does not solve the crime primarily by ratiocinative processes.
Giving us continual insight into his mental processes does not
reveal the solution. for the hard-boiled detective is usually as
befuddled as the reader until the end of the story” (gag. p.
83).

In addition to further clarifying the narrative voice
employed in these works. the preceding quote delineates the
dissimilarity that exists between the methods of these two types
of detectives. With respect to Arthur Conan Doyle's famous
classical detective series. it is actually the mind of Sherlock
Holmes which plays the role of the protagonist. During those
long days and nights as he sits alone smoking his pipe.
listening attentively to a client relate his case. or discussing
the facts with Watson. his thought processes are working

overtime. deciphering what baffles the police and observing what

15

others only see.

Strikingly different measures are employed by the hard-
boiled detective. where the detective remains in the dark as to
the solution of the crime much longer than his classical
counterpart. His methods for arriving at the solution are
rather haphazard. One of Dashiell Hammett's detectives. the
Continental Op. likes "to stir things up” in an attempt to
clarify the matter at hand. Sometimes his efforts only serve to
further complicate an already complex situation but one way or
another he ignites some action. In Raymond Chandler’s novel IQ;
Big Slgep. detective Philip Marlowe differentiates the hard-
boiled detective from the classical one as he describes what he
is not and what he does not do:. ”'I'm not Sherlock Holmes or
Philo Vance. I don’t expect to go over ground the police have
covered and pick up a broken pen point and build a case from

I009

it. In this sense. the hard-boiled detective

represents the common man who goes through life in a rather
disorderly. trial and error fashion. trying to solve the
problems which confront him. The reader no doubt is fascinated
and awestruck by the deductive genius of Sherlock Holmes but he
seldom identifies with his character.

The fact that these two types of detectives employ very
distinct methods in their quest to decipher an enigma or to
solve a crime. is due in part to the highly different
personalities with which their authors have endowed them. The

distinction can also be attributed to the very dissimilar worlds

16

in which each of them lives which in turn has played a part in
developing their individual view of society. The world in which
Sherlock Holmes is a participant is one of order. That world is
reflected in his lodgings on Baker Street which serve as an
office wherein he and Watson receive their clients. It is
”comfortable and cozy. warmed by a fire. It is a place where
distraught clients come to find protection and solutions to
their problems. In the opinion of the proprietor of this
refuge. these problems g9 have logical explanations and
attainable resolutions. On the contrary. the office of the
hard-boiled detective is often old. rather shabby. sparsely
furnished with a faded rug. dirty curtains. and chairs that do
not match. It is a room which mirrors the hard-boiled
detective’s opinion of his world. It is a planet whose
brilliance has grown old and faded. where previous illusions of
goodness and justice are not matched by the present reality of
crime and dishonesty. Unlike Sherlock Holmes, he can no longer
convince himself that good triumphs over evil. Cawelti
describes this basic distinction between the world view held by
each type of hero: "Unlike the classical detective. for whom
evil is an abnormal disruption of an essentially benevolent
social order caused by a specific set of criminal motives. the
hard-boiled detective has learned through long experience that
evil is endemic to the social order." (AME. p. 149) For
Sherlock Holmes. the city is a fascinating place where sheer

numbers produce the bizarre happenings which cause him to

17

believe that "life is infinitely stranger than anything which

”10 philip Marlowe and another of

the mind of man could invent.
Hammett's detectives Sam Spade might agree but for them these
bizarre events are not isolated but rather clear manifestations
of the corruption and violence which lie below the glittering
surface of the city lights. just barely hidden from view.
Theirs is a world where the line separating the honest from the
dishonest is often obliterated. Though Sherlock Holmes can and
does infiltrate such less than wholesome places as opium dens.
he does so only in disguise. Sam Spade needs no such artifice
as he tightrope walks his way through the criminal element of
San Francisco. He sees the world as a place where disorder is
rampant: the police harass instead of protect. love is a trap.
and the heroine is a murderess. It is Dashiell Hammetts’s
famous Flitcraft story told by Sam Spade in Thg Maltese Falcon
which illustrates precisely and rather eloquently the world view
of disorder which is held by the hard-boiled detective. In
1927. the agency that Sam Spade was working for had been hired
by a Mrs. Flitcraft. Five years earlier her husband had
disappeared suddenly and now a man resembling him had been
spotted in Spokane. Washington. When Spade went there to
investigate. he discovered that this man was in fact the
vanished Charles Flitcraft. Upon being found. Flitcraft
explains to Spade what had caused his sudden flight and Spade

then reports and reflects on those findings:

'Here's what had happened to him. Going to lunch he
passed an office-building that was being put up—-just the

18

skeleton. A beam or something fell eight or ten stories
down and smacked the sidewalk alongside him. It brushed
pretty close to him.~but didn’t touch him. though a piece
of the sidewalk was chipped off and flew up and hit his
cheek. It only took a piece of skin off. but he still had
the scar when I saw him. He rubbed it with his finger-
well. affectionately-when he told me about it. He was
scared stiff of course. he said. but he was more shocked
than really frightened. He felt like somebody had taken
the lid off life and let him look at the works.

Flitcraft had been a good citizen and a good husband
and father. not by any outer compulsion. but simply because
he was a man who was most comfortable in step with his
surroundings. He had been raised that way. The people he
knew were like that. The life he knew was a clean orderly
sane responsible affair. Now a falling beam had shown him
that life was fundamentally none of these things. He. the
good citizen—husband—father. could be wiped out between
office and restaurant by the accident of a falling beam.
He knew then that man died at haphazard like that. and
lived only while blind chance spared them.

It was not. primarily. the injustice of it that
disturbed him: he accepted that after the first shock.
What disturbed him was the discovery that in sensibly
ordering his affairs he had got out of step. and not into
step. with life. He said he knew before he had gone twenty
feet from the fallen beam that he would never know peace
again until he had adjusted himself to this new glimpse of
life. By the time he had eaten his luncheon he had found
his means of adjustment. Life could be ended for him at
random by a falling beam: he would change his life at
random by simply going away. He loved his family. he said.
as much as he supposed was usual. but he knew he was leaving
them adequately provided for. and his love for them was not
of the sort that would make absence painful.

' I

He went to Seattle that afternoon. Spade said. and
from there by boat to San Francisco. For a couple of years
he wandered around and then drifted back to the Northwest.
and settled in Spokane and got married. His second wife
didn't look like the first. but they were more alike than
they were different. You know. the kind of women that play
fair games of golf and bridge and like new salad-recipes.
He wasn't sorry for what he had done. It seemed reasonable
enough to him. I don't think he even knew he had settled
back naturally into the same groove he had jumped out of in
Tacoma. But that’s the part of it I always liked. He
adjusted himself to beams falling and then no morslpf them

fell. and he adjusted himself to them not falling.

19

Flitcraft realized. if only temporarily. that life is not
the orderly. predictable and just phenomenon that human beings like
to believe it is. Even though rationally people know and have
perhaps even personally had experiences which prove beyond a
doubt that life has none of the aforementioned attributes. they
normally slide back into that hopeful though self-deceptive
belief. Years of disillusioning experiences have ”taken the lid
off life and let him (the hard-boiled detective) look at the
works". Sam Spade. like Charles Flitcraft. has chosen to get in
step with the haphazardness of this world. living his life at
random. not trusting or believing in what most people do:
friendship. love. justice. Unlike Flitcraft. the hard—boiled
detective has continued to stay in step with that disorderly
view of life. from free choice or perhaps incapacity to do
otherwise after the perpetual onslaught of disillusionment that
life has heaped upon him. He has gotten used to beams falling
and cannot believe that they will ever stop.12

Now that the general characteristics of the hard-boiled
detective novel have been discussed by contrasting it with the
classical representative. this study turns to a more in-depth
and detailed analysis of the hard-boiled protagonist.

What is a hard-boiled detective? The name itself
immediately conjures up an image: a tough guy, one who is not
afraid to fight and at times will even admit to enjoying it. He
does battle not only with his fists but also with his words as

he nonchalantly comes up with wisecracks and cynical comments in

20

the midst of his most perilous moments. To varying degrees. all
hard-boiled detectives are unwilling to express or demonstrate
that they have feelings because that would expose them to
various forms of danger. both physical and emotional. The hard—
boiled detective is a man who works for his living.
Nevertheless. he is often called upon to protect the upper—class
sector of society. He spends his life in search of justice but
only for those who deserve it. This search often tarnishes his
view of life but he continues to fight injustice and crime.
This section will present and analyze textual examples of the
words and actions of the hard—boiled detective, and. as such.
will serve to amplify the characteristics mentioned above.
Through a study of works of the two most well known authors of
hard—boiled fiction-Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler—-plus a
few others. a clear picture of this protagonist will emerge.
Each person. as a member of a society. must adhere to
certain laws that have been laid down in order to protect all
the parts of this larger whole. Besides these externally imposed
restraints. most people also have an internal set of rules which
they themselves have chosen: values which they consider
important. The hard-boiled detective has his own set of values.
his own code which tells the reader a great deal about the inner
workings of this character. One of the most important elements
of this code is a strong sense of justice. Though the hard-
boiled detective and the policeman both battle the same enemy--

the criminal--the latter pursues those who break the law

21

(outwardly imposed constraints) while the former is after those
who infringe upon his sense of justice (inwardly imposed
constraints). Often the actions of a criminal will do both.
However. when the criminal breaks the law as written but does
not go against the hard—boiled detective's sense of justice, it
is at this point that the detective diverges from the police
officer. The police officer is not as free as the private
detective to decide where the letter of the law ends and his own
personal definition begins.

A scene which helps define the hard-boiled detective’s
personal code is the now famous final scene between Sam Spade
and his lover. Brigid O’Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcgn.
Though he may love her (various critics have debated that
point). she has killed his partner. She assumes their
relationship as lovers will demand that he allow her to go free.
However. what she has not reckoned with is his hard-boiled
detective code. Spade tries to explain it to her: "When a
man’s partner is killed he’s supposed to do something about it.
It doesn't make any difference what you thought of him. He was
your partner and you’re supposed to do something about it. Then
it happens we were in the detective business. Well. when one of
your organization gets killed it’s bad business to let the
killer get away with it. It's bad all around—bad for that one
organization. bad for every detective everywhere. Third. I’m a
detective and expecting me to run criminals down and then let

them go free is like asking a dog to catch a rabbit and let it

22

go. It can be done all right. and sometimes it is done. but
it's not the natural thing." (5: p. 438) In this case Brigid has

done both things: she has broken the written law and infringed

upon Spade's code. his need fer justice be be dune.

The hard-boiled detective himself may bend the law from
time to time in order to fulfill his own definition of justice.
In one of Hammett’s short stories. "The Golden Horseshoe”. the
detective. the Continental Op. knows that he cannot gather
enough evidence to convict Ed Bohannon for the murders that he
actually arranged so he will settle for getting him hanged for
one he did not commit. He engineers this less than honest
scheme so that ”justice won’t be cheated."13 Though his
reasons for doing this would not stand up in a court of law,
they certainry need no defense in the court of justice of the
hard-boiled detective's code.

Raymond Chandler. too. allows his detectives to create
their own version of the law. In Down These Mggn Streets a Man
Must Go. Philip Durham comments upon the actions of the private
detective Mallory in "Smart—Aleck Kill”. He notes that the hero
"was making decisions that. although they may not have been
strictly legal. were in his eyes honorably moral.”14
Mallory's decision to allow the lady to go free would not be
permitted in the law courts. However. that type of exterior.
legal restraint has no hold on Mallory. It is his inner. self—
imposed code which will not let him send someone to jail who was

involved with criminals out of fear. She has broken the law as

23

written but she has not infringed upon Mallory's sense of
justice. For that reason. he can justify letting her go whereas
Spade could not do so with Brigid. .

The previous examples give definition to that all-important
element of the hard-boiled detective's code: his eternal search
for what he perceives to be just. In a world where good people
die young. innocent people go to jail. and people who work hard
do not always succeed. each of these literary creations tries to
make a dent in the growing pile of injustices. Their way of
doing this is by performing their job according to their inner
code which may or may not coincide with that of the law
enforcement officers. Though both the private detective and the
policeman work on the same side in their attempt to apprehend
criminals. the hard-boiled detective novel makes a distinction
between them. The policeman is a member of an organization who
is. as such. bound by certain rules and regulations which have
been made up by that organization. 0n the other hand. the hard—
boiled detective works alone and whatever code he must adhere to
is his own.

Description is a very important element in detective
fiction. Since many of the works are written in the first
person. the reader sees what the protagonist sees and hears what
he hears, though. of course. this information is still filtered
through the perceptions of the protagonist before reaching the
reader. At times it seems as if the narrator describes every

possible detail of a room or a person. This attention to the

24

minute helps orient the reader to the situation in which the
detective finds himself and also provides a feel for just what a
private detective. trained to observe everything and overlook
nothing. sees upon entering a room. A detective's life is
filled with details. mostly useless ones. from which he must
select the ones which may save his life or that of the all-
important client. The reader is also inundated with these and
given the opportunity to arrive at his own conclusions. to play
detective for awhile.

The presentation of the descriptive elements of the story
is accomplished in various ways to produce certain effects. The
descriptions of people. places. and feelings are filled with
similes. These are not well—known. worn—out cliche expressions
but rather original comparisons which give the reader a real
sense of whatever the protagonist is describing. The similes
employed by the hard-boiled writers are highly creative in the
sense that one would not normally think-of them. However. the
reader can immediately identify with these comparisons due to
their direct link with reality. All the hard~boiled writers use
them to a certain degree but the master has to be Raymond
Chandler. The Big Sleep abounds with these penetrating
descriptions. 1. The room where detective Philip Marlowe first
meets General Sternwood:

The plants filled the place. a forest of them. with nasty

meaty leaves and stalks like the newly washed fingers of

dead men. (gig. p. 8)

2. A line giving an impression of General Sternwood and his

25

swiftly deteriorating health:
The General spoke again. slowly. using his strength as care—
fully as an out of work schoolgirl uses her last good pair
of stockings. (gig. p. 10)
3. The clerk at Geiger's bookstore:
Her whole body shivered and her face fell apart like a
bride's pie crust. (gig. p. 62)
4. One of his chilling descriptions of Carmen Sternwood:
The giggles got louder and ran around the corners of the
room like rats behind the wainscoting. (gig. p. 79)
These vivid similes are effective on two levels. First. the
reader knows from personal experience or at least can imagine
what ”newly washed fingers of dead men" look like. Therefore.
an image immediately comes to mind. Second. employing such an
image to describe the leaves of a plant is extremely striking
because it is such an unusual comparison. The similes could be
thought of as representative of the basic character traits found
in Raymond Chandler and his literary private detective. Philip
Marlowe. Marlowe. as narrator. supposedly supplies these
descriptive comparisons not however. without a little help from
his invisible but hardly silent partner. the author himself.
Within the structure of these similies is a fusion of the
creator and his creation: the inventiveness is Chandler and the
down to earth reality is Marlowe.
Since these private detectives seem to get involved in all
sorts of intrigue and murder. it is logical that they should run

across a dead body once in awhile. Uhile many times the reader

is given a surplus of details. there are also instances where

26

the author employs a minimum of description with a maximum of
effect. These carefully chosen words create a strong feeling of
foreboding. Even before reading it. the reader knows that a
corpse lies in the next sentence. For example:
1. ”The Golden Horseshoe” - Dashiell Hammett
After discovering two other people in the house already dead.
the Continental Op enters Mrs. Ashcraft's bedroom:
Nothing in the room was disarranged except the bed. The
bed clothes were rumpled and tangled. and piled high in the
center of the bed—-in a pile that was too large... (fig,
p. 65)
2. "The Saint in Silver" — John K. Butler
Steve Midnight has gone into Dr. Otto C. Jelks office searching
for him:
I found two other doors in the office. The first
opened into a lavatory walled in white tile. The second

opened into a dressing-closet-and that’s where I found the
doctor.

3. "Spanish Blood" - Raymond Chandler
Policeman Sam Delaguerra is searching the cabin of his murdered
friend looking for clues:

At the back there was a small kitchen with a gasoline
stove and a wood stove. He opened the back door with
another key and stepped out on a small porch flush with the
ground. near a big pile of cord wood and a double-bitted
axe on a chopping block.

Then he saw the flies.16

By employing this technique the author allows the reader to
experience the suspense and horror just as the protagonist does
when he sees death or at least feels its presence.

The main characters of these novels. the detectives. have

been labeled with the term hard-boiled. This terminology

27

implies toughness: the capacity to absorb and inflict pain.
Uithin these books. one finds violent death and murder.
chronicled with unflinching and slightly terrifying objectivity.
The majority of the time the result of a violent act inflicted
upon one of the characters is described objectively by the
detective. Once again the reader is allowed to see through his
eyes but not permitted to feel through his heart. In general.
the only reaction witnessed is a long swig of a whiskey bottle
and an immediate return to the business at hand.

In Hammett's Red Harvest which is a novel overflowing with
blood and mayhem. the reader encounters numerous scenes of.
violence or its aftermath outlined by the Continental Op. He
gives a blow—by-blow recounting of the bullets fired and the
bodies felled in his usual hardened. reporter-like style. One
might expect more in the way of personal interjection on his
part as he describes how he finds the body of Dinah Brand. the
far from innocent woman who has in some way elicited a minimum
of caring from the Op. This expectation is not fulfilled. In
the following scene. the detective has just awakened from a gin
and laudanum-laced binge: ”I was lying face down on the dining
room floor. my head resting on my left forearm. My right arm
was stretched straight out. My right hand held the round blue
and white handle of Dinah Brand's ice pick. The pick's six-inch
needle-sharp blade was buried in Dinah Brand’s left breast.17
Again Hammett uses that foreshadowing style which starts the

spine tingling in the reader. The minute he sees the word ice

28

pick. the reader knows something awful is coming up. He is
simultaneously repelled and impelled to read on. Instead of
presenting the reader with the important fact first, that Dinah
is dead. the author leads him. now unwillingly. now eagerly
along a road of telling details. It is perhaps not unlike the
somewhat inhumane yet very human feeling one gets passing a car
accident. both wanting and not wanting to look.

This reporting style devoid of any intervening human
sentiment or comment in a sense increases the impact of the
scene. A show of emotion or pain on the part of the narrator
would divert one’s attention away from the facts of the murder.
The exact details of the killing are horrifying enough and in
fact intensified because the narrator will not allow the reader
to focus on anything else.

This clipped. newspaper-like description also heightens the
horror produced from another perspective. For the reader who is
searching for a shred of human response from the hard-boiled
detective. this type of style is even worse. For the ordinary
person. seeing a dead person. no matter what relationship or
lack of one existed previously. would probably be a shattering
experience. However. the reader tends to accept that the
private detective in his way. as the medical doctor in his. must
become inured to physical suffering and death because they
witness so much of it. Nevertheless. one may begin to suspect
that this desensitization has ceased to be a way to live and

turned into a way of life. No emotional reaction to the violent

29

death of strangers or criminals is one thing. but the lack of it
concerning partners or friends is quite another. This
analytical response which started as a defense mechanism may
have become a fear and unwillingness to care about another human
being. When the Op wakes up from his alcohol and drug induced
stupor to find his’hand wrapped around an ice pick plunged into
the breast of Dinah Brand. his reactions could have ranged from
sadness that someone he knew and supposedly liked was dead.
guilt that he himself might have killed her in his altered
state. or fear that he might be convicted of murder. Not one of
these emotions surfaces. Feelings such as sadness. guilt. or
fear are generally not part of the limited range allowed the
hard-boiled detective. Nor do friendship or love fit in his
repertoire. These are emotions which one cannot afford to have
in the hard—boiled world in which these detectives travel. It
is not that the authors have arbitrarily deprived these men of a
well-balanced personality. Life as a private investigator in
the corrupt city among corrupt people and his devotion to
fighting injustice have done that. That brings this study back
to his code. Again the all-important quest for justice takes
precedence over other concerns. As Hilliam Marling puts it in
his book. Dashiell Hgmmett: "That part of the Hammett hero that
puzzles readers. because it is so closely guarded. is the heart
of Hammett. at once proud and disengaged yet moved by an
unquenchable sense of injustice. Like Jack London and other

realists. Hammett in his earliest stories uses an unseen ballast

30

of social concern to mitigate the apparently ruthless or uncouth
action Of the hero.18 In fact. it does seem to be this ”social
concern” or need to right wrongs which permits the reader to
overlook the detective’s willingness to bend the law for his own
purposes and his lack of human emotions. It is this same
"unquenchable sense of injustice" which has drained his human
emotions. His experiences have demonstrated to him that love is
not all that the love songs through the years have claimed.

Many of Hammett‘s short stories are testimonials to that fact.
In ”The Tenth Clew" Leopold Gantwort falls prey to blackmail and
murder because he falls in love with Creda Dexter. In ”The
Golden Horseshoe" it is Mrs. Ashcraft’s devotion to her husband
which indirectly causes her murder. Loving "The Girl With the
Silver Eyes” causes the death of no less than six men. The
affair between Mrs. Gungen and Jeffrey Main in ”The Main Affair”
is the source of their being robbed and the eventual suicide of
the latter. Peter Wolfe discusses Sam Spade’s rejection of
Brigid in Ihg_galtesg Falcon in his book Beams Falligg: The Art
of Dashiell Hammett: "Like much of American fiction. Ealgon
leans heavily on the head-heart dualism. But Hammett opposes
Hawthorne of 'Young Goodman Brown' and The Scarlet Letter and
the Faulkner of Light in August by rating reason over emotion.
Spade's reason tells him to go against his heart. and. by acting
reasonably. he survives.”19 Knowing Brigid has meant betrayal
and death for a handful of men and she now has Sam Spade in her

sights as her next victim. She counts on her sexual charms.

31

believing that they will make Spade forget that she killed Miles
Archer and has lied to him continually. As previously noted.
there has been much difference of opinion among critics as to
the depth of Spade's feelings for Brigid and the exact reasons
for his "sending her over". Of the seven reasons outlined by
Spade. the first three. discussed earlier. concern his code as a
private detective and someone who makes a living searching for
criminals. The following lines are the conclusion of Spade's
explanation to Brigid: ”Fourth. no matter what I wanted to do
now it would be absolutely impossible for me to let you go
without having myself dragged to the gallows with the others.
Next. I've no reason in God's world to think I can trust you and
if I did this and got away with it you'd have something on me
that you could use whenever you happened to want to. That's
five of them. The sixth would be that. since I've also got
something on you. I couldn't be sure you wouldn't decide to
shoot a hole in mg some day. Seventh. I don't even like the
idea of thinking that there might be one chance in a hundred
that you'd played me for a sucker. (ME. p. 438) The fourth
reason indicates plain self-preservation. strong in any human
being but especialy so in one who is called upon to fight for it
constantly. The fifth and sixth reasons are all part of his
unwillingness to trust anyone. least of all Brigid who has
proven herself less than trustworthy on countless occasions.
Being observant and trying to decipher riddles with the clues

given to him have been the tools of his trade. Spade's many

32

years as a detective have presented him with enough clues as to
whether or not he can trust people. The answer is a resounding
no. One woman with whom he may or may not be in love is not
enough to overturn all that evidence. His refusal to trust
people. on the same level as his unwillingness to love them. are
both part of the hard-boiled detective character and both stem
from personal experience. The final reason outlined by Spade
but certainly not the least important one. is found in this
simple phrase which he repeats no less than four times: "I
won't play the sap for you." (ME. p. 437,438,439) The hard-
boiled detective prides himself on not being a slave to passion
or emotion. He may have found a physical and an emotional high
with Brigid that he never felt with anyone else. However. on a
rational level he does not trust her or love her and he will not
let himself be duped by anyone if he can prevent it. Robert I.
Edenbaum concurs with this analysis of the Spade character in
his essay. ”The Poetics of the Private-Eye: The Novels of
Dashielthammett”: "The rejection of sentiment as motivating
force. ie.. of sentimentality. is at the heart of the
characterization of Sam Spade and of the tough guy in general...
It is not that Spade is incapable of human emotions-—love, for
.example--but that apparently those emotions require the denial
of what Spade knows to be true about women and about life."20
The following paragraph from the novel gives the reader a clear
idea of how much faith Spade has in that fleeting emotion called

love. He will not play the sap for love or for Brigid: "It's

33

easy enough to be nuts about you.” He looked hungrily from her
hair to her feet and up to her eyes again. "But I don't know
what that amounts to. Does anybody ever? But suppose I do?
What of it? Maybe next month I won't. I’ve been through it
before-when it lasted that long. Then what? Then I'll think I
played the sap. And if I did it and got sent over then I’d be
sure I was the sap. Well, if I send you over I'll be sorry as
hell--I’ll have some rotten nights--but they’ll pass. (ME, p.
439)

The image of the hard-boiled detective as a loner is an
appropriate one. Life has taught him that people who depend on
others allow themselves to be vulnerable. He can ill afford any
vulnerability. As a man. that small chink in his armor might
cause heartbreak: as a private investigator it could mean death.
What started out as a healthy cynicism has turned into a
practically total distrust. This same distrust which tends to
keep him one step ahead of his enemies also makes him an inept
participant in those things that ordinary people tend to hold

dear: love. friendship. and trust.21

Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe is very much a loner. In
some ways. he is a more solitary figure than Dashiell Hammett's
literary protagonists. Unlike the Op. Marlowe is not a member
of a larger group such as the Continental Detective Agency. He
works for and answers to no one but himself. He has no
colleagues who assist him in his work like the Op’s Dick Foley.

Neither does he have a secretary or a partner as Sam Spade does.

34

However. Marlowe as a character is perhaps more appealing than
the Hammett heroes because the reader is allowed to see more of
the man within and he is permitted to show more sensitivity than
most hard-boiled detectives. Geoffrey O'Brien discusses this
difference in Hardboilgd America: "Chandler’s concern with the
sensitivity of his hero has been called sentimentality. but it
is difficult to see where his books would be without it... The
Hammett hero is completely externalized-interior monologue

has no place in his world. He has a code. but is no do-gooder:
he is. at times. barely distinguishable from the criminals he
deals with. Marlowe. on the other hand. is unmistakably
chivalrous. a quixotic figure who is also disillusioned and
increasingly bitter. He is a man who perceives his goodness as

useless. and who is most himself when the heroism wears thin."22

The Continental Op has a code of justice wherein the detective
must see justice done--for the innocent as well as the guilty.
Marlowe. too. seeks to bring criminals to justice. but he is
also ruled by a code of honor. Raymond Chandler’s detective is
an honorable man in a less than honorable world. He describes
his hero in an article that he wrote called ”The Simple Art of
Murder":

But down these mean streets a man must go who is not
himself mean. who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The
detective in this kind of story must be such a man. He is
the hero. he is everything. He must be a complete man and
a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be. to use a
rather weathered phrase. a man of honor. by instinct. by
inevitability. without thought of it. and certainly without
saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good
enough man for any world. I do not care much about his
private life: he is neither a eunuch nor a satyr: I think

35

he might seduce a duchess and I am quite sure he would not

spoil a virgin: if he is a man of honor in one thing. he is

that in all things. He is a relatively poor man. or he
would not be a detective at all. He is a common man or he
could not go among common people. He has a sense of
character. or he would not know his job. He will take no

man’s money dishonestly and no man’s insolence without a

due and dispassionate revenge. He is a lonely man and his

pride is that you will treat him as a proud man or be very
sorry you ever saw him. He talks as the man of his age
talks. that is, with rude wit. a lively sense of the
grotesque. a disgust for sham. and a contempt for

pettiness. (SAM, p. 237)

Philip Marlowe proves that he is an honorable man in
various ways. In The Big Sleep he has been hired by General
Sternwood to deal with a blackmail attempt. As soon as he
leaves the General. he is questioned by one of his daughters.
Vivian. as to what he has been requested to do. As with all
private detectives. the client is his boss. and until he proves
otherwise. he merits Marlowe’s loyalty and silence. For that
reason. he neatly sidesteps her inquiry.

All in one night Marlowe is propositioned by the Sternwood
daughters and refuses both of them out of a sense of what he
calls ”professional pride" and a loyalty he feels toward their
father. the General. With Vivian. there is also a sense of his
not trusting her similar to Sam Spade's feelings toward Brigid.
Although Chandler allows the reader to witness Marlowe's
feelings more often than Hammett does with the Op. this is not
one of those occasions. All the physical reactions to their
kissing in the car are Vivian’s and it is as if Marlowe is under

complete control. totally unaffected by the close proximity of

this attractive woman. Such total lack of response perhaps

36

indicates effort on Marlowe's part to completely shut out his
feelings because he does not trust them any more than he does
Vivian. The following exchange between Marlowe and Vivian .
Sternwood exemplifies the blunt. tough speech that is the
trademark of the hard-boiled detective and also his basic
distrust of this woman: ”Kissing is nice. but your father
didn’t hire me to sleep with you." "You son of a bitch.” she
said calmly. without moving. I laughed in her face. "Don't
think I'm an icicle." I said. "I’m not blind or without senses.
I have warm blood like the next guy. You’re easy to take--too
damned easy." (gig. p. 181—182)

Shortly thereafter he goes home and finds Carmen. undressed
and in his bed unwilling to take no for an answer. Her presence
in his room offends him in a very personal way. as if this
rather frightening animal-like woman somehow desecrates his
home. the one place in which he can be separate from his
professional self. These are Marlowe's thoughts: ”She called
me a filthy name. I didn't mind that. I didn't mind what she
called me. what anybody called me. But this was the room I had
to live in. It was all I had in the way of a home. In it was
everything that was mine. that had any association for me. any
past. anything that took the place of a family. Not much: a
few books. pictures. radio. chessmen. old letters. stuff like
that. Nothing. Such as they were they had all my memories.
(Big. p. 189) These words could never have been uttered by the

Continental Op. They are too revealing. They tell the reader

/

37

too much about the inner man. From this short passage the
reader knows the place where Marlowe lives is not just four
walls which protect him from the elements. There are things
that matter to him in this home. It seems that this tough guy
does notice that his is a solitary. unconnected existence.
Though these lines do not give details of his past. they inform
the reader that the detective has one and that it has meaning
for him. Chandler certainly does not describe all of the man
but he gives the reader enough to make him want to know more.
Just as the hard-boiled detective novel is more than a
whodunit?. the hard-boiled detective himself is more than a
cardboard. one-dimensional character. He himself is one of the
mysteries in the plot. The reader is given clues which he must
add up in order to form a clear picture of who this man is.
However. once this is done. like the plot enigma. there remains
the task of deciphering how and why he has turned out this way.
Of course. among the hard—boiled writers. some give the reader
more to work with in his quest to solve the mystery of the man.
Chandler is one of those.

Near the end of The Big Sleep. Marlowe finds himself tied
up and alone with Eddie Mar’s wife. knowing that Canino does not
plan on allowing him to leave alive. Once he has convinced the
lady that Canino means to kill him. she cuts him loose. He does
not just run off in search of his own safety. He tries to
persuade her to leave with him. As an honorable man he wants to

give her the same chance for healthy freedom that she has given

38

him. Believing that Eddie Mar's wife may have to pay for
setting him free. Marlowe returns and guns down Canino. Though
Marlowe may want to kill Canino to avenge himself and Harry
Jones. he also comes back to the house out of a sense of
responsibility and perhaps chivalry: this person has saved his
life ”3g she is a woman.

For most people. the money they receive every week is
concrete proof that they have been on the job for eight hours a
day and accomplished a certain amount of work. However. few
people would be willing to return a week’s earnings because they
did not quite finish the work. Marlowe's willingness to do just
that is another sign of his honorability and the personal pride
he takes in his chosen employment. In his final encounter with
General Sternwood. Marlowe offers to return the money he has
already been paid. Though he has accomplished what the General
asked him to do. Marlowe has not lived up to his own high
expectations of himself.

On another occasion. Marlowe refuses money offered him when
Vivian suggests a bribe of fifteen thousand dollars so that he
will suppress the fact that Carmen killed Regan. He promises to
do exactly that if she in turn will get professional help for
Carmen. Like many private detectives before him. Marlowe is
appointing himself as the sole interpreter of the law in this
situation. Though he offers his silence. this is not a
chivalric action to save a damsel in distress. He does it not

for Carmen and certainly not for Vivian. He does it for the

39

General. that physically broken but mentally intact man who
according to Marlowe "looked a lot more like a dead man than
most dead men look." (Big. p. 258) He is the person who has
sustained Marlowe through the beatings. the lies. and the murder
attempts. It is the compassion and affection that Marlowe feels
for General Sternwood which has demonstrated throughout the book
that the detective does have emotions and his actions can be
influenced by them. However. he guards this secret carefully.
Upon discovering that Marlowe knows the truth about Carmen.
Vivian assumes immediately that he plans to blackmail her. What
else would his type want? Though he would not want it to become
common knowledge. Marlowe lets Vivian Sternwood know exactly
what his type would want:
’I’m a very smart guy. I haven’t a feeling or a
scruple in the world. All I have the itch for is money. I
am so money greedy that for twenty—five dollars a day and
expenses. mostly gasoline and whiskey. I do my thinking
myself. what there is of it: I risk my whole future. the
hatred of the cops and of Eddie Mars and his pals. I dodge
bullets and eat saps. and say thank you very much. if you
have any more trouble. I hope you’ll think of me. I'll just
leave one of my cards in case anything comes up. I do all
this for twenty bucks a day-and maybe just a little to
protect what little pride a broken and sick old man has
left in his blood. in the thought that his blood is not
poison. and that although his two little girls are a trifle
wild. as many nice girls are these days. they are not
perverts or killers.’ (Big. p. 273)
It is precisely this ability to feel which according to
Sheldon Norman Grebstein in his essay ”The Tough Hemingway and
His Hard-boiled Children" most strongly distinguishes these

hard-boiled characters from their antagonists. the criminals

with whom they must deal: "That is. in achieving perfect

40

toughness. the criminal also achieves complete isolation from
mankind. whereas the tough hero. regardless of his frequent
departure from social norms and his frequent ruthlessness. even
cruelty. never abandons his humanity. His toughness. therefore.
most truly consists not in the total conquest of feeling. but in

the conquest of his tendency to show his feelings.23 Given this

definition of what it really means to be ”tough”. all three
private detectives which have assumed the focus of this
discussion. the Continental Op. Sam Spade. and Philip Marlowe
must be included. Each. in his own way and to varying degrees.
has proven that he has the capacity to care about people and
their problems. Nevertheless. he can and will control that urge
when not doing so would threaten the three principal values
which rule his life: justice. honor. and self—preservation.

It has been demonstrated that violence and death and their
description are both integral elements of the hard—boiled
detective novel. The effect which these two factors have on the
detective himself provides more insight into his character and
the search for a definition of the term "tough" or ”hard—
boiled". The seemingly nonchalant and time-hardened quality of
many of the reactions of the private investigator when
confronted with death again conjures up doubt as to the state of
his ability to feel. Has death. like betrayal and dishonesty.
become so commonplace in his life that he can no longer care one
way or another about it? At first. one may fear that the tough

guy hero has fallen into the trap that Grebstein describes:

41

"The great danger in such an attitude is that the contempt for
death should not insidiously develop into contempt for life.
that stocism become callousness. that the tough hero become
exactly the sort of psychopathic nonhuman he combats.” (SEQ. p.
29) Mixed in with the countless non-committal reports of death
and violence are found episodes which prove again that while
these men have in general mastered the ability to conceal their
real feelings in an effort to protect themselves. they have not

become totally anaesthetized to death’s sting. Red Harvest.

 

with its innumerable killings is a prime example of the
beginnings of this "contempt for life" in the Continental Op.

He describes what has been happening to him during his stay in
Personville as he pits one gangster against another: ”I looked
at Noonan and knew he hadn’t a chance in a thousand of living
another day because of what I had done to him. and I laughed.
and felt warm inside. That's not me. I've got hard skin all
over what’s left of my soul. and after twenty years of messing
around with crime I can look at any sort of a murder without
seeing anything in it but my bread and butter. the day’s work.
But this getting a rear out of planning deaths is not natural to
me. It's what this place has done to me.” (35. p. 104) This
is one of the few passages where the Op thinks about the ethics
of what he is doing. Normally his belief that he is acting out
of a sense of justice is enough: the ends gg justify the means.
But this particular case is extreme enough to demand some soul-

searching on his part. He knows he has come dangerously close

42

or may in fact have taken a step across that narrow line which
separates the good guys from the bad guys. It is that crossing
of the line that differentiates this novel from the rest of
Hammett’s literary production. As has been previously
mentioned. his detectives have from time to time bent the law.
However. this was forgivable because it was always done in an
attempt to ensure that the all-important goal of justice was not
betrayed. In figg_Harvest. the Continental Op’s motives are a
little more personal as he allows revenge to lead him to actions
that befit a criminal more than a detective. As Wolfe asserts.
this is a different Continental Op: ”The Op of Red Harvest is
sad and weary. haunted and self—alienated: to do his job. he has
had to sacrifice both his professional and personal standards.”
(83335. p. 87) The 0p has lost hold of his integrity and
humanity and so has the American system.

In The Big Sleep. Philip Marlowe has blithely reported the
murders of Geiger and Brody but cannot remain impassive before
the poisoning of Harry Jones. a small-time crook who has gained
his respect. The unconscious expression of revulsion and pain
on his face expresses Marlowe's reaction more than any words
could: "It was raining hard again. I walked into it with the
heavy drops slapping my face. When one of them touched my
tongue I knew that my mouth was open and the ache at the side of
my jaws told me it was wide open and strained back. mimicking

the rictus of death carved upon the face of Harry Jones.” (Big.

p. 215)

43

These examples demonstrate that violence is an everyday
part of the lives of the literary private detective and they.
like any other human being. are susceptible to the numbing
effect of repetition. But hard—boiled and thick-skinned as they
are. none of them has let death totally alienate himself from
life. In Grebstein's words: "As we consider the tough hero
from Hammett to Mickey Spillane and beyond. we realize (and this
correlates with what has been said about the tough hero’s
capacity for feeling) that only the hero who is tough enough to
stare death down. but not so tough as to be wholly immune to its
grim appearance is indeed heroic: only such a man engages our
imagination without also provoking our incredulity or disdain."
(SEQ. p. 29—30)

The many facets of the characters of the Continental Op.
Sam Spade. and Philip Marlowe can now be summarized. These
detectives are appropriate representatives because they are the
literary creations of two of the best authors of this genre.
Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. By analyzing these three
characters in depth. the majority of the basic characteristics
of the hard-boiled detective can be observed. They differ from
each other enough to encompass the major traits of all the
protagonists which populate this prolific genre.

First and foremost. the hard-boiled detective of the
American novelists of the 1930s and 1940s is. like all of us. an
imperfect human being. He is not a super—intellect like

Sherlock Holmes who can solve a crime by mulling it over while

44

comfortably esconced in his cozy lodgings. He goes out into the
streets and trades words and blows with the criminal element.
using a mind that through constant practice has learned how to
sift through clues and judge people’s character. He is not a
chivalrous knight. nor Superman who fights crime to preserve the
American Way. The hard—boiled detective tries to find justice
for those who deserve it and to mete out punishment to those who
do not. He is a man who views life and society with a cynical
eye but holds on to the possibility of good in the face of so
much corruption. Constant exposure to death and betrayal has
made the hard—boiled detective more than just cynical about
life: it has made him unwilling to trust in anything or anyone
but himself. This in turn. has caused him to be a solitary
sometimes lonely man. However. he is not totally convinced of
the inhumanity of man for he continues to fight for justice.
believing it is possible to make some headway against the deluge
of unhappiness and unfairness which inundates the world
everyday.

Shifting away from the character traits of the all-
important protagonist of the hard—boiled detective genre.
another facet which differentiates this type of detective
fiction from the classic style lies in its function as a vehicle
for social commentary. What person is better equipped to
comment on all levels of society than the private detective who
talks with the rich and the poor. the guilty and the innocent.

and the noble and the unscrupulous. He sees it all and in hard-

45

boiled detective fiction. he and the secondary characters are
allowed to voice their opinions. This tendency to permit the
criminal milieu to assume a central role is a tacit avowal that
the good guys no longer greatly outnumber the bad guys in the
American system. A perfect example is Hammett’s Red Harvest.
The whole town seems to be run by gangsters and by the end of
the story. the reader is not sure that the Continental Op should
be placed in a separate category from these criminals. The
villain. male or female. can emerge from any social stratum. In
fact. the hard—boiled detective novel strikes a blow for women’s
liberation demonstrating that women can be just as expert as men
in murder. betrayal. and cold—bloodedness. In a literary world
where Mr. and Mrs. Quarre-—two little old people with twinkling
eyes who serve tea and spiced cookies in Hammett's ”The House in
Turk Street"--turn out to be members of a criminal gang. no one
can be trusted.

The rich. more than any other specific group. suffer at the
pens of the hard-boiled detective novelists. Though the
detective himself is a representative of the working class. he
often works for wealthy clients. However. being in their employ
does not render him unable to snipe at their way of life. Those
portrayed in these novels are a rather unwholesome lot who spend
their money on drugs. alcohol. and gambling. failing to realize
that. as usual. money cannot buy them happiness. No family
provides more damning evidence of money’s capacity to corrupt

than the Sternwood offspring in The Big Sleep. Chandler's

46

portraits of Vivian and Carmen fluctuate between horrifying and
pathetic as they lie. gamble. and shoot their way through the
novel. Marlowe is unequivocal in his Opinion of them: "A
pretty. spoiled and not very bright little girl had gone very.
very wrong. and nobody was doing anything about it. The hell
with the rich. They made me sick.” (Sig. p. 77)

Various institutions are found wanting in the estimation of
the hard—boiled writers. Not religion itself. but rather its
tendency to attract shysters who see the potential gold mine
which exists within a system that promises everlasting life. is
a target in John K. Butler's ”The Saint in Silver”. The
protagonist. Steve Midnight. gives his opinion of Saint Rufus
and his Thou Shalt Society: ”The Thou Shalt Society preached a
doctrine that ’thou shalt soon die. Therefore. thou hast no
need for thy earthly wealth.’ Dig down. brethren. So the
congregation dug down. shelled out. And Mr. Rufus La Farge-—
Saint Rufus--lived in a fine mansion in Beverly Crest and last
year paid the federal government over ten thousand dollars for
income tax." (SS. p. 84)

Journalism also receives its share of criticism. Newspaper
people are just as capable of obscuring the facts as anybody

else. As he reads an article about the various murders in The

Sig Sleep. Marlowe comments on the discrepancies and deletions
in the account: "Their accounts of the affair came as close to

the truth as newspaper stories usually come—-as close as Mars

is to Saturn." (Big. p. 142)

47

The policemen in the cities which serve as background for
all this action alternate between honest. tough cops who do
their best to stay that way and nasty types who spend their time
accepting bribes and trying to revoke private investigator
licenses. Though they seem to be playing on the same team with
a common enemy. there is often an underlying rivalry between the
private detective and the policeman. The former sees the cop as
rendered ineffective by either his own corruption or his
inability to do the job due to the restraints forced upon him by
the specific guidelines of the law. Cawelti feels that ”more
often the police represent symbolically the limitations.
inadequacies. and subtle corruption of the institutions of law
and order." (ASS. p. 153) On the other hand. the policeman
often thinks that the private investigator takes the law into
his own hands (which. as has been shown. he often does) and
disregards the authority of the law itself and those officers
who have been duly trained to enforce it. These mutual
resentments and distrust make for an uneasy alliance at best
between the two.

Hammett's protrayal of the police varies. In many of his
short stories including "The Tenth Clew." "The Golden
Horseshoe." and ”The Main Death.” there is an easygoing.
reciprocal working relationship between the Continental Op and
the police. But ng_M§ltese Falcon finds Sam Spade spending
time trading insults with Lieutenant Dundy. Hhile Sam feels

that he is trying to protect his client. the police officer sees

48

it as obstruction of the law. Though there is a great deal of
friction between the two groups in this novel. the policemen are
not depicted as stupid or evil. They are. in fact. doing their
job. following up leads. The tension that exists is a result of
the competitiveness between them. Both share in causing that
tension as they play their game of one—upmanship.

Raymond Chandler paints varying portraits of the law
enforcement official. However. he more often portrays them in a
less than flattering light. As Philip Durham points out in 9933
These Mean Streets. it is "true there was an occasional cop like
Bernie Ohls who was tough and efficient and honest. Frequently.
though. they were dishonest and brutal. using their badges as an
excuse for meanly motivated desires and for taking advantage of

the little man who could not protect himself. These cops served

 

as a contrast or a foil for the detective." (Mean. p. 84) This
contrast between the two serves to intensify the detective’s
dedication to justice and to emphasize his lone fight against
the evil that surrounds him.

At times. both Hammett and Chandler have their heroes
baldly lie to the police. More often however. what the hard-
boiled detective does is lie by omission. He seldom tells an
outright fabrication but examples abound of his conveniently
deleting details which. if discovered. might prove detrimental
to his personal investigation. Another Chandler detective. John
Dalmas in ”Trouble Is My Business." seems to develop partial

amnesia when he stumbles upon the various dead bodies which fill

49

the pages of that story. Normally their discovery slips his
mind because upon reporting them to the police he would be
called upon to produce a lot of information that he feels is
confidential. Fellow Chandler creation. Philip Marlowe fails to
report the finding of Geiger's corpse in The Big Sleep.
According to one of the policemen questioning him. that omission
may have permitted a second murder to take place. Once again
Marlowe has stepped in and made a decision which. taken from the
police perspective. was not his to make. When Captain Cronjaser
intimates that Marlowe may be at least partially responsible for
the second killing. claiming that "a life is a life” even if the
dead man was probably living on borrowed time anyway. the
private detective clearly gives his opinion of the police force
with his reply: ”Right.” I said. ”Tell that to your coppers
next time they shoot down some scared petty larceny crook
running away up an alley with a stolen spare." (Bi . p. 131)
While the policeman is often used by other hard-boiled
authors as their protagonist. Raymond Chandler only does so once
in the short story. "Spanish Blood.” Sam Delaguerra is a police
officer whose friend has been killed. At first. it looks as if
he fits the police stereotype often found in these works: a
member of an organization who must obey the rules. whose hands
are tied. He tells the victim's wife that he has been taken off
the case. His explanation is "I'm a cop. Belle. After all I
take orders." (SS. p. 16) However. he promptly proves that he

is actually another Philip Marlowe who will bend and break the

50

rules to help a friend. He admits that he would have been
tempted to throw away some evidence that incriminates his friend
had he been given the opportunity. In the end. he shows himself
to be a loyal and honorable friend. though a less than honest
cop when he allows his friend’s wife. the actual murderess. to
keep her freedom. Her husband had tried to cover her tracks
with his dying actions. Delaguerra goes against the policeman’s
code but not the hard-boiled detective code in order to comply
with his friend’s final wish. These words show what his
decision has cost him: "It's my first frame-up.” he said. "I
hope it will be my last." ... ”Got the badge back.“ he said.
"It's not quite as clean as it was. Clean as most I suppose.
I'll try to keep it that way." (SS. p. 46) For Raymond
Chandler. a cop is okay as long as he acts like his hard-boiled
detective. Philip Marlowe.

These works have also been employed as an opportunity to
sneak in offhand comments which give the reader an idea of the
state of the union in the 19203. 30s. and 40s according to their
authors. In the observations of hard-boiled fiction outlined by
David Madden in the introduction to the articles he has compiled
in Tough Guy Writers of the Thirties. he gives a view of the
tough period which spawned this group of works: ”A traumatic
wrench like the Depression. its evils and despair touching all
facets of human society. causes a violent reaction in these men
as they find that they lay down in the great American dream—bed

in the Twenties only to wake up screaming in the nightmare of

51

the Thirties. Those hardest hit become the sewn-ehd-uut. the

disinherited. and soon develop a hard-boiled attitude that
enables them to maintain a granite-like dignity against forces

"26 Some of the specific

that chisel erratically at it.
happenings which reflect the era of the Thirties took place in
the United States and some throughout the world but they all had
their effect: the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. labor strife.
speakeasy raids. the Lindbergh kidnapping. the Japanese in
Manchuria. the Italians in Ethiopia. the fascists in Spain. the
attempt to assassinate Roosevelt. the tactics of Hitler. the
exploits and execution of Dillinger. the shooting of Huey Long.
the Harlem race riot. Dewey’s war on crime. the slaying of
Trotsky. and Ku Klux Klan activities. (SM. p. xix) Such a
turbulent time offers an abundance of targets for social
criticism and the hard-boiled writers took advantage of this and
their captive audience. Near the end of the The Sig Slpep. one
of the policemen gives a speech which proves that Chandler can
create an honest cop and which is also an indictment of the
American Way of Life:
I'm a copper." he said. ”Just a plain ordinary
copper. Reasonably honest. As honest as you can expect a
man to be in a world where it's out of style. That's
mainly why I asked you to come in this morning. I'd like
you to believe that. Being a copper I like to see the law
win. I’d like to see the flashy well-dressed mugs like
Eddie Mars spoiling their manicures in the rock quarry at
Folsom. alongside of the poor little slum-bred hard guys
that got knocked over on their first caper and never had a
break since. That’s what I'd like. You and I both lived
too long to think I’m likely to see it happen. Not in this
town. not in any town half this size. in any part of this

wide. green and beautiful U.S.A. We just don't run our
country that way.” (Big. p. 245)

52

Vivian Sternwood also offers her opinion of this country as she
defends Owen Taylor: ”’He didn't know the right people. That's
all a police record means in this rotten crime-ridden country.’"
(Sig. p. 68) Marlowe himself also provides a speech along this
same line as he describes the police: ”'As for the cover-up.
I've been in police business myself as you know. They come a
dime a dozen in any big city. Cops get very large and emphatic
when an outsider tries to hide anything. but they do the same
things themselves every other day. to oblige their friends or
anybody with a little pull.’" (Sig. p. 137)

These are descriptions of a system that has begun to lose
its hold on law and order. Justice is no longer to be taken for
granted. It is not necessarily the guilty that are in jail. but
those with no influence. It is not always the innocent that
walk the streets. but those who know the right people.

Hammett's view of American society is equally condemning
and nowhere is that picture of corruption and degradation more
all-encompassing than in Sgg_Harvest. What takes place in
Personville or ”Poisonville.” as it is affectionately called. is
an exaggerated but nonetheless chilling account of people and
values gone sour. Power is what everyone is in search of here
and what has totally corrupted the criminals and the police.

The thin line between the criminals and law enforcement officers
including the Continental Op is not blurred: it is nearly
nonexistent. This is a place where within a week more than

twenty-five murders take place. the bank is robbed. the jail is

53

blown up. the chief of police tries to engineer the murder of
the Op and various other hoodlums. and it is commonplace for
gangs to ride through the streets shooting at each other. Here
is a group of people completely devoid of conscience or scruples
and as has been discussed earlier. these people influence the 0p
to compromise his code of ethics more severely than ever before.
This is not a private detective who bends the rules to protect
the innocent: it is one who takes on a case out of personal
revenge. who feels like laughing at the panic he hears in
Noonan’s voice as he betrays him and in essence causes him to be
murdered. and whose own manipulations cause the death of many
others. As the Op puts it. ”Play with murder enough and it
gets you one of two ways. It makes you sick. or you get to like
it.'” (SS. p. 102) He gets to like it. Any system that has
become so corrupt as to be able to drag down a basically honest
man like the Continental Op is something to fear.

The original American hard-boiled detective fiction written
during the 1930s and 40s develops a rather negative portrait of
the United States society of that particular time period. None
of the institutions that wield power--the rich. the church.
the mass media. the police. the governmental system—-escapes
the criticism and often outright condemnation of the hard-boiled
authors. This distrustful view of their human representatives
and at times of the institutions themselves. is indicative of
the widespread feeling of disillusion and doubt that was

creeping into the American consciousness: it is a reaction to

54

the self-satisfied attitude of the 19203. According to
Chandler. the attraction of hard—boiled fiction was "the smell
of fear which these stories managed to generate. Their
characters lived in a world gone wrong. a world in which long
before the atom bomb. civilization had created the machinery for
its own destruction. and was learning to use it with all the
moronic delight of a gangster trying out his first machine
gun."25 Describing and criticizing this "world gone wrong" are
integral elements of the literary world and help account for the
continued popularity of the original hard-boiled story and those
who carry on the tradition in the 19808. The present-day world
continues to generate plenty of material for censure and self—
doubt at the societal and political level. The violence.
corruption. and injustice witnessed by the hard-boiled detective
is not a thing of the past. As Madden says. "the urge to
violence that is the Siamese twin of the American urge to peace
and tranquility is still with us—in an affluent society. our
crime rate rises. reaching for the gratification of a perverse
craving produced by consumer satiation no less than by
deprivation. The tough novel shows us not only how we were. but
how we always have been. and now are. Hammett's world. Chandler
insisted. is ’the world you live in.’” (SS. p. xxix) As a
chronicle of how we are and often how we do not want to be.

hard-boiled fiction has the capacity to be a viable present—day

form of expression.

Chapter 2
The Development of the Spanish Detective Novel
When one thinks of the detective novel. various names come
to mind: Arthur Conan Doyle. Agatha Christie. Dashiell Hammett.
and Raymond Chandler to name a few. These four authors
represent the two countries. England and the United States.

which have spawned the great majority of detective writers. from

the father of the genre. Edgar Allan Poe on. In ceeer E. Diaz’

general study of the mystery novel. La novela policiaca
(Barcelona: Ediciones Acervo. 1973). he estimated that of the
total production of this form of expression. forty percent
belonged to England. forty percent to the United States. fifteen
percent to France. and the remaining five percent was divided
among the rest of the world. Somewhere within that five percent
was the detective fiction output of the Spanish authors. In
1973 when this book was published. Diaz devoted a page and a
half to the Spanish detective story and concluded his
description of Spain’s production until that time with this
judgement: "Y aqui debemos parar. A pesar de la gran aficion
que hay en nuestro pais por la novels policiaca. pocos
escritores de cierta categoria se han sentido atraidos hacia
ella.”1
Keeping this statement in mind. it can be assumed that at
least until 1973. Spain’s output of detective fiction was

limited and sporadic. Compared to English and North American

authors. the Spanish writers' entrance into this particular

55

56

genre was rather late. Though foreign detective novels had
begun to be translated and published in Spain by the beginning

of the twentieth century. according to Salvador Vazquez de

Parga’s article. ”La novela policiaca espaflola". the first great
onslaught of this form upon the Spanish reader came during the
latter part of the 19208. Several publishing houses began to
produce collections devoted specifically to the works of various
foreign authors including among others the "SelecciOn Policiaca”
published by Editorial Dedalo. the "Detective" series edited by
Aguilar. and ”La Novela Aventura. Serie Detectivesca". edited by
Hymsa. These collections brought the works of Earl Derr
Biggers. Dashiell Hammett. S.S. Van Dine. and Agatha Christie
into Spanish homes for the first time. Looking at the names of
the detective novelists included in this list. there is a
notable exclusion: a Spanish author. Though the Spanish
publishing houses were at that point willing to edit collections
of detective novels. they did not seem ready to publish one
written by a Spaniard. There were. of course. exceptions but
the vast majority were translations of foreign novels. vazquez
de Parga postulates that "quiza los escritores espafioles no
prestaban a ello. quiza los editores preferian el éxito facil de
autoree consagrados en el extranjero."2 There existed

the opinion that detective novels were foreign (i.e. Anglo-
Saxon) specialties and a Spanish version would not sell.

Whether this idea was fostered solely by the publishing houses

or by the authors themselves is difficult to ascertain though

Vizq

feet

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be:

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57

vazquez de Parga leans toward laying the responsibility at the
feet of the publishers.

A sort of intermediate step was taken in the slow
development of the Spanish detective story when Ediciones Cliper
began publishing the "Serie Wallace". These collections gig
include detective novels written by Spanish authors. However.
everything was still a copy of the foreign model. The writers
used Anglo-Saxon pseudonyms and described action set in foreign
locales. acted out by characters with equally foreign names. A
typical example was the Spanish writer G.L. Hipkiss. who began
his detective novel career translating English and American
novels for the ”Biblioteca Oro" collection. He later progressed
to writing his own original detective novels: they were original
in that they were no longer translations of others' works.
However. they were still set in Baltimore or London centering
around gangsters and ex-inspectors from Scotland Yard. As yet.
there was nothing being published which could be called a truly
"Spanish” detective novel: that is to say one whose action takes
place in Spain. Later. this term will encompass much more than
just a native setting.

Spanish authors were not the only ones forced to conceal
their names and nationalities upon embarking on such a literary
career. In the introduction to his anthology of Latin American
detective short story writers. Si_pppppp_ppiigigi
igiippggppiggpp (Mexico: Ediciones de Andrea. 1964). Donald A.

Yates discusses the use of pseudonyms among various Latin

58

American authors and specifically three Chilean writers.
Mortimer Gray (Luis Enrique Delama). James Endhard (Camilo Perez
de Arce). and Terry Beech (Alfredo Echeverry):

El uso comdn de un seudOnimo entre estos novelistas

chilenos presents un fenOmeno interesante. La conclusibn a

extraer es que los citados escritores tienen

fundamentalmente un interés comercial en las posibilidades
del relato policial. Segun toda probabilidad. los
seudénimos fueron adoptados a pedido de los editores.
perfectamente conscientes de que los lectores preferian la
ficcion detectivesca escrita por autores anglosajones.

Puesto que ademas se evoca en estas obras arbitrarias

ambientes ingleses y americanos. pareceria mes que evidente

que fueron escritas por autores constrefiidos a satisf cer

las necesidades especificas de un editor determinado.
Again. it is difficult to determine whether it was the detective
fiction readers who would not read anything other than
supposedly English and North American offerings or the
publishing houses and authors who believed that they would not.
However. in this situation. it is not so much the cause that is
important but rather the result. This effort to write novels in
the mold of foreign authors impeded the development of an
original and truly national detective story in both Latin
America and Spain.

By the 1950s in Spain. G.L. Hipkiss was writing under his
full. Spanish name. Guillermo Lopez Hipkiss. as were other
Spanish writers. but their characters had yet to take on similar
Spanish qualities. According to vazquez de Parga. at this
point. the Spanish detective novel could have taken root and
begun to develop a uniquely original Spanish form. a potential

which was not to be realized:

Los inconvenientes para el desarrollo y continuidad

59

del genero fueron sin duda per una parte la inexistencia de

nuevos autores dispuestos a desenvolverse en ese ambito

intermedio y a prestigiarlo y elevarlo en la escala
literaria. por otro lado la imposibilidad en aquellos afios
de que la accion de estas novelas. con su oposicién a la
policia. sus tiroteos callejeros. etc.. transcurriera en

Espafia donde se suponia oficialmente que no podia suceder

nada anormal y por supuesto nada que pudiera perturbar e1

orden establecido como es la criminalidad. y mucho menos
podia hablarse de las instituciones encargadas de mantener

el orden. (NPE. p. 30)

The incompatibility of the development of a form of expression
such as the detective story during the years of the Franco
regime will be further discussed later in this treatment of the
Spanish detective novel.

Another move in the direction of forging a new and original
type of Spanish detective fiction was made by J. Lartsinim
(Ministral) with the six novels he published between 1949 and
1953. His protagonist. Ludwig van Zigman. a disciple of Sigmund
Freud. uses psychoanalytic techniques delving into the human
mind in order to solve crimes. In addition to this new
approach. one of his books is even set in a Spanish city.
Barcelona. It seemed that the Spanish detective novel was
finally starting to come into its own as more and more authors
allowed their action to take place in Barcelona and Madrid with
Spanish protagonists. However. there was still a sense that
they were trying to utilize a mold that just was not applicable
to the Spanish society of that time. Both the English and the
American model were so specifically suited to their respective

societies that any writer who solely tried to imitate them

without developing his own style was doomed to popular failure.

60

In 1953. Mario La Cruz and his novel El inocente marked the
beginning of a new trend which has continued on into the
present: various so-called ”serious" authors whose past
literary endeavors had not included the detective novel. began

to dabble in the genre. One of these is Francisco Garcia Pavon.

Originally known for his production of short stories. he first
ventured into the field of formulaic fiction in 1965 with Los
carros vacios. His detective stories merited one third of the

previously mentioned space allotted to the Spanish detective

novel in Cesar E. Diaz’ La novela policiaca:

Nuestra opinién es que lo mejor de la novela policiaca
espafiola esta contenido en las antologias XI and XIV de
Antologia de las mejores novelas policiacas. de Ediciones
Acervo. Y Principalmente en las obras de Garcia Pav6n.

Las novelas de Francisco Garcia Pavon sobre Manuel
Gonzélez. alias Plinio. jefe de la Guardia Municipal de
Tomelloso. son verdaderas novelas detectivescas. casi
costumbristas. en las que los personajes y sus dialogos son
auténticamente espafioles. Son todas ellas obras de
verdadera calidad literaria. pero en las que
desgraciadamente. el autor no se preocupa por dejar las
pistas al lector. (LNP. p. 159)

-~-w~

In Se noveig_en la transicién (1976-1981) (Madrid: Puerta
del Sol/Ensayo. 1983). Santos Alonso. analyzing the Spanish
detective novel ten years later amidst the great increase in the
production of this particular form of expression. still deems
Garcia Pavon's formula novels worthy of praise:

Francisco Garcia Pav6n. el mes veterano autor de
novela policiaca en Espafia. prosiguio con sus personajes
Plinio y don Lotario en Otra vez domingo y El hospital de
ipg_g9rmidpg publicadas en estos aflos. Con mucho mes
atractivo que las anteriormente citadas. Garcia Pav6n hace
una narracién policiaca tipicamente espaHola. sin recurrir
al cosmopolitismo habitual entre los novelistas del género.
El ambiente rural de las novelas les acerca fuertemente a1
realismo costumbrista: por otra parte. el autor utilize los

61

mecanismos tipicos de esta forma novelesca: la anécdota

inicial. las investigaciones y las conclusiones finales

donde todo queda aclarado para el lector. (SI. p. 86)

There seems to be little doubt among the critics as to the
literary value of Garcia Pavon’s detective stories. They are
well written books which are vehicles for the author's special
talent for creating extremely human characters--people with very
real idiosyncracies and weaknesses. He points out these human
faults in an almost sympathetic manner. His books are not
critical indictments of society as the hard-boiled novel tends
to be. Nor is his protagonist a tough guy detective who flaunts
the law to solve a crime: he is a member of the police force who
quietly performs his job.

One element which is often mentioned in descriptions of
Garcia Pavon’s detective novels is their realistic almost
”costumbrista” style with their typically Spanish characters and
settings. In the introduction to Historips de Plinip. the
author professes his desire to "escribir novelas policiacas muy
espafiolas” (NEE. 9.34). He wants to write ”novelas con la
suficiente suspensibn para el lector superficial que sclo quiere
excitar sus nervios y la necesaria altura para que al lector
sensible no se le cayeran de las manos" (SSS. p. 34). According
to Vizquez de Parga. this quote demonstrates the lack of
importance Garcia Pav6n gives to the mystery portion of these
books. As such. in this attempt to combine suspense and an
artistic element. he feels that Garcia Pav6n has neglected the

former. which is the heart of the genre: "Y ciertamente capto

62

81 Publico culto. pero no al aficionado a la novela policiaca

porque Garcia Pav6n dio mucha mes importancia al elemento formal
o literario que al contenido generico. y si sus novelas poseen
una indiscutible altura artistica. sacrificaron a ella la
'suspension' que es lo que mantiene vivo el interés por el
genero.” (NPE. p. 35)

At the present time. in the opinion of VAzquez de Parga.
this tendency of authors who have specialized in other genres to
attempt a detective novel. seems to be accelerating:

En los filtimos tiempos parece que cada escritor quiere
tener su novela criminal. Desde 1979 ha surgido una serie
de obras. de calidad literaria y policiaca desigual pero
todas ellas con ciertas pretensiones. debidas a autores
consagrados en otros terrenos o novelas que de algun modo
tocan el tema de la criminalidad con perspectives sociales
o politicas. Especialmente el sentido politico partidista
se ha dejado sentir insistentemente tal vez como
consecuencia de la liberalizaciOn de los medios de
expresiOn. En términos generales parece que se ha tratado
de aplicar a la sociedad espafiola las coordenadas de la
novela negra americana. quiza sin tener en cuenta que esta
generalmente no hacia critica politica sino critica social:
denunciaba la corrupcién de las instituciones pero no a las
instituciones mismas. (NPE. p. 35-36)

vezquez de Parga is certainly correct in his estimation of the
important role that the political theme plays in the numerous
Spanish variations of the hard—boiled mold being published
today. However. though it is true that the original American
model focused much of its critical energy at the societal level.
there was a precedent set for the political criticism seen in
Spanish detective novels recently: that of Dashiell Hammett.

specifically in Red Harvesp. Although there is the expected

difference of opinion among critics as to viewing this novel as

63

a deliberate condemnation of the capitalist as opposed to the
Marxist system.5 a convincing case can be made for this opinion.
Personville. in an exaggerated form. represents a political
system gone totally haywire. The ideal of law and order is not
just corrupt. it is virtually non-existent. It is the
institution of the American capitalist society which has
fostered the uncontrolled greed for money and power and which
must take direct responsibility for the destruction of
Personville and the people in it.

In La novela en la transiciOn. Santos Alonso also notes
this increased interest in and publication of the multiple forms
of the detective novel. especially variations of the original
American hard-boiled model. He attributes this trend to a
concerted effort on the part of the publishing houses to
interest the Spanish reader in the hard—boiled production by way
of publishing a large number of foreign representatives. The
public’s subsequent renewed taste for this literary genre in
turn prompted various Spanish authors to try to produce their
own imitations-—an imitation. in Alonso's opinion. ”la mayoria
de las veces no afortunada (aunque siempre hay excepciones).
precisamente por ser una imitaciOn.“ (SI. p. 21)

This increase of foreign detective fiction into Spanish
bookstores was mirrored by like actions on the part of the
Spanish publishing houses in the latter half of the 1920s.
However. unlike the publishers of the past. present-day ones

have also been open and encouraging to Spanish writers of this

64

genre. This change in attitude indicates a belief that the
Spanish readers of the 1970s and 80s. contrary to those of

the past. are now ready to accept the detective novel and
specifically the hard-boiled form written by native authors. set
in peninsular cities. and employing this turbulent political
period in Spain as background to its intrigue. Considering

the large number of copies of Spanish detective novels being
bought in Spain presently. it can be assumed that the publishing
houses were right.

Santos Alonso’s straightforward explanation of the notable
increase in the production by Spanish authors of the detective
novel including the hard-boiled variety is very plausible. It
makes sense that the influx of translations of the original
North American hard-boiled novel into the Spanish bookstores
initiated by the publishing houses would spark the interest of
the reading public.6 This could cause writers looking for a
commercial market to try their hand at such a popular mode of
expression. However. a heightened detective novel production or
lack of it can also be analyzed via a look at the political and
social situation of a particular country within a particular
era. Various ideas have been postulated as to the reason for
the vast production and popularity of the detective novel among
the Anglo-Saxon peoples as opposed to the other countries of the
world. As early as 1929. in her Introduction to the first
Omnibps of Crime. Dorothy L. Sayers suggested that a culture's

general view of its law enforcement officers may be a direct

65

link to the degree of popularity of the detective genre.
However. while considering this quote. it should be kept in mind
that Sayers formulated this theory referring specifically to
classical detective fiction before the arrival of the American
hard-boiled detective novel with its almost antithetical style
and focus.
We may note that. even today. the full blossoming of
the detective—story is found among the Anglo-Saxon races.
It is notorious that an English crowd tends to side with
the policeman in a row. The British legal code. with its
tradition of 'sportsmanship’ and ’fair play for the
criminal' is particularly favourable to the production of
detective fiction. allowing. as it does. sufficient rope
to the quarry to provide a ding-dong chase. rich in up-and—
down incident. In France also. though the street policeman
is less honoured than in England. the detective force is
admirably organised and greatly looked up to. France has a
good output of detective stories. though considerably
smaller than that of the English-speaking races. In the
Southern States of Europe the law is less loved and the
detective story less frequent. We may not unreasonably
trace a connection here. (SQ. p. 75)
If the detective is viewed as a representative of the law. then
it is important. as Dorothy Sayers states. to know in general
what opinion the people of various cultures have of the law and
those who enforce it. Have their actions earned the respect or
the disdain of the members of the society over which they have
jurisdiction? In a culture whose law enforcement officers have
achieved a large degree of respect and whose members believe
that in general their system is a fair one in which the innocent
retain their freedom and the guilty are imprisoned. it is.
logical to assume that books dealing with detectives would be

popular. The detective. like the policeman. is attempting to

decipher mysteries and apprehend criminals. Reaching these

66

goals is already deemed a worthy accomplishment. When the
protagonist is also an interesting or eccentric character or the
plot twists are intricately weaved. the result is a very
appealing combination. However. in a culture like Spain during
the stifling rule of the Franco regime. there may have been a
certain type of respect for the law enforcement officer. but it
was one born out of fear not trust. As the people who carried
out the various forms of repression and torture. they were not
popular figures amongst the persecuted Spanish citizenry. This
hardly was a period of time in the history of Spain conducive to
generating and supporting a type of novel in which
representatives of authority played the main role.

Again a parallel can be drawn between the development of
the detective novel_in Spain and that of Latin America because
the law enforcement officers of these latter countries have not.
in general. inspired respect or trust in their citizens either.
As Donald A. Yates puts it. ”Sin duda. existe algdn fundamento
para la siguiente interpretacion: mientras la ficcion
detectivesca. en tanto que un tipo de 'literatura de evasién’
puede tener un encanto peculiar para el publico
hispanoamericano. sucede que la realidad cotidiana de una
sociedad. en la cual la autoridad de la fuerza policial y el
poder de la justicia se admiran y aceptan menos que en los
paises anglosajones. ha de tender a desanimar a los escritores
nativos. spartandolos de una seria dedicacion a la formal

composicién de relatos de crimen y castigo.” (CPL. p. 5-6)

67

Returning to the specific situation of Spain. if the hard-
boiled detective novel of the United States is taken into
account. a Spanish representative of that particular form of
detective fiction might have found an avid audience in Spain
during the Franco years. considering its tendency to make a
distinction between the policeman and the private detective.
Inherent in the hard-boiled novel is a critical stance toward
the members of the police force: they are often portrayed as
inept. dishonest people who are susceptible to bribes and hinder
the private investigator in his search for justice. This is an
attitude that would have appealed to many Spaniards. However. a
native author also might have had problems getting such a
critical portrayal of the police past the governmental censor of
that time. VAzquez de Parga addresses the issue of Spain's
official censor saying that it could have been a deterrent to
the production of the detective novel in Spain. But he contends
that the censor may not have been as careful in its analysis of
this genre. in light of its reputation as ”escapist" literature
created solely to entertain. He views the period after the
Civil War as another missed opportunity for the birth of a
Spanish detective novel:

Como es legico. la Guerra Civil trunco la produccion y
ediciOn de novela policiaca en Espafia. pero la inmediata
posguerra constituyo un favorable caldo de cultivo que
permitio al lector espafiol ponerse a la altura del de
cualquier otro pais. Quiza las circunstancias politicas y
sociales le fueron favorables por considerar la censura que
un genero dedicado al mero entretenimiento no podia
comportar elementos peligrosos para la sanidad politica de

los ciudadanos. Hay. sin embargo. casos aislados de
censura comc la version de Agigs. muflegg. de Raymond

68

Chandler que publico en 1945 ”Selecciones de Biblioteca
Oro"-con 61 titulo de Detective or corres ondencia. en la
que 86 suprimio el dltimo capitulo. decisivo para el
sentido de la novela aunque no para la averiguaciOn del
misterio. pero no se sabe si este recorte fue debido a la
autocensura del editor 0 a la censura oficial aunque en
realidad la primera no seria sino un reflejo de la segunda.
(NPE. p. 28)

In addition to studying the lack of popularity of this
genre during the Franco years from the perspective of the
people. it can be looked at in relation to the governmental
system in place at that time. The hard—boiled novel with its
emphasis on social commentary and criticism is more likely to be
permitted and popularized in a country with a political system
which allows the public to question values and criticize
institutions. The years following the Civil War from 1939 until
1975 with the death of Franco and his totalitarian regime were
hardly conducive to the detective novel in general and even less
so to the hard-boiled representative in particular. It was not
a type of government which permitted and encouraged that kind of
dissent.

However. with the advent of democracy in post—Franco Spain
came a more tolerant and open are on many levels.7 The first
few years following the declaration of King Juan Carlos that
Spain would become a democracy where a multiplicity of political
parties and ideologies could flourish. were a time of hope.
There was great enthusiasm for a future characterized by freedom
instead of repression. It was an era not unlike the 1920s in

the United States when all was supposedly right with the world

and there was a general feeling of well-being. Yet the people

69

of the United States quickly came back to earth with the
sobering reality of the Depression. World War II. and the threat
of nuclear annihilation. It was this era which spawned the
cynical hard-boiled detective who spends his time trying to
fight against the corruption and injustice which he sees as part
of the ”American way of life".

Similarly. the first moments of freedom in Spain inspired
the belief that a democratic political system could be a panacea
for the country's social and economic problems and the years of
ironfisted rule could be easily swept away. This hope was
replaced by a feeling of disenchantment as old problems
remained and new ones cropped up. Increased crime. continued
economic hardships. and terrorist activities were not supposed
to be elements of this new Spanish society.

In this light. the Spanish situation of the past nine or
ten years in many ways mirrors the thirties and forties in the
United States. Both periods of time are filled with
disillusionment and disappointment after the previous years of
confidence and hope. In addition to that general feeling. is
the fact that both countries also have political systems which
allow authors to voice their unhappiness with and criticisms of
the various social and political institutions. Similarly. both
the United States and Spain during these respective eras. were
and are fertile soil for the production of the cynical and
critical hard-boiled detective novel.

In addition to explaining the increase in the production of

70

detective fiction in Spain via an analysis of the social and
political atmosphere dominating the past and present of this
country. there is another element which should be studied: the
literary one. In an effort to put forth hypotheses as to the
causes of a new literary direction. it is often informative to
examine the type of literature which precedes or is being
produced at the same time as the new literary phenomenon. For
example. in the article. "Whodunit and Other Questions.” found
in The Poetics of Murdgg. Michael Holquist traces a connection
between the simultaneous flowering of modernism (high art) and
the classical detective story (popular art) during the 1920s and
30s. Under the assumption that intellectuals are one of the
main groups that read this form of detective fiction. he argues
that for the intellectuals of that time period. the formulaic
works of Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie served not only
as escapist literature from the hardship and routine of daily
life. but also as an "escape from literature itself” (p. 165).
He asserts that:
it was during the same period when the upper reaches
of literature were dramatizing the limits of reason by
experimenting with such irrational modes as myth and the
subconscious. that the lower reaches of literature were
dramatizing the power of reason in such figures as
Inspector Poirot and Ellery Queen. What must be remembered
here is that it is essentially the same group of
intellectuals who were reading both. We began by assuming
that literature is difficult. popular literature easy. and
we are now in a position to be more specific about this
formulation. What is difficult about a Mann novel. for
example. is not only its style and architechtonic
complexities. but-—and perhaps above all-~its unsettling
message: all the certainties of the nineteenth century--

positivism. scientism. historicism—seem to have broken
down. Dangerous questions are raised. the world is a

71

threatening. unfamiliar place. inimical more often than not
to reason. Is it not natural to assume. then. that during
this period when rationalism is experiencing some of its
most damaging attacks. that intellectuals. who experienced
these attacks first and most deeply. would turn for relief
and easy reassurance to the detective story. the primary
genre of popular literature which they. during the same
period. were. in fact. consuming? The same people who
spent their days with Joyce were reading Agatha Christie at
night and if the pattern of reassurance we've adduced as
peculiar to the detective story is accepted, we should not
long have to wonder why.8

Similarly. there were many highly experimental and difficult
novels both from a structural as well as a thematic standpoint
being published by Spaniards during the 19603 and 703 such as
those by Luis Martin Santos. Miguel Delibes. Juan Benet and Juan
Goytisolo among others. As such. the possibility of a reaction
away from experimental literature toward formulaic works.
comparable to that described by Holquist. seems plausible both
at the level of one author and that of a whole group. This
experimental fiction was a criticism of Spanish life under
Francisco Franco as its authors sought to depict the frustration
and confusion of living in a stifled and shackled Spanish
society through a sometimes incomprehensible style. confusing
switches of narrative voice. and stymied. ineffectual
protagonists. Both thematically and structurally (with the
emphasis on the structural element). Spanish literature was
condemning the lack of voice and freedom experienced by
Spaniards of that time period. This structural and stylistic
experimentation reached such heights that the plot became an
inconsequential framework upon which to weave the all-important

structure-—a structure whose goal was to confuse and frustrate

72

the reader. Such extremes could easily be the cause of a
pendulum-type swing back to a much more direct. straightforward.
closed form of literature. What better way to counteract one
extreme than with another? This marked increase in detective
fiction has not been produced by an isolated two or three
writers. It is a much more pervasive phenomenon that
encompasses Spanish writers of all types. literary backgrounds.
and degrees of talent and dedication to the form. As Rafael
Conte points out in his treatment of this boom in Spanish

detective fiction in an article in Si_£§is. "Policies y ladrones

0 el juego que queria ser real":

Ya no se trata de la concesiOn de autores mes o menos
consagrados-Manuel vazquez Montalbén—. ni de la confesién
de los tecnicos-TomAs Salvador—. ni de la apelacidn de los
realistas-Isaac Montero—. de los que sufren la literature y
la parodian-Eduardo Mendoza-. 0 de las feministas—Rosa
Montero. Lourdes Ortiz—. 0 de los escarceos de los
posmodernos-Felix Rotaeta- o simplemente de los
divertimientos de los intelectuales cansados de serlo. como
Fernando Saveter o Gimenez-Frontin. Es todo eso y mucho
mes. Se trata de la mode mas potente. eficaz y sospechosa
de todas las que han surgido desde que la democracia
intenta serlo y la ediciOn busca su dificil supegvivencia
en este mundo posindustrial de nuestros pecados.

One of the aforementioned recent authors who has
contributed to the genre in more ways than one is Eduardo

Mendoza. Mendoza has created a unique character to play the

role of detective in El misterio de ;a cripta embrujede (1979)
and E; igberinto de las aceitunap (1982). Ironically. his

detective. the character who is generally portrayed as either a
deductive genius like Sherlock Holmes or someone with the more

streetwise intelligence of Philip Marlowe. is an insane asylum

73

patient. This nameless inmate temporarily becomes a "detective"
when given the chance to redeem himself and gain his freedom if
he successfully solves the mystery. The humorous
unbelievebility of this basic premise is the main thread which
runs through the whole book. Narrated in the first person. the
protagonist satirizes people in general and himself in
particular. The antics of this ”patient/detective” remind one
of the ”picero” and his efforts to survive in a hostile world.
A cross section of Spanish society is presented as the
protagonist's movements carry him from one social sector to
another: from prostitutes to nuns. poor gardeners to wealthy
businessmen.

In addition to his goal of satirizing Spanish society.
(Mendoza has chosen to poke fun at and parody another element:
the hard-boiled detective novel itself. It is a rather
appropriate target for parody at the present time because of the
increase in translation publications and Spain’s own hard-boiled
production. Santos Alonso notes Mendoza's parody of this type
of detective novel as he describes the author’s style. ”Una de
las novelas mas significativas del periodo es. sin duda. Si
misterio de la gripta embrujadg de Eduardo Mendoza. En
principio parece una simple trama policiaca. amena y rApida. con
influencias de la novela negra norteamericana (que no pongo en
dude). pero inmediatamente deja entrever un mundo mes amplio que
arranca de los grandee escritores espafioles. tratindose en

consecuencia. no de una novela negra. sino una parodia de esta

74

forma novelesca y caricature social de la realidad coetanea

barcelonesca con raices en la picaresca espaflola y en la
desmesura valleinclanesca.” (SI. p. 87)

Santos Alonso also devotes a section of his book to the
"Novela parOdica” in which he classifies Eduardo Mendoza's first
mystery novel. La verdad sobng_gl cgpo Spyoltp (1975) as the
work which initiated a new stage in the development of the
Spanish novel. that of the parody of the formula novel. He sees
this type of parody as a trend which has been subsequently
utilized by a string of authors: "La parodia de la novela de
accion y de la novela negra era tan fuerte que se llego a hablar
de una nueva corriente en la narrative espefiola que tretaba de
caricaturizar de forma culta la novela de genero. como la
policiaca. la amorosa o la de aventuras." (SI. p. 90) Santos
Alonso sees Eduardo Mendoza’s novels as not only representatives
of the detective novel genre but more importantly as part of a
growing trend toward literary parody.

Eduardo Mendoza is only one of many Spanish authors who
have participated in the development of the detective genre in
Spain. This increased and varied production may in fact allow
literary critics to use the term ”Spanish detective novel”
without wondering if such a native. original corpus of works
actually exists.10 It also has caused some critics to take a
closer look at the detective novel. to analyze it in an attempt
to determine the causes and effects of such a literary

phenomenon. Along with these analyses comes the question which

75

seems to be an integral part of any discussion of detective
fiction. Is it a valid form of literature which deserves
critical study? After describing some of the detective stories
being written in Spain today. Rafael Conte puts all writers of
detective fiction in a Catch-22 situation with no hope of real
critical success precisely because of the genre in which they
are writing. In his opinion. the problem with writers like
Manuel Vazquez Montalbén and Eduardo Mendoza is that they do not
have faith in the detective novel as a legitimate form in its
own right. As such. they try to compensate for this inherent
lack by adding culture. politics. or humor. 0n the other hand.
a writer like Andreu Martin.11 who does not dilute the form
itself with divergent elements. has a defect. too: ”Cree en la
convencibn que el genero policial necesita. y se eleja de toda
posible adherencia o impureza. aunque se trate de las
literarias. Por eso sera también. dentro de su perfeccion. el
mas limitado. el que menos nos hare pensar. después de tanto
temblar. después de haber leido” (SS. p. 3). Viewing the
detective novel as something less than literature is an opinion
that follows this genre whenever and wherever it becomes
popular. Perhaps due to this general attitude. it took already
established. ”legitimate" writers like Francisco Garcia Pavon to
bring a certain degree of literary credibility to the detective
novel in spain. In the gradual development of the genre. other
serious authors such as Manuel Vézquez Montalen and Eduardo

Mendoza followed. Such partial dedication set the stage for the

76

arrival of authors such as Andreu Martin and Juan Madrid whose
primary literary focus. like their North American predecessors
Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. is detective fiction.
These changes and developments are being noted and analyzed by
various literary critics at the present time. some of whom may
not yet be ready to call this mode of expression ”real"
literature. However. by studying these forms in a literary
context and discussing them in literary journals and books, they
may give the Spanish detective novel the validity it has

previously lacked.

Chapter 3
The Literary and Nonliterary Works
of Manuel vazquez Montalbén

In addition to the detective novels which are the principal
focus of this dissertation. Manuel Vézquez Montalen has
produced a large body of writing including poetry. novel. essay.
drama. magazine and newspaper articles. and cookbooks. Though
the range of his publications is wide. there are certain
constants (thematic and stylistic) which identify them as
VAsquez Montalbén’s. .
Cuadernos para el Dialogo. 1974). one of Vesquez Montalbén's
most important essays. could be viewed as paradigmatic of his
production as it contains the main themes which run through the
whole of his literary and nonliterary works. Though his main
topic of discussion is Spain. various other themes take on
relevance due to their relationship to the historical.
political. economic. and cultural development of this country.
Among the most important of the subjects that Vesquez Montalbén
analyzes is Spain's dramatic change from a war-torn
agriculturally-based economy to a nee-capitalist. consumer
society. Also given prominence are the varied forms of the
popular culture prevalent in Spain and their capacity to affect
and reflect the stages of the Spanish way of life since the
Civil War. his view of the world situation as a game of nuclear

Russian roulette where the fate of the entire globe lies within
the dubious control of the United States and the Soviet Union.
77

79

and finally his extremely negative attitude toward the United
States because of the cultural inundation of and military
intervention in foreign countries which have become its
trademark. This last element is most notably a criticism of the
imperialist attitude which the United States has adopted toward
Europe and specifically Spain since World War II. As such this
topic is the focal point of La penetracion americana en Espafia
and a component of many of his books. In the former. Vésquez
Montalen demonstrates the many ways in which United States
military. business. and culture have infiltrated Spain and the
everyday existence of its citizens. He accomplishes this by
presenting a detailed description of Spain's dealings with the
United States from the Spanish Civil War until the early 19703.
specifically describing their relationship since the initiation
of the Spanish/American accords in 1953. With the signing of
this agreement came economic. scientific. agricultural. and
educational cooperation and last but certainly not least.
American military bases on Spanish soil. According to veequez
Montalban. the United States ”colonization" of Spain had now
begun and the influence of the "American Way” was to be felt on
every level. As usual. Veequez Montalen leaves little doubt as
to his opinion of Spain’s North American ties with his original
rendering of a common refrain: "Quien a buen arbol se arrima
buena sombre le cobija. quien a buen erbol se arrima. buen Arbol
te cee encima."1 Be they political. cultural. or ideological.

vesquez Montalbén regards the various links connecting his

80

native country and the United States as negative factors in

Spain’s development since the Civil War.

V‘squez Montalban describes a United States that sees
itself as the "genderme" of the world: a country that. because
of its desire to protect its multinational interests and its
opinion that democracy is the one right form of government.
believes it has the right to intervene wherever and whenever it
deems necessary. However. since the advent of nuclear warfare.
the two world powers—-the United States and the Soviet Union-
can no longer afford to fight each other directly for such
actions would lead to the annihilation of the world. Therefore.
their ideological differences must be battled out in smaller.
peripheral countries where a lesser quantity of human beings
will be exterminated. Thus. every nation in the world is either
directly or indirectly at the mercy of these two superpowers and
their ability or lack of it. to tolerate each other's differing
world views. In an article that he wrote speaking through his
alter 880- Sixto camera. in Capiila Sixtina (Barcelona:
Editorial KairOs. 1974).2 Vasquez Montalbdn comments on a then
recent arms agreement between the United States and the Soviet
Union:

iMUCHAS GRACIAS. GENEROSOS!

Sixto Camera agradece a las grandee potencias el que le
hayan regalado la vida (SS. p. 114)

Y he descubierto que USA y URSS. en situacidn de asesinarme
nuclearmente cada dos por tres. han decidido perdonarme la
vida por tiempo indefinido. Han llegado el acuerdo de
dirimir sue discrepancies mediante conflictos zonales y no
enfrentarse atOmicamente por un jamas de los jamases de

81

imprevisible duraciOn. ... Me perdonaron la vida dis a
die. mientras se la quitaban convencionalmente. con napalm
y parrilla. a miles y miles de vietnamitas. (SS. p. 115)

Y como el publicano de la parabola evangelica. doy
gracias por no ser tan desgraciado como un vietnamita. Por
poder aceptar la merced de que USA y la URSS me perdonen la
vida. Me dejen sobrevivir a cambio de que no moleste
demasiado. Y si un dia me decido a modificar la Historia y
moleste. tengo garantias de que me echaran napalm 0 media
miIIOn de toneladas de obuses. No bombas nucleares. (SS.
p. 116)

This topic is also an important element in La penetraciOn
americana de Espafla. Both the United States and the Soviet
Union are so caught up in their battle between Marxism and
capitalism that it does not matter who must pay with their lives
as long as it is not either one of the superpowers.

Les superpotencias necesitan especio geogrefico para
mantener el equilibrio del terror. No bastan los
dispositivos estratégicos dentro de las propias fronteras.
Necesitan puntos de apoyo para aniquilar a1 enemigo antes
de que roce los propios lares. A este procedimiento. en la
jerga militar antigua se le denominaba ’user a otro para
carne de cahén'. ahora. en la guerra de electrones y
protones. habra que decir: los pueblos pertenecientes a la
nucleocracia se sirven olimpicamente de los otros. como
tierra de holocausto. para sobrevivir. Prefieren que otros
mueran para vivir ellos. Alejan de sus confines la primera
conflagraciOn mortifera. confiando_que la segunda no
llegara. (SS. p. 185-186)

Further on he adds that.

Los dioses del capitalismo y del marxismo. que
coinciden en su desprecio a la dignidad de la persona
humane. exigen la quema de incienso de vidas humanas para
poder seguir en sus pedestales. (SS. p. 186)

This is a harsh condemnation of the actions of both superpowers
and more importantly the ideological systems that dictate those

actions. It is perhaps an even more damning characterization of

the United States given its constant declarations of devotion to

82

human rights and freedoms.4

Vasquez Montalen also criticizes the United States because
of its support of the Franco regime after World War II. By
backing Franco’s Spain. the United States conveniently
overlooked the repressive aspects of this regime in order to

make sure that such a staunch anticommunist country would be an

 

American ally. In their book. Spain pnd thp_Unitpd States (New
York: Praeger Publishers. 1984). R. Richard Rubottom and J.
Carter Murphy explain the circumstances that brought about what
was a notable change in the American attitude toward Spain.
Spain’s connections with Italy and Germany before and during
World War II had brought severe censure and political isolation
from a large number of nations including the United States.
However. certain factors began to alter that stance:

That political leaders can and do respond to
alterations in the world balance of power was never more
clearly demonstrated than by what transpired in 1949 with
respect to Spain. National security became the paramount
objective of American diplomacy. The Communist menace
seemed threatening on all sides and even within. Mao was
about to complete the takeover of mainland China. Greece
was a major target of the U.S.S.R.. and the United States
had responded with the Truman Plan. In Latin America.
military dictators were leading a new wave of repression
and. thus. opening the doors to radicalism and future
Communist penetration. At home. fingers were being pointed
at alleged Communists and fellow—travelers. Spain took n
importance as a bulwark against the spread of Communism.

Whatever the American rationale. United States patronage of
that dictatorship is a fact that the anti—Franquist faction of
Spain. which of course includes Vesquez Montalbén. finds

difficult to forget.

In Se penetrac16n americanp en Esppfla. vesquez Montalen

83

points to 1959 as the beginning of a marked change in the
previously ultranationalist pose of the Franco government as
Spain began allowing and even encouraging foreign investments.
Franco. the man who in 1947 said. ”;Desgraciado el pueblo que
confia en la buena fe de lo demas! Hemos de confiar 3610 en
nosotros mismos. dispuestos siempre a defendernos y a apretarnos
el cinturén si preciso fuera. En el mundo. todo lo que fuimos
nos 10 ganamos nosotros mismos."6 was still the leader of Spain
as it began to allow foreign monies to enter the country. In
Spain: Dictatorghip to ngocracz. Carr and Fusi describe the new
economic policy that the recently installed technocrats of the
Opus Dei began to implement in the latter part of the 19503:
Ullastres repeatedly asserted that the aim of the new
economic policy was to ’integrate' Spain in the booming
world of advanced Western capitalism. particularly into a
European market (these were the optimistic years of Europe
—-the Treaty of Rome was signed in 1957). Spanish thinkers
had herped on the ’lag’ (the ’atraso’) between Spain and
Europe. Now the gap must be closed and it was the
obsession with the European and American model that made
the new planners turn to the expertise of the West. The
reports of the OECD and the World Bank all emphasized that
if Spain were to prosper she must end the 'fear of the
market'. dismantle the orthopaedic apparatus of autarky and
open up the country to foreign investment and foreign
trade.
On the one hand. this shift in policy was an attempt to overcome
the limitations that the years of autarky since the Civil War
had imposed on the Spanish economy. vesquez Montalbén contends
that this was also a strategy to get multinational corporations
of foreign countries so firmly entrenched economically in Spain

that it would be to their advantage to see that those in power

and their system of government remain the same. vasquez

84

Hontalbtn emphasizes the basically selfish motivation behind the
actions of both countries as Spain tries to reap the benefits of
American backing. both financial and political. and the United
States increases its economic and strategic defense stronghold
in another of its European "colonies".

The critical stance toward the imperialist. great
protector. bigger is better attitude of the United States
continues to play a major role in vasquez Montalban's
journalistic production today. This old theme remains
contemporary thanks to the unfailing ability of the United
States to supply new ammunition for his biting wit. In Vésquez
Montalbdn’s opinion. the Summer Olympics of 1984 held in Los
Angeles presented a golden opportunity to beam American
propaganda via satellite to the four corners of the world:

Los norteamericanos hen aprovechado la ocasidn para
ofrecernos todo lo que nos oblige a amarles y para
proponernos una memoria future amable que contrarrestre su
funciOn de centinelas y duefios de Occidente. Un pais lo
suficientemente rico. en todos los aspectos. como para hacer
contemporéneos a1 siniestro McCarthy y el casi angélico
Dashiell Hammett 0 para poder subvencionar al mismo tiempo
unos Juegos Olimpicos en pantalla gigante a todo color y la
despiadade contrarrevolucion an America Central.

The final line of this quote is indicative of the ambivalent
attitude toward the United States which appears from time to
time in vesquez Montalbén's writings. Though his opinion of
North American imperialism is decidedly negative. he is not
blind to the possibility of something or someone positive coming

from the United States. This of course is obvious in his

admiration of Dashiell Hammett and also in his decision to shape

85

his detective novels at least partially according to the
American hard-boiled mold.

In another recent article. vasquez Montalban takes a new
tack as he forces the conquering Spain of the sixteenth century
to stand alongside the United States. its contemporary
imperialist counterpart. and take its share of criticism. Both
countries have. at different periods of time and employing
distinct methods of invasion left their mark on the Latin
American countries. As his recent column ”Ron Collins” in Si
Sgig points out:

Ellos fueron los que pintaron de rose y verde la
pesada arquitectura de imperio espafiol y lo relativizaron
como sclo las meracas pueden relativizar una marcha
militar. Ellos son los que llenan de curvas y rodeos la
geometria anglosajona y disuelven con ’ron collins' la
gravedad proteinica del 'steak sirloine'. que los yanquis
engullen con 'coca—cola’ cosecha 1979. Fue un excelente
afio para la 'coca-cola’. Llovio mucgo y el viento aport6
burbujas elipticas de mejor calidad.

With these articles. Vasquez Montalban continues to condemn
those countries which. through their unceasing interference.
prevent others from deciding their own future.

La penetracion_gmgricana en Sgpgflg also notes another form
of American influence in Spain: one that operates at the
ideological and cultural level. vasquez Montalban asserts that
the principal means of cultural colonization is carried on at
the pop—cultural level: cinema. television. formulaic
literature. radio. and music. Due to the fact that the analysis

of popular cultural forms of expression has always fascinated

vasquez Montalban. this section of the book is a very systematic

86

study of the American image which was being transmitted to Spain
specifically through the cinematic arts. He lists the popular
actors and movies and the American ideals that they represented.
Such performers as Henry Fonda. John Wayne. and Kirk Douglas
projected the image of honor. strength. and independence: "El

individuo como primera y ultima explicacion de 103 hechos. mas

haroe cuanto mas desligado de la comunidad. cuanto menos depends
de los demas para lograr e1 'exito'. sera otro de las constentes
subculturales ’made in U.S.A.’. y ese heroe conformara un
simbolo mito-mito capaz de influir en el comportamiento de
millones y millones de espectadores.” (SS. p. 385) vasquez
Montalban describes the cinema as a very strong propaganda tool.
a constant. visual apology of the "American Way of Life".
Cr6nica_§entimental de Espafia (Barcelona: Bruguera. 1980) also
demonstrates the heroic image of the American people transmitted
on the silver screen. In the following passage. vasquez
Montalban tongue—in—cheek. portrays the Spanish reaction to all
these talented and daring stars: ”Los americanos eran
justicieros angeles voladores que bailaban el claqua insuperable
de Gene Kelly 0 Fred Astaire un segundo antes de girar en
derredor de un farol y cantar una declaracion amorosa. iQué
tics! El Richard Widmark ese nos habia puesto la piel de
gallina. BQua malo era! ... éY Alan Ladd? ;Qua tic! Scamp
ametralla japoneses que han abusado de una doncella china! Era
el mito del caballero Erec superando la prueba de la liberacidn

de la doncella encantada prisionera en el bosque."10

87

The cinema was and is an especially influential form of
popular culture because of its extreme popularity among the
Spanish people. Carr and Fusi. in their aforementioned study.
estimate that there were more than three thousand theaters in
Spain in 1947 with an average seating capacity of five hundred.
Even more crucial to this discussion of American cinematic
influence in Spain is the fact that the great majority of the
films shown in Spain during the years following the Civil War
were foreign: "Given the limited output of the Spanish
cinematographic industry after l939-—around forty—five films a
year in the forties. rising to seventy in the fifties. the
culture of evasion was fed on foreign products. Thus. between
1939 and 1961. 879 Spanish films were shown in Madrid compared
with 4.277 foreign films of which half were American: on average
they ran twice as long as native films." (SSS. p. 121)

An even more pervasive invasion of the Spanish
consciousness is found in the television as it becomes a
seemingly necessary element for many peninsular families in the
19503 and 603. The great majority of the television programming
which is imported comes from the three major American networks
and once again the American dream is beamed daily into Spanish
homes. Vazquez Montalban deals with the subject of Spanish
television in a more detailed manner in another of his works. Si
libro gris de la_igi9visidn espafipig (Madrid: Editorial
Cuadernos para el Dialogo. 1974). The very act of devoting an

entire book to a study of Spanish television programming is. of

88

course. a further indication of the importance vazquez Montalban
gives to the analysis of the various modes of pop—cultural
expression.

By 1956. the State controlled Spanish television was
broadcast into peninsular homes on a daily basis. According to
the statistics in El libro gris de la television espaflola.
11.000 televisions were manufactured in 1957. an amount that had
jumped incredibly to 260.000 by 1963. As was the case with
films during the 19403 and 503. the majority of the foreign
programming used by the Spanish television network during the
603 was of North American extraction. As vazquez Montalban says
in El libro gris de la televisidn espafiola: "El telefilm
entonces hablado en lo que los criticos llaman ’lingua franca'.
es decir. en el castellano de aluvibn que emplean los propios
estudios norteamericanos de doblaje. se convierte paulatinamente
en el rey de la programscidn televisiva durante los afios sessnta
y en un factor no detectado de colonizacidn cultural y
mental."11

vazquez Montalban documents the addition of a second
network in 1966 which brought hopes of more Spanish programming.
hopes which were not realized with the exception of some
children's shows. However. vazquez Montalban's opinion of them
makes one doubt their quality: "Un enalisis serio de este
programs nos produciria una seria angustia sobre el future
mental de los nifios formados en contacto con tan inmotivados

personajes." (Gris. p. 64-65) Polls taken at the time show that

 

89

the North American programs were still the preferred television
fare among the Spanish viewing public.12

In addition to analyzing the very real though often subtle
North American influence exercised over the Spanish people by
the small screen. vazquez Montalban also discusses the ways in
which the government operated television programming reflected
the attitude of the Franquist government. The television
programming included in the informational and cultural category
was a constant exultation of the good aspects of life under
Francoism. deleting anything which could be construed as
negative while at the same time playing up the problems caused
by Pluralist and Communist systems. During the years between
1958 and 1962. the Minister of Information. Arias Salgado. held
a tight control over the various forms of media. However. with
the appointment of Manuel Frags Iribarne to that post in 1963. a
new liberalizing atmosphere was introduced into some of these
modes of expression. During his eight year tenure. the ban on
Marxist literature was lifted and the enactment of the Ley de
Prensa (1966) considerably liberalized the censorship of the
newspapers. On the other hand. according to vazquez Montalban.
the loosening of governmental control was much more limited with

13 He explains this

respect to television programming.
comparatively slow lifting of restrictions: "Funcionaba la ley
de peligrosidad social y la capscidad ’persuasiva' de los medics

audiovisuales condicionaba un mayor celo en su control.” (Gris.

p. 145) Thus. because of its power to influence. the

90

government chose to retain a stronger grip on television
broadcasting. In that way it could limit programming contrary
to governmental ideology and maximize positive offerings.

Certain sectors of the Spanish mass media perpetuated this
chronically positive view of "lo americano" which existed during
the 19503 and 603. Vazquez Montalban notes the pro—American
slant of the majority of the Spanish magazines with respect to
the United States international politics and their tendency to
devote articles and covers to North American themes and people:
Grace Kelly. Jackie Kennedy. the American astronauts (not the
Russian cosmonauts). In classic Vazquez Montalban style, both
ironic and scathing. he converts the famous magazine photograph
supposedly depicting the heroism of a United States marine as
he carries a Vietnamese child to safety into an example of the
dark side of that American hero: "Es posible que se lo llevara
corriendo al teniente Calley porque se le habian acabado los
nifios que le llevara con anterioridad." (LS. p. 393)

In Sg_ppgetrac16n americana en Espafla. vazquez Montalban
also discusses the American influence felt in popular music as
English words began to creep into Spanish songs and more and
more music by United States groups was played on the radio. He
again takes up the theme of music in Sippipp_pppiipgpipi_gg
E a a. However. instead of focusing on it from the standpoint
of the American influence. it is a view of Spanish history since
the Civil War seen through an analysis of the public’s taste in

music and other popular cultural forms of expression. Part of

91

the fascination that the pop-culture holds for vazquez Montalban
is that as a social essayist he feels that one can discover a
great deal about the collective psychology and nature of the
people living during a certain period of history by studying the
ideas and themes found in the songs. novels. television
programs. and movies popularized by them. These types of
written expression have proven to be a rich source of previously
untapped information for Vazquez Montalban and his analysis of
the Spanish people and its history.

Surveying the articles that Vazquez Montalban has been
writing for the Spanish newspaper El Pais since January. 1984.
proves that he has not abandoned his belief in the significance
of the popular culture as a viable literary form and a relevant
reflection of society and the times. In an article entitled
”Casablanca”. vazquez Montalban characterizes the television
remake of the Hollywood classic as a type of cinematic
blasphemy. In his opinion. Sasablanca was a film that reflected
many of the basic sentiments being felt by people everywhere
during the years of World War II: fear. desperation. hope.
patriotism. lost love. ”Y elemento importante de esa perfeccion
de la primera Capablanca era 31 pablico que le fue tan
contemporaneo como fiel. que necesitd creerse aquella historia y
asumir su filosofia elemental de nostalgia y sacrificio 'on the
rocks'.”14

vazquez Montalban's unflagging interest in popular culture

and his belief that its various manifestations are a valid form

92

of literary expression is an opinion that does not always find
many adherents. These modes of expression have still not been
able to discard the stigma of their reputation as ”escapist"
reading. listening. or viewing. Vazquez Montalban laments this
literary snobism which prevents critics from delving further
into pop—cultural forms and blinds them to their value:

L08 politicos culturales del passdo. y me temo que
tambien los del presents. fueron muy poco sensibles a la
subculture y no reconocieron la magia que inspire canciones
escritas en estado de gracia. como "Tatuaje". ”Milord”.
”L'huomo in frac". ”El humo ciega tus ojos" y tantas otras
pequefias obras maestras que sbestecieron la sensibilidad de
las masas. les proporcionaron el tabldn de salvacion de una
identificacion sofiada con mayor eficacialgufgtitativa y
cualitativa que la lirica con mayascula. '

”De las reformas de las costumbres. 0 sea. de como un
pueblo que quiso pesar por ser la reserva espiritual del
occidente acepto e1 culto el trabajo. la adoracidn del plastico

”17 This

y demas modernos deidades de la sociedad de consume.
heading to Chapter Five in Amando de Miguel's 40 millones de
espgfloles 40 afios después (Barcelona: Ediciones Grijalbo.

1976). exemplifies another recurring theme found in both the
literary and essayistic works of vazquez Montalban: Spain’s
relatively recent development into a consumer society. In Sp
ppnetracign americana en Espafie. he contends that Spain's rapid
conversion in the 19603 into what many people would call a
”nacién de consumo” was a designation only applicable to certain
sectors of society. notably the middle-class Spaniard. Amando

de Miguel supports vazquez Montalban's contention:

Se hen arrojado fuertes criticas sobre la idea
mimetica de que Espefia. en los 3803 de desarrollo. se ha

93

convertido ya en una ’sociedad de consumo de masas'. como
si ese expresiOn significara que todo el mundo goza de la
opulencia que es dable observer en los paises capitalistas
avanzados. como si la vida cotidiana de los espafioles 3e
desenvolviera en la alegria derrochadora del episodic de
las bodes de Camacho que nos relate Cervantes (y que 3610
as explicable en un pueblo con hambre de siglos). como si
se hubieran limado ya las diferencias entre ricos y pobres.
Nada de eso. el desarrollismo elimino la miseria y el
hambre endemica. facilito el consumo de ciertos bienes,
pero suscito muchas comparaciones y diferencias entre
poseedores y no poseedores. (40M. p. 101)
In Crdnica sentimental de Es aha, vazquez Montalban points out
that other levels of society had nothing near the buying
capacity of their middle—class counterpart and many were forced
to leave the country in order to find work lucrative enough to
support a family: "Este superman del consumo nada tiene que ver
con el cejijunto emboinado hombre de la maleta de medere que a
partir de 1960 descubriera Alemania. Pero perte de la
prosperidad del superman consumista se la debe al exilio laboral
del cejijunto. de ese hombre que se quito la boina en
Alemania...”. (CSE. p. 168) This increased acquisiticnal
potential (for at least part of the Spanish population) due to
the rapid economic growth that Spain experienced during these
years18 was converted to actual purchasing power by various
factors. each of them at least partially connected with the
United States. First of all. the great influx of tourists
(primarily European but North American. too) encouraged by the
Spanish government in the 1960s exposed Spaniards to a style of
living previously unknown or at least unattainable to many of

them. American programming on the television also gave them a

glimpse of the United States consumer society and its

94

possessions. Finally. the advertising campaigns heard on the
radio and seen on the television did a great deal to convince
the already eager middle-class consumer that his life would not

be complete without this canned food. that television set. these

pills. or that car. In Sl libro ris de la television 3 aflol ,

 

vazquez Montalban demonstrates one more time how American
influence in Spain has been felt on so many levels by pointing
out that this publicity that was so instrumental in spurring on
the new consumer society mentality was at the time greatly
controlled by American techniques. American money. and American
ideals: ”El boom de la publicidad visual en Espafla sirve de
reflejo de los cambios americanizados de las formas de vida
espaflola y sirve al mismo tiempo de estimulo para la evolucion
formal misma.” (Spig. p. 79)

A reading of the articles presently being written by
vazquez Montalban in El Pais has demonstrated that the thematic
constants exemplified in La penetrgciOn pperigpng en Sspgfia
remain an important element of his present day concerns.
However. a general topic which today holds a much more strategic
position in priority than during the 19703 is that of the Latin
American countries. This increase in importance can be
explained not only from the perspective of their long-standing
historical connections but also due to the fact that some of
these countries have come to illustrate the system that Vazquez

Montalban described originally in La penegpacign americang en

Sepafla: a system where the United States and the U.S.S.R. carry

95

on their extended ideological battles between capitalism and
Marxism at the expense of the people of ”peripheral” countries
like Nicaragua and El Salvador. Secondly. some of the South and
Central American nations are also relevant to Spain because they
are still forced to operate under regimes that will not allow
the same basic human rights denied to the Spanish people for so
many years under France. In "Miseria informative”. vazquez
Montalban discusses what is taking place in Nicaragua and the
fact that whatever news comes out of the media agencies of the
two superpowers concerning this country is a distorted image.
Not only do the United States and the Soviet Union both
interfere in the affairs of foreign nations. but through their
respective news agencies. they are also in control of how that
interference is depicted to the rest of the world. ”Bueno es
que nos curemos en salud ante lo que nos inculcan la UPI (United
Press International) 0 la Tess. Y mejor seria que pudieramos
fiarnos de Efe como conciencia informative de un 'neohispanismo’

19 With this

democratico aplicado sin prejuicios a Nicaragua.”
quote. vazquez Montalban appeals to Spain and to its own forms
of informational media to emerge from the shadow of the two
world powers by counteracting their self-serving propaganda with
a more truthful and objective presentation of the facts in
Nicaragua and other countries.20

In summary. the majority of the works by vazquez Montalban

which fall into the nonliterary category are a chronicle of the

development of Spain since the Civil War. Spain normally plays

'96

the role of protagonist while Vazquez Montalban employs his
other favorite themes as supporting characters which serve to
further elucidate the actions of the main character. Sp
penetraciOn americana en Egpega is his treatment of the ways in
which Spain has been influenced by the United States:
protagonist--Spain. supporting actor-North American imperialism.
El libro gris de la televisiOn espaflola is his description of
the history of Spanish television programming: protagonist-
Spanish society. supporting actors——the power of the popular and
North American cultural influence. Cronica septigentai de
Espafia is another analysis of Spanish history seen through the
various pop-cultural modes of expression popularized in the
decades since the Civil War: protagonist-Spain. supporting
actor-—the popular culture. As a chronicler of Spanish history.
vazquez Montalban’s works have been haunted by the ghosts of the
Civil War. Francisco Franco. and the separate and converging
legacies left behind by them both. Those two elements which
irrevocably altered the course of events in Spain remain a
constant influence on the lives of Spaniards and what they
write.‘ Franco may have died ten years ago but the memories and
effects of his regime linger on. In "Memoria del poder”,
vazquez Montalban discusses some of the memoirs written by the
now incarcerated perpetrators of the ill—fated take over of the
Cortes in 1981. He refers to the date of the attempted coup (e1
25-F) as "El 18-J que no pudo ser" recalling those who began

their own overthrow of the Spanish government on July 18. 1936.

97

He recommends the reading of these books as a reminder of what
Spain once was. so as not to forget in the midst of the struggle
to make democracy work. how much freedom has been gained:

En cierto sentido. estos libros de memories
carcelarias avalan la justicia de una situacion politics
que permits publicer a los condenados. en comparacion con
aquellos tiempos en que los hoy condenados eran
corresponsables de un poder que ni siquiera admitia la
existencia de presos politicos.

 

Hay que leer estos libros como memoria de aquel poder.
como elemento de identificeciOn de la conciencia de aquel
poder. Inevitable un escalofrio cuando se considers en que
menos estabamos. o peor. que cerebros guiaban aquellas
manos. que poquedsd cultural. que insuficiencia logica.
Uno hubiere preferido centinelas brillantes. incluso
cinicos. que hubieran dado la medida de lo que reprimian.

21

Spain and its writers have not escaped the far-reaching
effects of the past. According to vazquez Montalban. up to a
certain point this inability or unwillingness to forget the past
may be a necessary evil if it supplies the incentive needed to
prevent history from repeating itself. However. as Spain takes
an even more active role in the various organizations of the
West while coping with the changes and problems of a democratic
system. it seems likely that there will be new topics of
discussion as well as the old which will occupy the pens of
vazquez Montalban and other Spanish authors.

At the same time that he was writing these nonliterary
works. vazquez Montalban was also producing a series of
vanguardist literary works. He calls this phase of his
production his "escritura subnormal" and his focus changes

markedly. His ”escritura subnormal" is an interesting blend of

98

three separate but intersecting elements. The popular culture
which is a constant throughout the broad spectrum of Vazquez
Montalban’s production. is one of the principal components of
this form of expression. His utilization of the various
representatives of the popular culture ranges from isolated.
peripheral references in the text to filling the role of the
main character of the work. Secondly. Vazquez Montalban
continues to use all the literary genres as a vehicle for his
social commentary and criticism. In the first section of
Manifiesto subnormai (Barcelona: Editorial Kairés. 1970), the
work which serves as the theoretic basis for his ”escritura
subnormal." Vazquez Montalban describes ”el subnormal” as one of
the vast majority of people who are not part of the power
structure. Due to this exclusion from the decision making
process. the capacity to control his own future. he becomes
what Vazquez Montalban cells the "manso subnormal productivo.”
Through experience. he has learned that his role in society
mandates that he take orders. not give them. that he be a.
follower. not a leader. This powerless position has already
begun the process of making this mass man ”subnormal”. causing
him to be a passive bystander in the belief that he can do
nothing to change the system and its injustices. According to
Vazquez Montalban. the various forms of the mass media with
their constant visual and audio inundation of fighting.
destruction. and men’s injustice to men taking place. finish the

job nicely. The daily barrage of the immorality and unfairness

99

in the world ”destruye los jugos de la epidermis de la

sensibilidad.”22

and allows him to either stand by and watch or
even indirectly participate as those with power take advantage
of other "subnormales". "Asi el aceitunero altivo de Jaen que
envasa aceitunas para la exportacion hacia 31 Bunker
Supersistematico. llegera a no importarle que la aceituna por él
envasada aumente la energia calorigens de las boinas verdes en
el periodo de Monzon. Si en la pantalla del televisor de su
case. an bar 0 su pueblo (tele-clubs) ve un rictus humano en la
cara de una muchacha vietnamita. e1 rictus le hastie porque no
es cosa de su mundo y esta saturado de dolor—-informatizado.
hasta el punto de perder la capscidad de una respuesta
solidaria." (SS. p. 28) Thus. vazquez Montalban utilizes this
phase of his literary production to comment upon the extremely
unequal division of society into the powerful and the powerless
and how these two factions view and interact with each other.
Thirdly. though these first two subjects and other themes which
characterize his nonliterary expression remain an integral part
of the "escritura subnormal". their importance is shared and.
often overshadowed by vazquez Montalban’s examination of writing
as a creative process. In an attempt to use the novel itself as
a vehicle for commentary upon the novelistic process. vazquez
Montalban experiments with what is for him a new literary
direction: metafiction. In his article entitled. ”Antagonia
como metaficcion". David K. Herzberger presents a definition of

this term: "En su forms fundamental. la metaficcion es ficcion

100

que reflexiona sobre la naturaleza de su propio ser: es ficcién
utilizada como instrumento para explorar la naturaleza de la
ficcion.”23 Simply stated metafiction is literature about
literature or literature utilized to analyze the literary
process. It is important to keep in mind that for vazquez
Montalban. the term "literature” encompasses all forms of the
popular culture (movies. television. music) as well as the
novel. drama and poetry. Thus. in his "escritura subnormal.”
vazquez Montalban uses a combination of these various forms of
literature and specifically employs the metafictional mode in
order to shed light upon 1) the use of structure as a challenge
to draw the reader into the creative process: 2) the
interrelationship between the author. the narrator. and the
reader: and 3) the function of language within a literary work.
One of the styles that vazquez Montalban uses frequently is
the "college": a juxtaposition of distinct genres within the
same work. He commonly inserts pieces of poems (often his own)
or musical lyrics within the structure of his novels and essays
to illustrate a point. However. perhaps the ultimate example of
this college technique is Spgifigpto gubnopggi. Fittingly
categorized as a ”libro ensayo-poeme-poster-novellags” by its
author. this amalgam of essays. a theatrical farce. illustrated
slogans. poems. horoscope entries. and a vanguardist novelette
defies a solitary classification. In an interview with Federico

Campbell published in Informs Turpp (Barcelona: Bruguera. 1980).

Vazquez Montalban explains what motivated this form of

101

expression: ”LO que YO queria era la continua frustracion del
lector que cree ester leyendo un ensayo y de pronto aquello no
es un ensayo: luego cree que es un poems o una novela. y aquello

no es ninguna de las dos cosas. Hay una cierta agresion al

24 The construction of this work is without doubt a

,0

challenge to the reader who struggles to follow the flow of the

lector."

book switching from one form of communication to another. This
barrage of written symbols not only includes common literary
genres but also posters and horoscopes. elements not normally
found in literary works. These unexpected forms are just one
more stimulus that the reader must absorb. This technique could
also be an attempt by vazquez Montalban to mirror the randomness
of everyday life where people are constantly bombarded by all
types of stimuli: visual. aural. subliminal. serious. humorous.
ironic. Life cannot be neatly organized under definitive labels
and neither can Sgpifiggtoigubnopgpi nor a good portion of
Vazquez Montalban's total literary production.

In Recordpngo a Dardg (Barcelona: Bruguera. 1983). which
although published before Manifiespo subnormal could be
considered part of this category. the identity of the narrator
is unknown until the final pages of the story. However. due to
the intermittent usage of the first person singular and plural
forms of the verbs. the reader knows that he is someone who
considers himself a member of this community that has been
infiltrated by the mysterious Professor Darda. The most

revealing passage from the narrator during the first two parts

102

of the book is found in the section in which one of the main
characters is introduced. a youth named Tancio. Not only does
the narrator switch to the first person singular usage for a
prolonged series of sentences. he steps out of his detached
story-telling style to speak directly to his audience. Here he
explains his reasons for writing:

La adolescencia sensible de Tancio es un factor importante

en la historia que cuento. y se lo confieso al lector

consciente de que felto a todas las reglas de la novela

moderna. que ha prohibido el dialogo entre el novelists y

el poblico. Pero esta muy lejos de mi intencion el

escribir una novela. Solo pretendo testificar en la
cronica sentimental de una apoca y un sucedido que tuvo
enorme trascendencia en la higtoria de estos lugares. El
mio es un realismo comarcal.

Finally. in the Tercera Perte. or what could be considered
an epilogue. the reader is let in on the secret that the narrator
of the story and Tancio. are the same person. He also discovers
that the entire narration has been a flashback of more than
thirty years: Tancio is composing these memories in the year
1999. Thus. the reader has read all the events of the novel
denied the knowledge that: 1) the narrator was not only writing
a biography of the town and its people but also an
autobiography: 2) the narrator as well as being an eyewitness
reporter of the events was a person who had some experience in
his past as a writer: and 3) the chronicler of this period of
time in the history of this Spanish town was writing from a
perspective which was thirty years removed from the action of

the novel. By concealing the identity of the narrator. vazquez

Montalban examines the nature of the interdependence which

103

exists between the narrator and the reader. The level of that
dependence definitely influences the impression received by the
reader.

In his article. "gfigericordia as Metafiction.” John W.
Kronik analyzes GaldOs’ novel at both a fictional and
metafictional level. In his opinion. "The reader who grasps
Misericordig’s metafictional fabric perceives in it a novel
within a novel. with Benina the author of the interior
fiction."26 Perhaps. too. Recordando a Dardé can be seen as a
novel within a novel as vazquez Montalen’s creation. Tancio. is
allowed to chronicle and at times even create his own past. In
the third part. Tancio himself informs the reader of the
literary process which has produced this history: ”He escrito
estas paginas en pocos dies: apenas dos semanas. Siempre he
habido en mi una vena literaria reprimida que dofia Luz educo y
la vida atrofio. No me arrepiento ni de lo uno ni de lo otro.
Los hechos que he contado ocurrieron hace mas de treinta afios:
yo los vivi. y lo que no vivi lo he imaginado y recreado
mediante los materiales acarreados por el recuerdo. mis
lectures. en fin. toda la poca o mucha educacion de mi

sensibilidad.” (Darda. p. 127) Due to his need to examine and

 

understand the changes that he himself and his country have
undergone. Tancio attempts to put the past down on paper which
culminates in~a mixture of real and imagined events. His desire
to leave behind a written account of that analysis (a desire he

inherits naturally from his creator. vazquez Montalen). gives

104

rise to the creation. from Tancio’s memory and imagination. of
the characters which inhabit this small Spanish town of the
19603. Within the context of written fiction. both Tancio and
vazquez Montalban play the role of creator. However. as a
character in Sgcordgndo a Darda. Tancio takes on an additional
role. that of written creation. The fictional relationships
between those involved in the creation of Recordando a Darde.
vazquez Montalban-author. Tancio-author and character. the

townspeople-characters. are quite similar to those described by

Kronik between Galdés. Benina. and don Romualdo in Misericordia:

Moreover. the fictional character enjoys a degree of

immortality denied to flesh-and—blood creatures. Benina as
a creator is Galdos' equal: but as a creation of his she is

superior to him. With respect to don Romualdo she sits at
the other pole. That is. they are two characters in a
novel and therefore on the same generic footing: both are
imagined entities. But between them there is a radical
difference in kind because they do not originate from the
same imagination. At least. don Romualdo operates at a
further remove. for he is the product of an imagination
imagined by someone else. He has two creators. a real one

and an apparent one. and since Sisepicordia is a novel spun

on appearances. appearances dominate here. (Kroni . p. 49)

In much the same way. Tancio and the townspeople are all. in the

final analysis. creations of Vazquez Montalban. However. the
townspeople have the added distinction of coming alive for the
reader through Tancio’s memory which sets them at a further
literary distance from Vazquez Montalban. By examining these
fictional interrelationships. vazquez Montalen. like other
authors before him. is using the creation itself to delve more
deeply into and further elucidate the creative process.

Another novel classified within the ”escritura subnormal"

105

category is Yo mate a Kennedy (Barcelona: Plaza and Janos,
1977). The work. in.much the same manner as ggcorggndo a Darde.
is metafictional in its narrative treatment. Once again the
reader is not informed of the name of the narrator until the end
of the novel. Just as Tancio talked about himself using the
third person singular form of the verb in order to hide his true
identity. the narrator of Yo mate a Kennedy. a Spanish
bodyguard. mentions the actions of Pepe Carvalho. a Spanish
assassin. These two people are in actuality the same person.
Due to this deception. unbeknownst to the reader. all the
personal details of the past and present of this bodyguard are
in truth those of Pepe Carvalho. Not only is vazquez Montalbén
experimenting with the narrator/characterIreader relationship.
he is once more using the novelistic form in an attempt to
frustrate and challenge the reader.

David K. Herzberger's article. "Antagonia como
metaficciOn". is a discussion of Luis Goytisolo’s usage of
metafiction in the novel. La colera de Aguiles. in which he
notes that the protagonist in many metafictional works is a
novelist himself. Therefore. the analysis of the creative
process is an action which comes naturally to him. The
protagonist in Goytisolo's novel is one of these
novelist/narrators and Herzberger points out her ability to
analyze the art of literary creation in general and to turn that
critical eye inward to her own works: ”Matilde se muestra

profundamente consciente de su papel de autora y narradora de la

106

novela. y de vez en cuando se disculpa por sus digresiones. ee
lamenta de su inhabilidad para recrear ciertas emociones. y aun

dirige nuestra atencion a los errores e inconsistencies de eu

obra. (Herzberger. p. 114)

The novelist/narrator in vazquez Hontalbén's short novel.
Happy End (Barcelona: Brugera. 1983). is relating what the
reader assumes to be true events in his past. He is telling his
story to an unidentified listener who assumes the role of
audience as well as literary critic. Unlike La gélera de
Aguiles in which the protagonist performs the task of critiquing
her own writing technique. it is this unnamed character who
continually questions the narrator’s choice of words. corrects
his details. and complains about his digressions. Not only is
the narrator called upon to deal with the questions and
criticisms of this one-person audience but also there is a
scriptwriter watching from the sidelines. ready to step in
should anyone try to change the plot of the original script. At
one point. the narrator feels that the moment has arrived for
him to ask the woman in his life. Lola. to marry him. However.
his spontaneous decision is thwarted:

Era e1 momento para decirle: dejalo todo. casemonos.

poblemos el Jardin de nifios rubios y pélidos. Y estaba

dispuesto a hacerlo. cuando mis oJos se cruzaron con la
feroz mirada que me lanzaba e1 guionista. En los oJos del
guionista vi la desesperacién y la rabia. Al fin y al cabo
yo era una pieza. una simple pieza en una vasta industria
del comportamiento humano. Asi es que me calls. deja que

Lola hablara y finalmente 1e propuse un corto viaJe.

solucién que me parecio a medio camino entre abandonarla a

su desesperacian y secundarla en sus propésitos
matrimoniales.

107

This narrator. who calls himself Humphrey Bogart. is on one
level the author of this story: it supposedly is his past that
he is relating. As such. like any other author. he must pay
attention to as well as endure the questions and criticisms of
his audience. On another level. he is a character playing a
part in those events. Due to this role. he is also at the mercy
of the scriptwriter who can step in at any moment and dictate
his actions.

In addition to the examination of the relationships between
author. narrator. character. and audience undertaken in figppy
Egg. there is also a feeling of ambiguity projected throughout
this novel. From the first page on. the reader can never be
sure if the woman who the narrator repeatedly meets by chance is
actually his former love. Lola. or simply someone who looks like
her. Finally. at the end of the novel. the narrator admits. to
the chagrin of his listener. that the whole story has been a
fabrication: he has never been involved in all of the described
revolutions nor met any of the famous people mentioned. Thus.
the narrator is not the only one who is at someone else’s mercy.
The reader and the listener within the story. have been deceived
by the narrator because he has proved to be a completely
unreliable reporter of events. The three narrators discussed.
Tancio. Pepe Carvalho. and Humphrey Bogart. have all. to varying
degrees. been used by vazquez Montalban in order to puzzle and
deceive the reader.

In Manifiesto subnormal. the work which started vazquez

108

Montalban’s "escritura subnormal" phase. the author combined a
collection of different genres which seemed to have no relation
to one another in order to frustrate his audience. In
Cuestiones marxistas (Barcelona: Editorial Anagrams. 1979). the
final installment of that series. vazquez Montalen again
juxtaposes dissimilar elements and challenges the reader to deal
with them as best he can. There are many levels at which he
employs this technique. Firstly. the main characters of the
book form a bizarre group, the Marx brothers: Groucho. Harpo.
and Carlos. Instead of Chico or Zeppo. vazquez Montalen
presents Karl Marx. the original Marxist theorist. as part of a
North American comedy act. It is rather incongruous to find
Carlos Marx writing a letter expounding upon Marxist values and
ideology to his ”brother”. Groucho. Continuing on with this
method of placing unrelated elements side by side. the choice of
the Marx brothers as protagonists is an appropriate one because
their brand of humor is based on Groucho’s ability to keep up a
steady stream of non sequiturs. a continuous flow of one liners
that has little or no connection to the previous statement. Yet
another example of this technique is found in the wide range of
characters that wander together through the pages of Cuestiones
_§rxistas. A good portrayal of this is the unlikely group of
people that finds itself together in the final chapter: Madame
Pompidou. Madame De Gaulle. Hamlet. the Boston strangler.
Patricia Nixon. Richard Nixon. Princess Grace. Nietzche. Sartre.

Mao Tse-tung. Henry Kissinger. Dr. Hyde. Johnny Halliday. Peter

109

Ustinov. and Bob Hope. One more level of the same method is
Vazquez Montalban’s style of slipping a very strange occurrence
into a scene which generates little or no appropriately amazed
response from those present. A prime example of this is the
following scene from the final section of the book as the
previously mentioned random group of characters interacts:
Hamlet consults el reloj.
-Se demora.
-—Se deja querer.
Contests el estrangulador de Boston mientras reducia
el cuello de Patricia Nixon a la delgadez de un spaghetti.
—-¢Es usted italiano?
Le presunto con un savoir faire principesco Grace de
Monaco.
-No. Soy de Boston.
—-¢De los estranguladores de Boston?
—-Si. Por perte de padre.

——3Qué caéncidencia! Mi madre estuvo en Boston mucho
antes que yo.

With this conversation. vazquez Montalen has created a dialogue
which parodies the everyday. banal small talk heard at any
party. However. in the middle of the ”normal" exchange of
”What’s your nationality?" and "Where are you from?". is the
Boston strangler calmly choking the life out of Patricia Nixon
as he chats amiably with.Grace Kelly. It is a simultaneously
strange, humorous. Marx ”brotherish" style specifically designed
to jar the reader out of his passive complacency to a more
agressive state where he must actively pay attention to the
story line and the construction of the work.

In the letter from Carlos Marx to Groucho. Carlos discusses
his opinion of the role that language plays in human

development:

110

vemos que el hombre tiene ’conciencia’. Pero no es una
conciencia que sea. de entrada. conciencia pura. Sobre el
espiritu pesa desde el principio una maldicion: la de ser
’maculado' por una materia que se presents. en este caso.
en forma de capas de aire agitadas. de sonido: es decir.
por el lenguaje. El lenguaje as ten antiguo como la
conciencia. el lenguaje es la conciencia real. practica,
existente tambien para los otros hombres. existente, pues.
entonces solamente para mi mismo: e igualmente que la
consecuencia. el lenguaje salo aparece con la necesidad de
relacién con los otros hombres. Casi te diria que la
conciencia de la relaciOn con lo que nos rodea. Cuando una
relacién existe. existe para mi. El animal 'no esta en
relacidn con nada’. no conoce finalmente ninguna relacion.
(Qfl. p. 85-86)

In Cuestiones marxistas. VAzquez Montalbén experiments with
language. that less than perfect method of communication which
supposedly distinguishes mankind from animals. The reader's
initial introduction to Groucho Marx finds him assuming the
squatting position of a dog and admitting that in actuality he
is a dog who has spent his life pretending to be a human. His
mother was convinced that being able to communicate with words
and passing as a human being was a worthwhile goal. However.
Groucho, the dog. is not prepared to accept this exalted opinion
of man and the spoken word. He has witnessed how words have
been employed to subjugate the powerless sector of society and
to render it mute:

los perros no son la medida de todas las cosas

aunque pueden parecerlo

porque las palabras las han hecho a nuestra medida

pero selo para que aprendamos a obedecer.

a agradecer y. finalmente. a callar

yo prefiero decir guau. guau. guau (QM. p. 10-11)

Harpo Marx himself is another person whose very presence

and state of being decries the assertion that one must be able

to use language in order to communicate. Anyone who has seen a

111

Marx brothers' movie knows that his lack of speech never
curtails his ability to convey his wants. needs. and opinions.
Harpo’s capacity to impart information without words and
Groucho's view of words as traitorous elements. not to be
trusted have prompted Groucho to say that:
nos limitamos a poner en duda el valor de las palabras a
valorar e1 tono por encima del sentido a despreciar tanto
el ruido de los anos como el de las

bocas. (QM. p. 12)

Throughout Cuestiones marxistas. Vazquez Montalban

 

manipulates the written manifestation of language in an effort
to discover just how much or how little words are capable of
communicating. In his experimentation. he sometimes reflects
his distrust of language by impairing its ability to communicate
through a distortion of the form itself and the events it
reports. There are sections in which he deletes punctuation.
creates nonsensical sentences filled with alliteration and
various forms of the same root.(-iUn ciego cegado por la
torture canta su ceguera y su tortural-O tal vez fuera mejor un
hombre que canta y le torturan para que se quede ciego.)(gfl. p.
48). and describes unbelievable scenes where cadavers climb out
of graves and begin to talk. On the other hand. alongside these
linguistic exaggerations are passages which demonstrate the
sheer power that words do in fact possess to express ideas and
feelings. Such a description can be observed in the words of
Groucho’s mother as she describes the anguish of life for those
who have lost a war and still suffer at the hands of their

OPPPBBSOTB:

112

La deeorientacion are total. Pusieron el este al oeste y
el norte en el sur. Tampoco estaba en su sitio el centro
del cielo. ni el de la tierra. Nos calzaron con zapatos
que andaban a1 revés y nos colocaron en caminos que jamas
saldrian del laberinto. Metieron aceite en los aqueductos
y lagrimas en los oleoductos. Llovia de la tierra hacia
las nubes. y al respirar morias asfixiado. Era imposible
ver el futuro mas alla de la cortina de banderas y
recuperar la confianza humana rodeados de aquel cerco de

vigias hambrientos de carne humans y dolor. (QM. pp. 27-
28)

Again Vazquez Montalban employs the technique of placing two
very dissimilar elements side by side. this time from a
stylistic perspective. These contrasting views reflect his
sometimes ambivalent attitude toward language. Certainly, as a
writer. he appreciates words and the potential for strength and
beauty that is within their grasp. Nevertheless. he is also
aware that language’s power can be abused if it is allowed to
take on more meaning than it deserves. As he cautions in
Manifiesto pubnormgl. ”De todas las traiciones que comets el
intelectual solo hay una grave: creer que ha entendido algo por
el mero hecho de haber sido capaz de ordenar una determinada
parcela de lenguaje." (ߤo P. 13-14)

The concept that the societies of the world are separated
into two groups. those with power and those without it (the
"verdugo/victima” dichotomy). is one of the basic elements of
those works included within vazquez Montalban's ”escritura
subnormal". Hith Yo mate a Kennedy he takes a tongue-in—cheek
look at one of the most powerful political families in the
United States. the Kennedys. and satirizes the machinations that

those with power go through in order to maintain the image of a

113

person in command. Late President John F. Kennedy is portrayed
as a shallow man who is constantly posing for the camera.
displaying his inflated image of himself and his country. and
changing his colors like a chameleon to play the politician by
appealing to the various groups within his "kingdom.” The
narrator indicates that he suspects that beneath this exterior
exists the potential of a good leader but power has arrested its
development. when he admits. "Me hubiere gustado conocer a este
hombre antes de que aprendiera a ser presidents. antes de que
todos sus Organos se hubieran modificado segun las funciones

"29 As well as this more individual portrayal 0f

presidenciales.
powerful people. vazquez Montalban explores this same issue on
the national level when he compares countries that play an
important role in world events and those peripheral ones that
are either forgotten or exploited by the world powers. These
two quotes exemplify the positions held by the United States and
Spain in the order of world importance. In a Thanksgiving Day
speech. Kennedy declares that "es evidente que la mas preclara
evidencia que podemos asumir nosotros. el pueblo norteamericana.
es la de nuestro destino privilegiado a1 frente de la marcha
historica de la Humanidad.” (Keg. p. 52) On the other hand. the
Spanish narrator comments bitterly upon his native country’s
transient impact upon the twentieth century world: "La
liquidaciOn del recuerdo de la guerra civil y de la posguerra es

la condiciOn 'sine qua non' para que los espafioles nos

integramos para siempre en el limbo de la sin sustancia y la

114

mediocridad. Es la altima vez que hicimos algo digno de
aparecer en la primera pagina de New York Timgg.” (523. p. 150)
Humphrey Bogart. the protagonist in Happy End recounts his
experiences as he takes part in the various civil wars and
revolutions of the present century including the Spanish Civil
War. the covert were carried on by the C.I.A. in Central
America. and the Cuban Revolution. All of these situations
demonstrate a never ending battle for power. as year after year
different pockets of bloodshed are added to the list. Much of
the time these conflicts are again inspired by the fight for
dominance between various ideological combinations:
Communism/Fascism/Capitalism. At one point. Humphrey Bogart
himself gets a taste of power when he becomes one of the leaders
of a new government that has just taken over the previous one by
force. Not only is the reader shown the power—induced
corruption of the man who engineered the ”golpe de estado.” the
"emancipador de pueblos”. into a repressive dictator but also
the protagonist’s attitude toward this alarming transformation.
In this instance. unlike the "hombre subnormal". the protagonist
i; a part of the power structure. However. his first reaction
toward the tyrannical actions of the leader of the regime
mirrors the lack of solidarity felt by subnormal man: ”’éLo
dejo correr?’. pense ya a los tres meses de compartir e1 poder.
Pero me dije: yo no soy la conciencia del mundo y unos afios de
reposo geografico e histérico me sentaran bien. Asi es que me

dio por el cinismo politico durante una temporada.”(fl§. p. 170)

115

In the end. Humphrey Bogart flees from this struggle for control
and the temptations that a majority of the power concentrated in
the hands of a minority creates.

As was discussed in the preceding section with respect to
the metafictional element found in these works. the treatment of

power in Cuestiones marxistas is a linguistic one as Vazquez

Montalban experiments with language and its potential for
communication with and control over others.

The power struggle that Vazquez Montalban depicts from
varying perspectives with his "escritura subnormal” is one more
in a long line of attempts on his part to portray the social and
political structures of the world. The picture that he paints
is a rather bleak one wherein ideologically opposed factions
continue to try to eliminate their differences by extinguishing
the other through warfare. Then. whoever ”wins” this armed
contest. whether they are considered freedom fighters or
terrorist guerrillas. members of a ”gloriosa cruzada” or a
"sublevacion". is extremely susceptible to the hardly new adage
that "power corrupts". For Vazquez Montalban. only a more equal
division of power among the people can prevent the existence of
the powerless and subjugated ”hombre subnormal”.

Apart from the metafictional and the social commentary
facets of his literary production. Vazquez Montalban has not
abandoned the themes and ideas which populate his past and
present nonliterary works. In Manifiesto supporma . he

discusses the development of what he calls a "Supersistema"

116

after World Her II and the first deployment of a nuclear bomb by
the United States in Japan. This ”Supersistema” is a term used
to describe the nuclear arms race between the two major world
powers: the United States and the Soviet Union and their
respective economic systems. capitalism and Communism. Since
each country had the capacity to obliterate each other and the
world many times over. the logic developed that it was this
ability to inflict total destruction which was to keep the world
in one piece. vazquez Montalban describes this outlook as. "Una
logica basada en el calculo de probabilidades de mutua
destrucciOn. enmascarada por el lenguaje—protocolo:
destruccién—disuasién. Y el equilibrio del terror que
rspresentaba el ping-pong atOmico pronto carecio de cualquier
significaciOn humanistica." (pg. p. 19)

In addition to the basic illogicality that vazquez
Montalban sees in a system which bases its hopes for survival on
constant arms buildup and the threat of nuclear holocaust. he
again brings to light the injustice inherent in this type of
setup. Though it is the United States and the Soviet Union who
continue to construct new and more deadly weapons. who decide if
and when they will participate in disarmament talks. who in fact
hold the destiny of the whole world in their hands. it is not
these two countries whose land and people are ravaged by the
continual battle between their two ideologies. One of the
characters in Zp_mapg_§ Kennedy explains: ”La guerra atdmica

nunca ocurrira. sugun él y sera definitivamente sustituida por

117

la serie de guerras convencionales (guerras civiles entre el
bien y el mal) en zonas marginales de la tierra. La guerra de
Espafla. segan Khan. ya fue un ensayo general de la nueva

estrategia." (5gp. p. 58)

 

"Lo importante segan Khan y sus asesores. es que las grandee
naciones conductoras ds 1a civilizacion industrial. no se vean

complicadas en enfrentamientos mutuos.’ (Egg. p. 58)
The popular culture and examples of its capacity to
influence and mirror a society and its people is one of the
princip1e focuses of Vazquez Montalban's written production and
his literary works are no exception. All of the books discussed
have. to a lesser or greater degree. some reference to popular
cultural expression. Once more. the majority of those
representatives mentioned are of North American extraction:

Errol Flynn. Lauren Bacall. Charles Laughton, Frank Capra. Ann

Margret. John Huston. Sharon Tate. King Kong. and Lee Strasbsrg.

The protagonist roles in both Cuestiones marxistas and Happy End
are filled by American actors: Groucho Marx and Humphrey

Bogart. In the latter the title itself is a reference to the
manner in which movies in a very real. tangible way have altered
the view that people hold of life. As Humphrey Bogart describes
it:

Pertenezco a la primera generacidn educada en el happy and
cinematografico. Hasta nosotros también se tenia la
ilusién de que los conflictos acaban. Por eso siempre se
hen planteado mal los conflictos personales. sociales.
histéricos. La debilidad ética del hombre le induce a
creer que las pssadillae terminan y adamas que terminan

118

bien. El cine he hecho todo lo demas. Les histories

terminan y por lo general bien 0 en algunos casos

excepcionales. terminan dramaticamente. Pero a poco que
mires la vida propia y ajena con los ojos abiertos
descubres que ninguna pssadilla termina del todo. porque la
vida misma es una pssadilla y la historia tambien. A lo
sumo se consigue mejorar las condiciones de la pssadilla en
la que te hallas metido. pero jamas sales de la pssadilla.

No sé si me explico. El colmo del colmo eran las

indecencias de Frank Capra. éRecuerda usted lae peliculas

de Frank Capra? ¢Los finalee? ioua inmoralidad! Ya es
nauseabundo que una historia de amor entre dos termine en

el beso del happy en.. (Hg. p. 158)

According to the narrator. movies with a ”Happy end”. similar to
religion with its promise of salvation. function as an opiate
that prevents people from having to face the fact that life is a
nightmare with no ”They lived happily ever after” finale that
they and fairy tales always promise. Neither the cinematic nor
the religious ”Happy end" can be counted on in this world.
Celine'e quote from Via e al fin de la noche. employed by
vazquez Montalban as an introduction to his work offers the only
solution: "Lo mejor que uno puede hacer cuando esta en este
mundo es salir de al. Loco o no loco. con 0 sin miedo.” (Hg. p.
137)

Another important theme seen in Vazquez Montalban's
nonliterary works. Spain's transformation into a consumer
society during the 1960s. plays an essential role in Recordando
a Darda. He employs this novel as a vehicle to exemplify the
modernization process that Spain underwent. The setting is a
small provincial town that is just beginning to have the

financial means to participate on a small scale in this move

toward consumerism. Their increased acquisitional power has

119

taken the form of appliances. motorcycles. a couple of cars. and
more than anything else. televisions. Owning a television set
is a status symbol. In the following quote Tancio. the
narrator. describes how more money breeds the desire for more
"things” and he points out the arrival of payment on the

installment plan which Amando ds Miguel also notes in 59

millones de eegafloles 40 aflos despues:30

Desde hacia unos dos aflos las mujeres del lugar habian
descubierto la compra a plazos y periédicamente el recadero
dejaba en el inmenso local del herrero los objetos recian
salidos de los almacenee de Barcelona 0 Gerona. La
prosperidad paulatina alcanzaba sorprendentes concreciones.
Una subida de sueldo se materializaba en una cocina de gas
buteno 0 en un aparato de radio con el que se podia oir
hasta Radio Andorra.... pero sobre todo se traducia en
televisorss. (32. p. 58)

 

Como un Dios luminoso. un televisor representaba la curve
ascendente de los Veinticinco Afios de Paz en su punto
maximo. (32. p. 59)

A new highway that is in progress promises to bring many
tourists who will not only supply money for the soon to be
aroused "sicosis de consumo” but change irrevocably the
atmosphere of the town. Another sign of "progress” is the new
factory which seems to be a mixed blessing for the women of the
town: "Las chicas del pueblo habian ganado una pequefia victoria
feminists contra sue familias y habian cambiado la esclsvitud
gratuita de la limpieza y s1 corte y confeccién por la
esclsvitud pagada del trabajo fabril en serio.” (3Q. p. 19) The
invention that Darda. the scientist has been secretly working on

in the town. his robots. are the ultimate of change.

modernization. the advancement of technology. and the loss of

120

the human element. The townspeople get caught up in the idea of
having robots, of this palpable indication that their little
town and Spain have finally begun to get in step with Europe and
the United States technologically. However. both author and
narrator are worried about this conversion to consumerism and
utilitarianism. They are afraid that Spain may have given up
more than it gained by succumbing at least in part to outside
influence and "progress". Even Tancio. "un moderno" finds
himself lamenting the loss of those pre-modernization values:
"Y. en cambio. recordando a Darde, algo me intranquiliza. Son
los recuerdos. lo que aquella gents hablaba. sentia. recordaba.
defendia desesperadamente como se lee fuera en ello la vida.”
(32. p. 133)

As has been observed throughout this discussion of vazquez
Montalban's "escritura subnormal". a majority of the subjects
which populate his nonliterary works are very much a part of
this literary phase as well. In addition to this new treatment
of some old themes. is vazquez Montalban's experimentation with
metafiction. With the introduction of this new element. he
permits the structure of the work itself to intermittently take
precedence over the thematic messages he wants to convey. When
one of those thematic messages, the ”subnormal” one. emerges.
the reader is confronted with what appears to be another facet
unique to this group of works. However. it is in fact a
reflection of what is at the very heart of all of vazquez

Montalban’s writing: Spain. The dichotomy of those with power

121

as opposed to those without it mirrors the divisions of the post
Civil War decades as Franco sought to keep the wounds of that
confrontation fresh. For Spain. the haves were the ”vencedores”
and the have-note were the "vencidos" and forgetting that
distinction was forbidden. Though the description of the
struggle for power rises from vazquez Montalban's very personal
experience in Spain. it is also an element of these works that

makes them universal as well.

Chapter 4
Manual vazquez Montalban’s Detective Novels
As a "Crénica Sentimental" of Spain’s Transition to Democracy

vazquez Montalban’s six detective novels are a chronicle of
the social. economic. and political changes that Spain has
undergone in the period of ten years which encompasses the death
of Generalisimo Francisco Franco and the transition to
democracy. In 1975. after being artificially stifled for so
long at all levels by the repressive measures of the Franco
regime. a suddenly unfettered Spain could finally begin to
experience the changes that other nations had gone through
gradually since the end of World War II. However. Spain’s
transformation has been telescoped into a short. explosively
unpredictable decade.

Spain’s search for a type of social and political
equilibrium has included the extreme stages of euphoria and
disenchantment felt by the people as King Juan Carlos allowed a
new democratic system to take its first tentative steps after
Franco's death. Though this struggle provides the background of
Vesquez Montalban’s detective fiction. it is a background which
permeates the books and forms the skeletal structure onto which
the author grafts his characters and crimes. To varying degrees
in each novel. vasouez Montalban illustrates these dramatic
alterations in the Spanish way of life. Fittingly. of all the
six novels within the series. it is Iatuaje. published in 1974

while the mandates of Francisco Franco were still in place.

122

123

which contains the least references to the Spanish social and
political system and any signs of change. In that novel. Pepe
meets two Spanish men in Amsterdam who have been forced by lack
of employment to search outside of Spain for a means of
subsistence for themselves and their families. This inability

of the Spanish economic system to support its work force is one

Of the recurring subjects in Vésquez Montalban's nonliterary
production. Another constant of Franco's industrial Spain and
Vésquez Montalban’s literary one are the effects of this
industrialization. One of the changes which signals a
progressive Spain but at the same time one that is ready to
sacrifice natural beauty for monetary progress is pollution.
This lamentable by-product of an industrial society has become
commonplace in nee-capitalist Spain.

With Lg_soledad del manager (Barcelona: Editorial Planets.
1981) comes increased mention of the continuing aftereffects
being felt by a Spain ”a medio camino entre la muerte de Franco
'y el intento de consolidacién democratica.”1 Published in 1977.
it depicts a stage in which the various political parties deemed
legal by the new democratic system are vying for dominance-
sometimes in a rather unorganized and violent manner. Within
the different descriptions of these political street skirmishes
between the many political party extremists and the police.
vasquez Montalban projects a feeling of inevitability and the
numbing effect of daily violence. seen in the demonstrations.

kidnappings. and terrorism. It is a rather nonchalant and

124

detached Pepe who watches the nightly lineup outside his window
as the various factions assume their battle stations along the
streets of Barcelona. "Anochecidas las Rambles. Carvalho smpezo
a captar los sintomas de que se acercaban las algaradas
cotidianas. La policia de la Brigade Especial Antidisturbios
habia empezado a tomar posiciones segdn un ritual de perpetuo
estado de sitio. Javenes contraculturales apoliticoe y jovenes
contraculturales politicos divorciaban sus grupos. En cualquier
momento podia aparecer un comando de ultraderecha actusndo como
provocados y por las aceras se deslizeban los militantes de este
y aquel pertido en busca de sus esdss ya legales. sin ganas de
verse mezclados en la inmediata trifulca. dispuestos a no verse
desmontados de un porrazo del recién adquirido caballo de la
legalidad y la reepetabilidad histOrica." (fig. p. 80)

The unrealistic belief in democracy as a panacea which
could counteract all the political and psychological decay left
behind by the Franco regime was a determining factor in
converting the original euphoria into a pervasive feeling of
disenchantment among the Spanish people. Juan Luis Cebrian
describes this period of time is his article ”The Pre-
Constitutional Experiment": "The country put great hopes in the
new system. because it was so weary of dictatorship: and
inevitably many exaggerated or irrational expectations were
bound to be destroyed. Enthusiasm was being further deflated by
the rise of a political ruling class already firmly installed in

the seats of power while the country was plagued by economic

125

stagnation and ruin. By the fall of 1976. the slogan ’We lived
better under Franco.’ was beginning to be popular. not only
among the nostalgic ultraright. but among large sectors of the
middle class and conservative groups. The worsening of public
disorder. inflation. and the high rate of unemployment plunged
politicians into a kind of disarray which led them straight
toward 'consensus'."2
Another aspect of the shift from dictatorship to democracy
which was disillusioning for some was the manner in which it was
implemented. There was much disagreement among Spaniards as to
the best way to effect a change-—both reform of the system
intact upon Franco’s death and a complete break with those who
ruled under Franco were possibilities. Ultimately. the
reformist system was chosen by the various political party
leaders as the wisest choice for Spain in its early moves toward
democratization. Thus. instead of arbitrarily throwing out
every element of the previous regime. the leaders of the
emerging political parties met together and attempted to work
out a series of compromises between the old and the new.
Richard P. Gunther in his article "Political Evolution Towards
Democracy: Political Parties”. discusses what he considers the
promisingly constructive type of negotiations which
characterized the drafting of the Constitution of the new
democracy as each group compromised in order to prevent the
explosive issues from polarizing the discussions. But he also

notes that some of the concessions made concerning the issues of

126

republic versus monarchy and religion’s role. especially by the
Partido Comunieta de Espafla (PCB) and the Partido Socialists
Obrero EBPafiol (PSOE) were not representative of the majority
opinion within these parties: "It must be noted that the
pragmatic. compromise behavior of the PCB and PSOE was the
product of initiatives taken by the leaders of these parties,
and cannot be regarded as a natural response to an altered
structure of masslevel public opinion: even one year after
elite-level resolution of this matter. significant pluralities
of Socialist and Communist voters preferred the concept of
’republic’ over ’monarchy.’ Instead. avoidance of potentially
disruptive conflict over this issue must be attributed to the
restraint and commitment to democratic stability of political
party leaders.”3 Similarly. he points out that. "It must also
be acknowledged that these compromises were the product of
independent actions of political leaders. and were not dictated
by public opinion-at the mass level. opinions on religious
issues remain potentially explosive to this day.” (22. p. 179)
In many ways. it seemed as if the party elite were making
decisions in a very exclusive way. not bothering to consult the
people they represented. Rosa Montero talks about "the
alienation of the majority” in her article of the same name when
she describes the feelings of the average Spaniard in the Spain
of the latter part of the 1970s and into the 80s. In her
opinion. the vital component of a true democracy. the people.

had been excluded from the decision making process and

127

specifically women and their personal concerns-abortion.
contraception. employment. and day care-were being ignored. In
that sense. there was little difference between the Franco
regime and the newly installed democratic system. This quote
describing Rosa Montero’s feelings of isolation from Spain's
political power structure in 1980 could be mistaken for words
written during Franco’s dictatorship: ”I feel as if Spanish
life is happening outside of me. without my having the slightest
opportunity to influence it. without being able to find any
support in the society that surrounds me. without being able to
identify with 'official Spain:' in short. I feel as if I were
hanging in a vacuum. And that. I believe. is a very common
sensation in Spain today. It is a generalized feeling of
uselessness. the alienation that I alluded to before.”4 Not
only was the disillusionment felt by many Spaniards caused by
the continued lack of a participating role but also due to the
fact that. as previously mentioned. the long awaited transition
to democracy was partially being put into effect by the same
people who had wielded the iron fist of the Franco regime. This
sentiment is seen in Lp_§oledad del manager as Antonio Jauma’s
accountant. Alemany notes that. ”Todo es politics. Ahora dicen
que vemos hacia la democracia. éDe la mano de quien? Puss de
los mismos charnegos que hicieron el caldo gordo al franquismo.”
(5M. p. 127) In Lg; marep_gel sur (Barcelona: Planets. 1979).
Pepe’s thoughts echo this phenomenon as he observes the campaign

promises and posters covering the walls of Barcelona immediately

128

preceding the municipal elections of 1979. "En ningfin programs
electoral se prometia derribar lo que el franquismo habia
construido. Es el primer cambio politico que respeta las
ruinas. Cada siglo construye sue ruinas y todo nuestro cupo de
ruinas las ha construido el franquismo. Tienee masculos
pequefios para derribar tanta ruins."5
The preceding paragraph illustrates one very real way in
which the budding Spanish democracy during the latter I970s was
not able to escape the influence of the past: people in
positions of power under Franco were not violently swept out by
a military coup. It was a relatively orderly and negotiated
move to a pluralist government. These people were constant
reminders of the years of one-man rule. Another example of this
carryover was found in the body which had been charged with the
task of enforcing the repressive measures during the
dictatorship: the police. Though new members had been
incorporated into the force since Franco's death. veterans still
remained who had been trained under a regime that was more
interested in pursuing and persecuting dissidents than in
worrying about human rights. In La soledad del manager. a pair
of policemen. one young. one old. symbolize this period of
transition in Spain's history as the factions of the past and
those of the present battle for survival. When Pepe implies
that the police may have tortured a man in order to get him to
supply information about Jauma’s murder. the younger of the two

is indignant that the detective would believe that such things

129

still continue to take place in the police stations of Spain.

He claims that such actions are no longer part of their on or
off-the-job formation. The older man who was around in earlier.
less ”enlightened” times is not so ready to accept that things
have changed. He tells a story of how his father. who was a
civil guard after the war. solved and prevented further stealing
in a small country town. The method used is indicative of the
cruelly efficient "ends justify the means” ways of the past:

”Mi padre era guardia civil en un pueblo en los shoe del hambre.
Cada die as robaba. Gallinas. Trigo. Conejos. Patatas. Y
cada die a quejarse a la guardia civil. Mi padre en cuanto
cogia a un sospechoso. zas. le metia los dedos en la ranura de
la puerta y catacrac haste que cantaba. Claro que se cometio
alguna injusticia y mas de uno se quedo con la mano jodida sin
haberse metido una gallina en el talego. Psro se dejaron de
robar gallinas.” (fig. p. 131) This story mirrors the basic
difference between a dictatorship and a democracy in their
treatment of alleged criminals. Dispensing with the rights of
the individual makes for a very efficient police unit. There is
no need to worry if the suspect is in fact guilty-—that would
confuse and slow things down too much. If a swift. severe. and
arbitrary punishment is inflicted. it will certainly deter
people from going against the police. In comparison. democracy
with its ”innocent until proven guilty” tenet and the many
checks and balances built into the system in order to protect

the rights of the accused. is a messy and slow way of

130

eradicating the criminal element. As one of the policemen

complains in Los mares del sur. "Ahora hay que tener abogado

 

durante el interrogatorio. ECOmo se puede sacarle algo a un
chorizo sin darle un par de hostias? Los que hacen las leyes
tendrian que tratar con ese gentuza." (Spa. p. 237)

Another element which helps to perpetuate the past in the
middle of the present are the vivid memories of the dictatorship
and the random violence that could be experienced at any given
moment during those years. Those who have suffered at the hands
of the Franco regime have not forgotten the feeling of fear
which permeated them and the world around them. They cannot
quite believe that democracy has eliminated the need for that
fear. When Pepe is called to the police station for questioning
in La soledad del managep. he is reminded of his own
incarceration due to his antieFranquist activities: it is a two
year period which has left an indelible imprint upon his life.
Disappearing through the doors of the police station used to
instill fear in the Franco days when a simple questioning could
turn into torture and a lengthy prison sentence. Charo and
Biscuter have not forgotten those days and are still not certain
that such injustices are strictly part of the past. As Biscuter
says upon finding Pepe outside the police station. "Ahi se sabe
cuando se entra. pero no cuando se sale. jefe." (SM. p. 153)

The few short years of democracy have not been nearly enough to
eradicate the remnants of the many long years of dictatorship.

An additional way in which La soledad del manager is a

131

reflection of the state of flux which Spain was experiencing is

also the reason behind the book's principal murder. that of

Antonio Jauma, It is Jauma who discovers that his own
multinational company. Petnay is using its money to finance
organizations of the ultraright in their violent endeavors.
Argemi feels that this constant threat of destabilization from
the right will prevent people from taking democracy for granted
and keep them fighting for the privilege to enjoy that system’s
basic freedoms. As with the nuclear arms race where the
possibility of total destruction is what keeps human beings
alive. the possiblilty of destabilization and revolution is what
will keep the various democratic factions talking and
compromising. It is this continued negotiation which will in
turn insure the eventual survival of democracy. This story line
is indicative of the fact that during this uncertain period of
transformation. big business attempted to play a role in
influencing the political and economic changes.

Los mares del sur opens in 1979 as the municipal elections
in Barcelona are about to take place. There are further
examples of continued disenchantment with some of the changes
wrought by Spanish democracy. Carvalho ”habia leido en los
periédicos que los abogados laboralietas tambien estaban en
crisis porque los obreros recurrian a los asesores legales de
las centrales sindicales. Unos y otros victimas de la
democracia. También los médicos y los notarios eran victimas de

la,democracia. Tenian que pager impuestos y empezaban a pensar

132

que el mejor estatuto politico es el del profesional que vive
bajo el fascismo pero practice cierto grado de resistencia
liberal." (55. p. 16) For certain sectors of the Spanish
public who were helped or protected by the laws of the Franco
regime. some of the new elements of democracy were less than
welcome.

A character in the novel who is understandably less than
enthusiastic over the coming of democracy and the legalization
of political parties is the marquee de Munt. He has been one of
the haves as opposed to a have-not during the Franco years. As
a partner in an influential business supported by the
government. this man has had a great deal of power. He also has
amassed great wealth and has become accustomed to and enjoys a
privileged life style. He is certainly one of that group of
people who has the most to lose should socialist values become
the guiding force in Spain. As Pepe says to him. "Su pesimismo
nace del temor de que las fuerzae del mal. los comunietas. por
ejemplo. se hagan duefio de lo que usted ama o posee." (figp. p.
87)

In addition. Vazquez Montalban presents the opposite
extreme of the economic scale when he takes Pepe Carvalho into
San Magin. an area made up of poorly constructed. practically
slum housing. The eyesore was built with money from the
business partnership of the marquee de Munt. Stuart Pedrell. and
Planes. all of whom have been a part of the ruling class: it was

the class with the money and the power to put that money to good

133

use-—at least what phgy deemed to be good use. For the people
who have resided in these areas with little or no means with
which to change their deplorable living conditions. the advent
of political parties is their chance to share some of that power
previously hoarded by the middle and upper classes. The lower
class is finally gaining legal representation as the formerly
clandestine Communist and socialist parties emerge from the
underground. Opposing views of how this emerging working class
should conduct itself in order to increase its power are shown
in Los mares del sur. Cifuentee. an older man who survived the
Civil War and various jail sentences during his many years of
opposition to the Franquist regime. represents that long-
suffering faction of the working class who believes that change
comes slowly and must not be pushed too hard. On the other
hand. Ana Briongos is impatient and angry at the snail’s pace of
the transition to a more equitable division of power. Cifuentee
describes Ana and the young working class individuals that she
represents:

Hay quien es cree que las cosas cambian de la noche al dia
porque uno quiere que cambien. Les faltan aflos y una
experiencia como la guerra. Pasar una guerra civil les
haris felts. El hombre es el anico animal que tropieza dos
y tree veces en la misma piedra. Una chica muy maja la
Briongos. Con un par de cojones asi. Lanzeda. Pero
impaciente. Aqui donde me vs. yo estoy en la brecha desde
1934 y he pasado por todo. oiga. porotodo. Palo que se ha
escapado. palo que se ha recibido. {Y que? .{Voy a ir por
ahi quemendo buzones? gUsted cree que hay que quemar
buzones? ¢Ha oido hablar alguna vez a Sole Tura? Puss una
vez le escuche yo una cosa que me hizo reflexionar. A ver
si me acuerdo. La burgueeis tardo custro siglos en llegar
al poder y la clase obrera salo tiene cien afios de
existencia histOrica como movimiento organizado. Palabra
por palabre. Se lo cito de memoria. Tiene cojones e1

134

asunto. Zno? Puss hey quien es cree que llega con el carné

de comisiones al palacio del gobierno y dice: Venga. a

case. que ahora mando yo. (Me explico? Gents asi a

montones. Hay que tener paciencia. Con paciencia no hay

quien nos venza. Ahora bien. si empezamos a dar palos de
ciego. puss nos los van a dar todas aqui, porque ellos de
ciego no tienen nada. Tienen mas vista que un sapo. (Sur.

p. 154)

Along with the continuing feeling of "desencanto" with the
problems that have accompanied that not so perfect form of
government called democracy. is a sort of nostalgia for the less
ambiguous. ironfisted rule of Francisco Franco. Under Franco.
Spaniards did not have the freedom to express their political
beliefs but they did have a fascist brand of law and order. they
did have less unemployment. they were not bombarded with crime
and pornography. they did have a man in power who was in
control. One of the people who lives in San Magin shows his
admiration for a strong. merciless hand in government when he
talks of Franco: ”Sobremoe dieciseis millones de espafioles. No
tenemos soluci6n. El si sabia meternos en cinturs y al que se
movie ‘zasl. 1a guillotine.” (Sur. p. 149) Another minor
character voices his opinions about the differences between the
past and the present. "Yo a Franco ne le debo nada. Bueno.'
nada: 1e debo la trenquilidsd y el trabajo. Porque mucho

criticar a Franco. pero con Franco no pasabs lo que pasa hoy.

Nadie quiere trabajsr." (Sur. p. 216) It is Pepe's friend.

 

Bromuro who expresses the explanation often given to rationalize
dictatorship rule: "Somos mala gente. Estamos todos locos.
Necesitamos mano dura." (Sur. p. 227) He also conjectures that

Spain might be better off with Franco back in power as he

135

complains about the present—day politicians’ willingness to

accept nuclear installations in their native land: "éHas visto

tn 108 Politicoe? Todos tragan. Todos dicen que si a las
nucleares. Ah. eso si. Que se instalen con la aprobacibn
popular. la juerga democratica que quads a salvo. Un Munoz
Grandee nos haria falta. Y haste un Franco. te diria.” (Spy. p.
228) Though Pepe is quick to remind him that it was Franco
himself who allowed the first such installations to be
constructed. Bromuro. like some other Spaniards. is permitting
his feelings of disillusion and disenchantment with the faults
of democracy to color his memories of the decades of
dictatorship. They are remembering the relatively stable and
starkly efficient front maintained by the Franco government and
forgetting at what cost to basic human rights it was achieved.
Given the fact that vazquez Montalban is a member of the
Communist party who endured the years of illegality during the
Franco regime including a one-and-a-hslf year period in jail due
to his anti-Franquist activities. the portrayal of the Communist
party found in Aggginato en el Comita Central (Barcelona:
Planets. 1981) is a remarkably objective description. Through-
Pepe Carvalho. vazquez Montalban presents not only the history
of one man. but also that of the Communist party in Spain. It
is a picture of a ”nonexistent" political party that has
suffered decades of persecution. exile. and incarceration of its
members throughout the Franco dictatorship. After so many years

of false identities. secret meetings. and other clandestine

136

activities. they have entered a new and amazing epoque: that of
a legalized political force. In the meeting of the Spanish
Communist party which opens the novel. the thoughts of the man
who is second in the party’s line of leadership. Santos Pacheco.
display his amazement at their new status as a legal. recognized
political party: ”'Aan no nos creemos del todo que podemos
reunirnos. Que Fernando esta aqui. Que hays una furgoneta
llena de guardias protegiendo la entrada lateral del hotel.'”6

There are various flashbacks to Pspe's years as a party
member that give the reader an idea of the physical and mental
torture suffered by the Communists under Franco. It is a
history which many Communists share as can be seen in this
exchange between Pepe and Floreal Salvatella. another member of
the Communist Executive Committee:

"Usted fue juzgado en Barcelona hacia fines de los
cincuenta. Condenado a mas de un siglo de carcel. Salio a
la calls a fines de los sesenta. a! luego?”

"Pase a la clandestinidsd y alli estuve haste la
legalizeciOn en 1977. Es una historia casi vulgar en
nuestro partido. Cuando se refine un Comité Central se
reanen mas de cinco siglos de condenas." (Agg. p. 47-48)
Pepe himself was a victim and a witness to various forms of

persecution. He thinks back to being taken in for questioning
by the police and being beaten. hung out a window with the
threat of being dropped. and seeing one of his jail mates with a
broken clavicle suffered during an "enthusiastic” interrogation.
These are thoughts that Pepe has tried to blot out of his mind

but that nevertheless have continued to linger on the edge of

his consciousness. Dealing with the Communist party has dredged

137

up past experiences and past feelings. He remembers distinctly
what he would like to forget: "Cinco anoa de 1ntgrcamb13rge
maletas de doble fondo. de recibir contactos con el exterior que
entraban en Espafia para volver a salir por el mismo tanel de
entrada. desconfiados de los que no pudieran enterarse a través
de Mundo Obrero 0 de Radio Espafla Independiente.” (52;. p. 53)

In addition to the overt censure and persecution which the
members of the Communist party have had to withstand. another
more insidious problem has plagued them: the prevalent
stereotype which depicts Communists as some kind of less than
human savages who go through life violently plotting the
downfall of civilized man. Their constant attempt to counteract
this opinion is exemplified in the following description of
Pacheco and Salvatella's behavior: ”8610 se sentaron cuando
Carvalho lo eugirio y adn entonces lo hicieron con la recatada
prudencia con que todo comunista va por la vida. tratando de
demostrar que no tiene nada que ver con la imagen de
incivilizados salvajes desalmados que les ha prefabricado el
capitalismo." (QQQ. p. 29)

Also found within this novel is a description of the
personal sacrifices which a Communist party professional of the
1970s and 80s is forced to make. For the committed. belonging
to this party is not a part-time endeavor: it means devoting
oneself to the cause day and night. Pepe asks his contact with
the Communist party. Carmela. if she is a party professional.

Her answer demonstrates what being a party professional means:

138

”’51 a ganar treinta y seis mil pesetas por todo el dia y
algunes noches. sin vacaciones tranquilas. ni pages y haste
ahore sin medico del seguro. le llamas ta ser una profesional.
pues si. soy una profesional.’" (ACC. p. 60)

Santos Pacheco also describes what his Communist
affiliation and dedication to his beliefs have cost him: "Yo no
he visto crecer a mis hijos: soy un extrafio pars ellos.
Nuestros hijos hen crecido gracias a la tenacidad de nuestras
mujeres que han vivido como viudas. de carcel en carcel. de
juzgado en juzgado'” (_£". p. 178) Belonging to an unpopular
and illegal movement has always required more from its members
then being part of an accepted one. For many of its number.
being a Spanish Communist has meant sacrificing one’s life-
either figuratively or literally.

Another member of the Executive Committee. Lecumberri
Aranaz. also feels that being a communist has cost him a great
deal. He plans to give up his role as party professional
because he would like to see his children grow up. do whatever
he wants on weekends. He has also realized something about
himself and perhaps other members of the Spanish Communist
party: "'No soy un revolucionario. soy simplemente un
antifascista. Bee es un descubrimiento que muchos hemos hecho
despuas de morir Franco y no nos lo hemos clarificado
suficientemente a nosotros mismos. Mal asunto cuando militar se

convierte en una rutina.’" (ACC. p. 228) He has fought for a

good cause in his effort to rid Spain of fascist control. But

139

his reason to fight has been removed and now he wants to live
his own life.

With Aseeinato en el Comite Central. vazquez Montalen
presents different views of the Spanish Communist party. Like
any other large organization. there is dissension within its
ranks as the various factions vie for dominance. His
characterizations of the members of the Executive Committee show
them to be noble. dedicated. and self-sacrificing as well as
hard. power hungry. disillusioned. and burnt—out. He portrays
them as more than anything else. human. capable of fierce
devotion but fallible at the same time. Vazquez Montalban’s
Communists are not red monsters nor are they white saints: they
are people.

Los pajaroe de Bangkok (Barcelona: Planets. 1983) finds
Spain on the verge of another important political event: the
national elections of 1983. During the course of the novel. the
tour group that Pepe is with learns that Felipe Gonzalez and the
socialists have won by a majority. It is Pepe who asks and
discovers that the Communists only won five seats in the Cortes.
Afterwards their guide Jacinto discusses the persecution of
Communists that has gone on in Thailand in the past and the
present. It is a somewhat subdued and thoughtful Carvalho who
makes the mental switch from the Thai Communists to their
Spanish counterparts: "Carvalho quito palmeras al asunto. lee
sustituyo por sbetos pirenaicos y su recuerdo se poblo de cares.

difusas shore. como si fueran rostros de ahogados en el oceano

140

de la normalidad. Hebian vivido en la jungle durante cuarenta
afios pare llegar a cinco diputados."7 It seems unbelievable and
unjust to him that forty years of clandestine meetings. furtive
conversations. jail sentences. relentless persecution without
surrendering. have culminated in the staggeringly small total of
five seats in the Spanish government.

The element of Spain which forms the background of the
final novel written to date. La Rosa de Alejandria (Barcelona:
Planets. 1984). is the ongoing difficult economic situation and
the psychological effects of unemployment on an individual and
his family. Charo's cousin Mariquita. her husband. and their
son are focused upon as the family whose male breadwinner has
lost his job. Mariquita has to work and try to cope with her
husband's shrinking self-esteem and depression at the same time.
A once strong and happy man has been reduced to a crying
complainer who drinks and does housework only until his male ego
can no longer handle the idea of doing "women's work". His job
has always formed his self-concept and without it he feels like
a useless parasite feeding off his family and society. Thus.
the roles of breadwinner. housewife. and psychiatrist all fall
to Mariquita. 'From time to time. this pressure is simply too
much for her to handle and she vents her frustration on her
husband. This in turn lowers his self-respect another notch
which continues the relentlessly destructive cycle in which they
are involved. It is a no-win situation that seems to have no

solution. short of procuring a job again.

Another

141

victim of the high unemployment rate is the son of

these two people. Andras. In order to help support his family.

he is forced
he must take
is a type of

to find out.

to get a job. Due to the scarcity of employment.
a job cleaning up at a house of prostitution. It
employment that would appall his parents were they

As such. he is not only performing a degrading

task but lying to his family in the process. In her article.

Rosa Montero

unemployment

also discusses the economic crisis and high

rate in Spain and points out the groups most

affected by these difficulties:

But we could also speak of the young people. I have

already
last to

said that women are the first to be fired and the
be hired. Young people in this growing sea of

unemployment are never hired at all. They leave their

schools.

their universities. to face unemployment.

University students are underemployed when they can find

even such jobs:

I know people with degrees in chemistry who

drive taxis. lawyers who work in bingo parlors. economists
who sell in department stores. The situation of lower

class.

unskilled youth is even more desperate. Many of

them turn to delinquency. (Aflv p. 47)

What is even more devastating than the present working situation

is the attitude that Andrea has adopted toward the future and

its capacity

to supply him with a decent living. Not only is he

extremely unhappy and dissatisfied with the present but he also

seems to have no hope that time will change his prospects for a

respectable existence.

He describes his view of his life in the

following paragraph: "Yo vivo tree malas vidas. Mi casa. mis

estudios inatiles y mis trabajos a salto de meta. No me tenga

en cuenta.

Nunca llegera a nada. En sue tiempos. chicos como

yo llegaban a directores de Banco por el procedimiento de

142

smpezar de botones. Ahora ni siquiera pueden ser botones. Ya
no hay botones."8
A part of the economic system which seems to have changed
very little at least in some areas since the triumph of the
socialists in 1983 is the dominance of the rich land holder in
the rural areas of Spain. The often absentee landowner family
is still in evidence and in power. While spending a lot of time
elsewhere. they have not forgotten that their land and their
position is a veritable "gallina de huevos de oro”. (35. p. 97)
The fictitious Montiel family of La Rosa de Alejandria is one of
those influential clans who seems to have a monopoly on the
power and money of Albacete-a monopoly that has endured the many
governmental changes witnessed in Spain throughout the years.
One of the townspeople describes the extent of their influence
as he talks of the murder of Encarnacion. the wife of one of the
favored few. Luis de Montiel: "Un crimen horroroso del que por
aqui todo el mundo habla. pero en voz baja. porque la familia
tiene mas poder que todos los diputados de Alianza Popular y el
PSOE juntos. Mandaban en tiempos de los Reyes Catalicos.
mandaron con Franco y mandan shore." (3A. p. 102) The deeply
entrenched system of Latifundia dies out slowly in the newly
emerging Spain. On the other hand. there 3;; signs of change
depicted in the novel. According to the wife of the mayor of
Molinicos. the former unequal distribution of power has begun to
change. The death of Franco and the installation of the.

socialists pgyp brought about a more egalitarian system in some

143

places: "Yo también me vine. y cuando se murio Franco. todos
estos pueblos salieron de una dormida politics que no veas y mi
marido y yo ayudamos que la gente tomera conciencia y a que
dejaran de mandar los que habian mandado siempre.” (3;. p. 139)
In her opinion. things "hen cambiado y para bien. Ya no hay
aquel salvajismo y aquel miedo de la posguerra.” (5A. p. 139)
These two differing pictures of rural political life in Spain
are indicative of the fact that it has only been ten years since
Franco’s death. The ways and values of the past are still at
least partially intact as Spain’s citizenry attempts to replace
them with new ones.

The question of regional autonomy in Spain has been a
constant issue across the centuries. The attempt at total
eradication of regional differences during the Franco regime
could not extinguish those identifying aspects nor the people's
desire for varying degrees of autonomy. Not surprisingly.
regional autonomy has continued to hold a position of great
importance for Spaniards during the transition years. This
importance is exemplified in La Rosa gs Alpjgndria when vazquez
Montalban refers to autonomy and regional variations on several
occasions. These references are sometimes related in a joking
manner. as if mocking the extreme interest that these
identifying traits have generated. At one point. Pepe observes
that even the prostitutes are trying to entice prospective
customers by identifying themselves regionally. A minor

character notes that regional culinary specialities have also

144

become a symbol of pride in restaurants "donde sl morbo
auton6mico ha convertido el gazpacho en una sefia de identided
regional....” (RA. p. 101) Whether delivered in a humorous or
a serious manner. these references illustrate the continuing
relevance of the regional issue in the Spain of the 1980s.

In La Rosa de Alejandpig. as in his previous novels. there
is a marked nostalgia for the Spain of the past. before the
advent of industrialization. foreign tourism. technology. the
consumer society. and westernization. The protagonist and other
characters mourn the simplicity. familiarity. clean air. and the
distinctly Spanish flavor that were all taken for granted before
and now are not always easy to find. The Barcelona streets of
Pepe’s childhood no longer exist because "progress" has changed
them. has allowed them to become homogenized areas which look
the same from one place to another. Pepe observes that ”nada
quedabe del paieaje de antaflo. Todo se parecis a cualquier
suburbio de cualquier ciudad y a Carvalho le molestaban las
destrucciones del paisaje de eu memoria.” (3;. p. 48)

The men on Ginée' boat have a conversation about how
different the sailor’s life is in reality from the one they
dreamed about as children. It is the new world of technology and
computers which has denied these men the self-sufficient. man
against the sea life that they were promised in books and
movies: "Lo que nos pass es que nos hicimos marinos por culpa
de lo que habiamos leido de nifios y luego results que todo esta

controlado. Te dicen por telex que vs a pesar y lo que vas a

145

hacer. TOCEB un bOtOn y el barco a babor. Otro y a estribor.”
(EA. p. 120)

In Albacete. Pepe runs into a rather talkative native of
that area who also has his doubts as to the positive value of
.the changes that he has witnessed. Spain has. without a doubt.
experienced change--but change does not necessarily signify
progress. For some. it may in fact be a step backwards: ”Si
usted hubiera visto el barrio antiguo. alli en 91 Alto de 13
Villa. la vida alegre que habia. Pero no dejaron nada y ahora
ya lo ve usted. e1 progreso. Albacete es el Nueva York de la
Mancha. o algo asi." (RA. p. 135) This statement exemplifies
the feeling that changing things does not always improve them
and that the old way is not always the bad way.

This tendency to look back on the seemingly uncluttered and
simple past with nostalgia and longing is a very common action
universally as well as specifically for Spain at this point. In
general. people tend to view the past through rose—colored
glasses which hide the bad and highlight the good. According to
vazquez Montalban. in the uncertain present which the democratic
transition years have proved to be. it has been appealing to
look back at the past and yearn for what one does not have in
the present. Spaniards have found. as have so many other
cultures. that once modernization commences. it is a flooding
current that cannot be turned back no matter how much one longs

for the simplicity of the past.

Vazquez Montalban also uses La Rosa de Alejandria to

146

showcase yet another facet of the past: its power to reach out
and influence the present. It is a common occurrence that two
people who have experienced exactly the same event come away
from it with strikingly different perceptions. That is
especially true for Spaniards who have survived the Civil War.
its aftermath. and the years of Franco’s dictatorship. Civil
war divides the people of a country in ways unlike war against
an outside aggressor. The two sides which took up arms against
each other between 1936 and 1939 in Spain were figuratively not
allowed to lay down those arms during Franco's lifetime. As
Carr and Fusi state: "Franco's vision of himself as the saviour
of Spain in a Crusade to rescue ’true' Spain from ’anti'-Spain
and its foreign allies was to set its mark on the history of
Spain for four decades. The most important legacy of the Civil
War was the subsequent division of Spanish society into two
camps: the victors (’vencedores’) and the vanquished
(’vencidos'). The 'vencedores’ would rule and enjoy the fruits
of power. the 'vencidos' never." (SQQ. p. 18) Due to this
concerted effort on the part of Franco and the right in general.
the divisive effects of the Civil War have endured longer and
more powerfully in Spain. With L§_gp§§_gg_élgjgpgplg. vazquez
Montalban presents the reader with two representatives of those
warring factions along with their views of the past and its
ability to manipulate their present. Though Pepe was too young
to actually take part in the Civil War. he can be classified as

a member of the 'vencidos’ because his father fought on the

147

Republican side and was imprisoned for a time. As will be
discussed in the section analyzing Pepe's personality. there is
no doubt that his father and therefore. subsequently Pepe. was
greatly affected by the war and his experiences therein. Pepe
was exposed day after day to a man whose cynicism and loss of
faith in life and the humanity of man was almost palpable. In
.addition to his childhood. Pepe later spent many years inside
the Communist underground as a part of the continuous opposition
to the Franco regime. an act which culminated in two years in a
Francoist jail. This jail sentence not only cost him two years
of freedom but also a lifetime of trust in his beliefs and in
his fellow man. Their effect on him is a lingering. if mostly
subliminal one as can be seen by the dream he has as he sleeps
fitfully through a New Year's celebration hangover on the first
day of 1984. Pepe dreams that there was a mistake and he still
has three months left to serve on his jail sentence. By giving
a short history of some of the happenings since Franco's death.
the transition to democracy. the release of political prisoners.
amnesty. and the present socialist government. Pepe tries to
explain why he should not be imprisoned again. His reasons are
all to no avail as the jailer explains that the socialist
government has to be especially careful to adhere as closely as
possible to the letter of the law so as to remain above the
criticism of the opposition. It is a dream that demonstrates
that Pepe has not been able to forget the pain suffered in the

past: it is still there waiting to burst into his consciousness

148

as soon as he lets his guard down. As the dream shows. once
trust as well as freedom has been snatched away. there can be no
assurance that it will not happen again. Similarly. once a
person loses faith in the power of other people and political
parties to bring about change and justice. that faith is
difficult to restore. The inability or unwillingness of the
socialist government to commute the remaining three months of
Pepe’e sentence in his dream. is indicative of Carvalho’s
corresponding inability to trust in the promises of democracy
and socialism.

Unlike Pepe. who in many ways would like to forget the past
but cannot completely escape its clutches. Bromuro has the
opposite problem. As a victorious Nationalist soldier. those in
power for so many years have allowed and encouraged him to be
proud of his accomplishments: his fighting in Russia with Munoz
Grandee as a member of the Blue Division. his presence as a
soldier with General Yague in the liberation of Barcelona. His
is a past that had been honored by the police under Franco: they
knew who he was and did not cause problems for him. However.
the old guard is finally being replaced by the new. as young
people who have not been trained with dictatorship methods start
to take over in the police force. Not only are they young but
according to Bromuro. they are also ignorant of the history of
their own country. The mention of Bromuro's heroes from the
Civil War no longer bring him preferential treatment. Franco's

demise and the at least partial reconciliation brought about by

149

King Juan Carlos and democracy have permitted the National
version of 'true’ Spain’s triumph over ’anti’-Spain to fade a
bit. With the new socialist government. Bromuro is afraid that
remembering or studying the past that he lived and fought so
hard for is now out of style. He complains to Pepe that. ”Es

que no 198 ensenan historia. Pepe. Saber historia esta en

descredito. La gente vive sl dia y apenas tienen en cuenta lo
que peso ayer. La gente con memoria no tiene sitio en este
mundo.” (BA. p. 204-205)

The past and its influence over the present is often
fickle. Depending upon the nature of the past experience. it
can be a safe haven to bask in pleasant memories or a
frightening corner full of events which are reminders of how
cruel and unjust the world can be. For both Bromuro and Pepe.
the past is still a driving force in their lives. However.
Bromuro is trying to hold onto a past considered noble under
Franco. which is gradually losing status while Pepe is
attempting to let go of a long maligned one that is finally
receiving some recognition.

As previously noted. many of Vazquez Montalban’s other
literary and nonliterary works have painted the destinies of
Spain and the United States as tied together on many levels. In
his opinion. it is a tie that binds and sometimes strangles as
Spain is often engulfed by the influence of the North American
superpower. As such. an analysis of the ways in which vazquez

Montalban depicts Spain's transition to democracy must include a

150

treatment of the manner in which the author portrays the United
States as well.

Through many of the journalistic offerings produced by
Manuel vazquez Montalban and certainly in his book Lg
penetracién americana en Espafia. there is an obvious critical
stance toward the United States. He rails against the
imperialist attitude that he observes in this country. that
superior perspective which allows the United States to see
itself as the sun and all the other countries as the planets
which revolve around its magnificent brilliance. In his
opinion. the United States has infiltrated Spain on every level:
economically. politically. and culturally. In many ways.
vazquez Montalban’s detective novels are also a reflection of
this all-encompassing invasion outlined in some of his
nonfiction. By choosing to create a variation of the hard—
boiled detective story. vazquez Montalban himself has employed a
form which originated in the United States and has continued to
be a typically American creation. While there is no doubt that
he has imbued it with various techniques and themes that make it
truly his own and give it a definitely Spanish flavor. the
American influence is also strikingly apparent in the literary
style and the ambivalent character of his hard-boiled
protagonist.

Throughout his detective novels. there are constant
references to various forms of pop-culture such as cinema and

television and the various actors and singers who choose these

151

media as the stage for their talents. Vazquez Montalban again

mirrors the cultural influence of the United States which he has
witnessed in Spain because the great majority of these
intermingled asides are "made in America”. When Pepe mentions
that he is a private detective. Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe and
their cinematic counterpart. Humphrey Bogart. are the names that
come out of the mouths of his amazed acquaintances. When Pepe
listens to the headphones on the airplane to Bangkok. it is Ella
Fitzgerald and Stevie Wonder who serenade him. When he looks up

at a theater marquee. Fritz the Cat and Kramer vs. Kramer are

 

the titles that stare down at him. Marta Miguel escapes her
real—life torments by watching the fictitious ones on Dynasty.

In Iatuaje. a woman cries like Warren Beatty in Splendor in thg

Grass. In L08 Rajaros de Bangkok. Pepe is served in a

 

restaurant by an effeminate waiter who bats his eyes like Donald
Duck’s girlfriend. This multitude of American references found
in novels written in general for the literary consumption of the
Spanish population. is in itself proof of the depth of the
United States pop-cultural invasion. Assuming that an author
attempts to include analogies and comparisons that have meaning
for his reading public. the Spaniards for whom vazquez Montalban
writes must be knowledgeable about a variety of elements of
North American society.

There are also other references to the United States which
portray the aforementioned imperialistic attitude. In Lg;

pajaros de Bangkok. when Pepe goes to the Spanish embassy in

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Bangkok hoping to gain information on the whereabouts of Teresa
Mares. the reader is given the following description of that
embassy and its next-door neighbor:

La Wireles Road are una calls tranquila y residencial.
condicionada por la inmensidad aplastante de la omnipotente
embejada americana. con canales y lagos interiores para una
jardineria tropical privilegiade. Inmediatamente al lado
yacia 1a embejada espsfiola. la casita de los porteros.

(EB. p. 155)

This view of the building which houses the United States embassy
is in many ways a representation of the country itself. one
which is a combination of the author’s viewpoint and that of the
American population. This building is not just large. it is
characterized by an "inmensidad aplastante". an overwhelming
size that reaches out and hits one in the face. Many of the
countries of the world view the United States in that way. huge
in its size. and all—encompassing in its wealth and power. This
is a privileged and omnipotent embassy which represents a people
who sees itself as somehow all-knowing and part of a select few
called upon to rule the world. In stark contrast is the
description of the Spanish embassy as the little house belonging
to those designated as the ones who serve the more powerful
Americans.

Later on in the same novel. Pepe is discussing the role of
the United States in Thailand and he asks the policeman. Charoen
if the Americans fight against drug trafficking in his country.
Charoen’s answer is another in the long list of indictments

meted out against Americans: "No. Luchan contra s1 trafico de

droga hacia los Estados Unidos. Que vaya a otras partes no lee

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imports." (EB. p. 178) The United States is portrayed as a
totally self-serving country that participates in the control of
drugs only if it affects its own personal interests. As long as
it has no effect on their citizens. the spread of such dangerous
drugs means nothing to them.

Due to the staggering influx of tourists onto the sunny
expanses of Spain. they have become one of the prime targets of
the sometimes poison pen of vazquez Montalban. In his opinion.
the money which tourists have poured into the Spanish economy
cannot come close to outweighing the damage they have done
during their invasion of Spanish soil. In Los pajaros de
Bangkok. he spares no nationality as he portrays the foreign
tourists in Bangkok as self-centered slobs who think that
Thailand was created solely for their vacationing pleasures.
These are not enlightened travelers fascinated by the cultural
variations this country has to offer: they are thrill-seekers
searching for the weird and the wild while they scorn the very
cultural differences which are typically Asian. Traveling seems
to bring the ethnocentrism out in people. They can suddenly
clearly see the ludicracy of foreign customs but be blind to
similarities in their own national equivalent. The author
selects his Spanish compatriots as the example of this as he
describes their reactions to their guide’s explanations of the
Buddhist religion. These Spaniards are:

gentes dispuestas a tomarse en serio las interpretaciones

teatrales del clero catalico. pero s tomarse a chacota las

interpretaciones teatrales de los monjes budistas. a caer
de rodillas ante el brazo incorrupto de santa Teresa. pero

154

a morirse de riss cuando Jacinto les dijera que bajo un

colosal templo estaba enterrado un diente de Buds. (2;. p.

167)

They are always "dispuestos a ver la basura de Asia sin recorder
ls mierda de Espafia." (_B. p. 233)

Their North American counterparts receive their share of
criticism. too. as North American tourists continue to exhibit
the egocentric attitude which according to these varied
references is the salient characteristic of the United States
and its people. It is a drunken North American tourist who
keeps interfering with one of the Thai cultural exhibitions.
Everytime the tourist is returned to his seat. he passes around
some of the almighty American dollars that permit him to be as
obnoxious as he wants. In addition to this disparaging portrait
is that of the tourists that Pepe encounters at his hotel. As
the countries of the world must be careful not to step on the
toes of that world power. the United States. so the other
tourists at the hotel must watch their step around the young
North Americans "para no pisotear a los jOvenes tenistas del
Imperio.” (EB. p. 177) For the Americans. Bangkok. like the
rest of the world. is their private playground. one of their
many colonies.

Another less than complimentary North American

representative is the businessman who is traveling with Antonio

Jauma when Pepe first makes his acquaintance in La soledad del

 

manager. This caricature of a man again symbolizes the

sthnocentric and imperialistic perspective seen in Americans.

155

Similar to many Americans who see no need to learn a foreign
language and show their condescension with the comment. "Let
them learn English". this man has lived on a military base in
Spain for eight years and still can only utter a few. random
Spanish words. His rationalization for this demonstrates his
lack of respect for the host country and its people:
"Las bases tienen una vida autOnoma. Selo empleamos
gentes del lugar para el servicio y para..."
Con uns carcajada camplice e1 americano hizo un gesto
suficiente. probablemente aprendido en algan bar de cadiz.

(fig! pe 12)

In a November 16. 1974 article in Triunfo written by
vazquez Montalban ("Espafia—USA: Las bases"). he criticizes the
United States intervention in Spain and the rest of Europe
while at the same time cautioning against falling into the trap
of total anti-Americanism:

Una es la America de Theodore Roosevelt. Nixon. ls

United Fruit Company y John Wayne. Otra es Is America de

Eugene McCarthy. Joan Baez y Spencer Tracy. Los pueblos no

tienen maldades congenitas. Son las situaciones histéricas

que les dividen a los pueblos en verdugos y victimas. (p.

11)

Perhaps in an effort to show that he himself has not fallen prey
to that very temptation. vazquez Montalban is capable of
describing a sympathetic and even heroic North American as he
does with Jim Thompson in Lg; pajaros de Bangko . Charoen has
blamed the majority of Thailand’s problems on foreign
intervention. especially the Americans. However. he tells the
story of Thompson who stayed in Thailand after the war and

helped develop the production of silk. one of the few foreigners

who gave something to the country instead of taking. Unlike

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this example. the vast majority of American references are of a
critical nature. However. one of the primary functions of the
hard-boiled detective novel is to look carefully at society in
order to ferret out its faults. Due to this goal. it is not
surprising that the jeers take precedence over the applause.

The abundance of American popular cultural references
alongside an equally large dose of anti-American sentiment
portrayed in these novels. is indicative of the love-hate
relationship that Spain has had in the past and continues to
carry on with the United States in the 1980s.

The decade since the death of longtime dictator Francisco
Franco has been a time of great flux for Spain. It is an epoch
that has encompassed varying degrees of euphoria.
disenchantment. uncertainty. and fear as Spain moved from
dictatorship to democracy. from an attempted military coup to
the rise to power of the socialists. vazquez Montalban’s
detective fiction is a chronicle of that now-faltering. now-
surefooted period of transition. As such. once again a parallel
can be drawn between the literary and nonliterary production of
vazquez Hontalban: they both count Spain as one of their main

characters.

Chapter 5
The Development of the Protagonist
One of the characteristics which strongly identifies Pepe
Carvalho as a descendent of the Continental Op. Sam Spade. and
Philip Marlowe is his continual unwillingness to trust and
become emotionally involved with other people. It is true that
Pepe unlike most hard-boiled detectives has a steady girlfriend
throughout the whole series. This would seem to be evidence
that he is able to connect with another human being in ways that
his predecessors could not or would not. However. on close
inspection. the nature of the relationship between Carvalho and
Charo is indicative of his doubts as to the advisability of
totally committing oneself to another. Firstly. Charo is a
prostitute. While perhaps a fittingly unromantic profession for
the genre that has coupled its male protagonists with drug
addicts. gamblers. and murderesses. it is a type of work which
automatically separates Pepe and Charo on a certain level.
Though she is very committed to him on an emotional and
psychological level. she betrays him sexually every day. There
is no doubt that in her mind what she does is in no way a
betrayal of her love for Pepe: it is simply her way of making a
living. Pepe accepts it. at least on the surface. but it may be
for this reason that he feels no compunction about sleeping with
other women. It is. however. part of his character to feel
little remorse for his actions whatever they may be. While Pepe

shows no jealousy over what she does. Charo is very jealous over

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158

his affairs with other women. Theirs is definitely a rather
unique and complex relationship. As it is explained in Egg
mares del Egg:

Carvalho se acostumbro a la esquizofrenia de la
muchacha. a su doble vida de novia celosa de dia y puts
telefonica de noche. Primero e1 le propuse que se
retirara. pero ella se aseguraba que no servia para otra
cosa. (figg. p. 203)

Through the very act of choosing a prostitute for a partner.
Pepe has. consciously or unconsciously. set himself up in a
relationship that cannot be totally exclusive and to which
consequently he does not have to be totally committed.
Throughout the approximately twelve years that their
relationship has endured. it has followed the same pattern:.
Pepe neglects Charo. she complains that he does not really care
and calls on her only when the mood strikes him. he is irritated
by her dependence but placates her with a weekend together. and
then the cycle repeats itself. It is Pepe who has engineered
this pattern and it is indicative of the contradictory needs
within him which constantly fight for dominance. Independence
seems to come naturally to the hard-boiled detective but the
urges to be part of someone else‘s life. to feel human warmth
are voluntarily pushed under the surface. As Sam Spade realized
with Brigid. Pepe also knows himself well enough to accept the
fact that he can be dominated by these emotions. But he does
not trust them and so for that reason he will not allow them to

take precedence over his independent. unattached self. In Los

mares dgl sur Pepe explains to Yes why he will not become

 

159

further involved in a relationship with her:
"Siempre me ha horrorizado ser eeclavo de los
sentimientos porque eé que puedo ser un esclavo de ellos.

No estoy para experimentos. Yes. Vive tu vida." (Sur. p.

234)

His rejection of this side of himself. the side that can
connect with another human being both on a sexual and an
emotional level. is the source of the way he treats Charo.
reaching out for her hand one minute and slapping it away once
he has it. There are various examples of this type of on-again
off-again behavior. One occasion is this scene at Pepe's house

in Los mares del sur:

La mano de Charo le acaricio 31 cabello. Carvalho se
la cogia para rechazarla. pero la conserve y la apreto
efusivamente. (gs. p. 34)

Part of him wants her and the love she has to offer and part of
him rejects her.

In La soledad del manager. Pepe again displays the
ambivalent desires which pull within. He and Charo have just
made love:

La paz del techo descendio sobre Carvalho mientras con
una mano tretaba de dejar en los senos de Charo penaltimas
solidaridades. un rescoldo de la intense comunicacién
poniente. como un sol tardio sobre animeles seciados. (gs.
p. 46-47)

There is no doubt that Pepe needs and wants these sexual
encounters with Charo. These fleeting moments are his chance to
feel at one with another person. to temporarily escape the
solitary existence that plagues human beings. However. that

need within Pepe which pulls him toward Charo one minute. is

countered by an even stronger urge to flee from the scene of the

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crime. so to speak. to deny that he has been involved in such
villainy (fechoria):

Charo respetaba el primer turno de Carvalho en el
lavabo y ya no se sorprendia ante la sabita urgencia de
huida que Pepe experimentaba despues de hacer el amor. como
si tretaba de alejarse del escenario de alguna fechoria.
(as. p. 47)

It is as if allowing himself to feel such intense communication
with someone is in a sense a betrayal of what his rational. non-
emotional mind knows to be true: love and people are a sham.

In his own words:

"Lo que ocurre es que solemos vivir como si no
supieramos que todo y todos son una mierda. Cuanto mas
inteligente es una persona menos lo olvide. mas lo tiene
presents. Nunca he conocido a nadie realmente inteligente
que amass a los demas o confiase en ellos. A lo sumo los
compadecie. Ese sentimiento si lo entiendo. (Sur. p. 197)
If for Marx religion was the opiate of the people. for Pepe

it is love. The hope of love is a false promise that people
cling to as a way of getting through the day. People find
comfort in the belief that they love and are loved in return.

As long as they have love they do not have to think about
totalitarian regimes. starving. and the progressive loss of
dignity that everyday living can bring. But for Pepe. love and
people will prove to be duplicitous in the end just as life has
proved to be time and again. Due to this belief. Pepe admits at
one point. with a mixture of pain and righteousness. that he has
not told anyone "I love you” for more than twenty years. He has
lived up to what he believes to be true. what life has taught

him. but at what personal cost? Refraining from loving someone

allows Pepe to remain true to his belief that such emotions can

161

only bring pain and disillusionment. However. this
unwillingness to care has transformed him into a person who is
forever on the outside looking in. never really part of anyone
or anything.

Another facet of Pepe Carvalho’s character which is also an
element of his refusal to make a commitment is found in his
repudiation of any form of responsibility toward another human
being. He does not want to be responsible for anyone else-not
for their happiness. nor sadness. nor pain. However. here again
there is ambiguity in his actions. For example. in Tatuaje
(Barcelona: Plaza y Janes. 1979). Pepe receives a letter from
his father's brother. who describes the various financial
problems he is having and indicates that were Pepe’s father
alive today. pg would help him. Pepe’s first reaction is one of
fury as he contemplates writing back and letting his uncle know
just what he thinks about his father always supplying him with
money during his lifetime and ending up with practically nothing
when he died. Though he dislikes the idea of being expected to
take responsibility for his relatives. in fact Pepe does none of
the less than gracious things that run through his mind and even
sends his uncle money. He does not want to be part of a larger
group. That entails other people depending on him. But in this
situation. it is the memory of his father. the realization that
his father would have come to his brother's aid. which prevents
Pepe from doing what is by now reflex: evading responsibility

to others.

162

Later on in the same novel Pepe talks with two Spaniards
who are living and working in Amsterdam because they could not
earn enough to support their families in Spain. They are
talking about the family obligations they have in their
homeland. It is difficult to financially support their
relatives but they do it because this responsibility is
important to them. Here is Pepe’s mixed reaction to their

sacrifices:

"Ta por ejemplo eres soltero. pero mantienes a tu
madre y envias dinero al pueblo para que crezca la casa.
Que si una vaca. que si se case una hermana. que una
enfermedad. Sabes lo que te cuesta.”

Al gallego se le habian humedecido los ojos y asentie.

Carvalho se sorprendia asintiendo y recorda la

participacién que tenia en la supervivencia de la cabafia

gallega. mediante los dos giros de cinco mil pesetas que
habia enviedo a sus tios. Pero no tardo en cagarse en si
mismo y en los otros dos cuando penso en lo tristisimo que
era la conversaciOn de tree espafloles en Amsterdam que se
consideran realizados en la vida porque subvencionen una
vaca o los garabatos taquimecanbgrafos de la nifia.
Again Pepe vascillates between viewing a feeling of
responsibility toward others as a healthy part of life or as a
foolish habit that human beings have been socialized into
believing is honorable.

In Los mares del sur. Pepe is being pursued by a young.
rich girl who has decided that the private investigator is going
to be the one to take her away from all her upper—class anguish.
He is alternately receptive and dismissive to her advances. He
knows that Yes (or Jeeica) is a mixed-up girl-woman who needs a

'guiding hand but he does not want to be anyone's leader. Being

a leader denotes responsibility and that is what he is trying to

163

escape at all costs. His blunt and numbingly cold rejection of
her in the following dialogue is an indication of how loathsome
he finds the thought of someone depending on him. Yes has just
asked if she can stay with him for a few days and Pepe has said
no:

"dPor que?"

"Mis obligaciones como empleado de tu madre y como
compafiero de came tuyo tienen un limits.”

"dPor que tienes que hablar siempre como un detective
privado? No puedes decir cosae normalee. excuses normales:
espero parientes. no tengo sitio."

”Lo tomes o lo dejas. Lo siento. Por otra parte.
vernos con tents frecuencia me parece excesivo. Ahora voy
a comer y no pienso invitarte.”

"Estoy sols."

”Yo tambien. Jesica. por favor. No me gastes en
seguida. Utilizame salo cuando te sea estrictamente
necesario. Tengo trabajo. Vets.”

Ella no sabia como irse. Sue manos divagaben como si
buscara donde apoyarlas. pero sus piernas retrocedian en
busca de la puerta.

”Me matara."

"Sara uns lastima. No evito suicidios. Selo los
investigo." (Spy. p. 112-113)

Jesica would not be judged a particularly sympathetic character
but Carvelho's treatment of her in this situation makes the
reader feel sorry for her. But as has been pointed out on
various occasions. Pepe often cannot completely carry out this
isolated stance. After Jesica backs out the door. some kind of

emotion persuades him to go look for her. He is angry with

himself for running after her and cannot figure out why he feels

compelled to do so but nonetheless he does it.

In LO§.2fijaros de Bangkok. the mother and son of the

missing Teresa Marsé beg Pepe to go to Bangkok to search for

her. Teresa is a friend of his and she has called him from

164

Bangkok for help. sounding terrified. In the meantime. Teresa's
mother is desperately trying to raise enough money to pay for
Carvalho's services. At this point. Raymond Chandler’s Philip
Marlowe would have flown to Teresa's aid. remaining true to that
chivalric streak said to be alive and well in many of the hard-
boiled detectives. On the other hand. Pepe does not want to do
it. least of all out of a feeling of responsibility to a friend
and her family. However. when he angrily accepts the job. that
is exactly why he does it. He is tough and his antihero
character at times inspires dislike in the reader because he
often does not measure up to the white knight image expected
from a hero. Nevertheless. however unfeeling Pepe may seem at
times. this uncaring attitude is often touched with an
ambivalence. with an ember of human solidarity that has not
quite been snuffed out.

Related to this avoidance of responsibility to others. is
Pepe’s refusal to deal with other people’s pain. not to mention
his own. In La soledad del manager there is a scene where
Biscuter. on the verge of tears. tells Pepe that he is sad
because he has been thinking about his mother. Pepe’s advice is
to either look for a girlfriend. go to a prostitute. or
masturbate. Pepe is an astute judge of character and is capable
of responding to Biscuter's comment in a helpful and
compassionate way. This type of irrelevant and unfeeling advice
is his way of fleeing from Biscuter's pain. He does not want to

help Biscuter explore his sadness at his thoughts of his mother

165

and his past because that will make Pepe think of his own
history. his own personal pain.

In L2§_ng§ppg_ge Bangkok is perhaps the most intense
example of Pepe’s unwillingness to c0pe with other people's
emotional trauma and in essence. his own. He is investigating
the murder of Celia Mataix. a woman whose picture in the
newspaper has somehow mesmerized him. The moment Pepe meets one
of the suspects. Marta Miguel. he begins to realize that she is
the murderess and has an overwhelming need to confess her crime.
Pepe knows that Marta is being driven mad by guilt and remorse
but he is almost as desperate in his need to escape from the
flow of emotions that begs to spill over onto him.

L08 0508 de Carvalho veian acercarse a Harte Miguel
como una montana oscura. doliente. obscene en su dolor y en
su angustia. y temia la boca de la mujer. temia lo que
querian decirle aquellos lsbios poco a poco. temia el peso
de la confesién que la mujer queria vomitarle. y una mano
de Carvalho salio a su encuentro. rebaso el borde de las
faldas y subio por entre los muslos ajamonados y se
convirtio en un pufio cefiido sobre un sexo peludo y
caliente. Marta Miguel dio un salto hacia atras y puso un
-cefio de desconcierto y asco para respaldar la contundencia
de los lsbios a1 escupir la palabra: "{Asqueroso!" (2;. p.
136)

Again Pepe reacts in a totally inappropriate manner which
is evidence of how strong is his need to avoid Marta’s
confession. He will not be the one to deal with her pain or her
guilt. In addition to avoiding emotions she is experiencing.
Pepe does not want to be forced to decide her fate once she
confesses her crime. Not hearing the truth of her guilt (though
in fact knowing) saves him from having to determine whether to

turn her in or not. Pepe's refusal to allow Marta to sees her

166

conscience and his fear of having to denounce her lead him to do
absolutely nothing. In the end. Marta feels that her only
possibility of relief lies in suicide. While it can certainly
be argued that Marta would have gone to jail anyway. there is
also a very strong case for those who could find Pepe guilty of
a type of murder through inaction. Marta’s note to Papa is
perhaps a fitting epitaph for a woman who feels that she has
been abandoned by both heaven and earth:

"Senor Carvalho. llama sl cielo y no me oyo. Usted lo
adivino y no quiso ayudarme a descargarme. Ahora muerto el
perro se acabo la rabia." (28. p. 320)

In this discussion of one of the most salient facets of
Pepe Carvalho’s character. his lack of solidarity and commitment
to other people. certain words find their way into the
description repeatedly: refuse. avoid. reject. escape. flee.
These are all verbs which indicate conscious and at times
unconscious action on the part of the protagonist. His past
experience as a child growing up during the tragic years
following the Civil War. his years of clandestine activities as
a Communist. jail. and his C.I.A. period have all. in their own
way. been instrumental in forging a personality not incapable of
the act of commitment and feeling but rather incapable of
trusting in those actions. Pepe's partial commitments. his
small efforts at taking responsibility however unwilling. the
feelings of compassion which surface every now and then. prove
that while Pepe rationally rejects these actions and emotions.

he is not incapable of them. It is interesting to note that the

167

contradictory needs vying for dominance within Vazquez
Montalban's protagonist can be likened to the paradox found
within the structure of these novels. The same type of
ambivalence seen in Pepe Carvalho can also be observed in the
manner in which Vézquez Montalban has constructed his detective
fiction. Just as Pepe cannot quite make a total commitment to
life. neither can vazquez Montalban make one to traditional
detective fiction. Pepe cannot sit back and blindly accept and
trust in life. Having seen what havoc such blind faith has
wrought in his own past. he constantly tests life by holding on
to his cynicism. Similarly. Vazquez Montalban continually tests
detective fiction and its readers by following the structures
utilized by previous hard-boiled detective writers in one
instance and totally flouting them the next. Thus. veteran
formulaic readers cannot read vazquez Montalban’s detective
fiction. complacently waiting for all their expectations to be
fulfilled. They. like Pepe. can no longer trust their original
expectations. Vazquez Montalban’s readers experience the
uncertainty of life in a twofold manner: from a distance. they
observe Pepe Carvalho's efforts to deal with life's
haphazardness while they personally are at the mercy of vazquez
Montalban's structural randomness. vazquez Montalban’s
experimentation with the form of the detective novel will be

‘ developed in Chapter 6 of this thesis.

The last time that Pepe really committed himself to someone

or something was during the 1950s when he was part of the

168

underground Communist party in Spain. Running the genuine risks
of belonging to such an illegal and persecuted group during the
Franco regime demanded a real commitment. The threat of torture
and loss of freedom was ever present. They all shared "la
azsross sensacidn de salir de casa con un fajo de octavillas con
la posibilided de no volver haste cinco o seis afioe después.”
(AQQ. p. 53) His actions during this time signify an ability to
believe in a cause. to trust in other people. to be responsible
for the well-being of others. and to work for his country and
the freedom it deserved. These are all feelings which Pepe
tries to deny himself now but they must have been there in the
past or he could not have been part of such a movement. In an
attempt to understand more precisely what caused the vast
difference between that Pepe and the present one. a more
detailed picture of the intervening years must be undertaken.
Analyzing the part of Pepe’s life that the reader knows about
only through flashback-his childhood. his years in Spain as a
Communist. and finally his years in the United States as a .
C.I.A. agent. there is a progressive change in his personality.
It appears that from childhood. Pepe has always been a skeptic.
slow to believe and quick to doubt. He grew up during the post
civil war years. during the Franco years. Suffering and
repression were visible facts of the world in which he lived.

He was raised by parents who had lived through a civil war which
is by definition so much more psychologically devastating than a

war against foreign oppression. A civil war is not a battle

169

against an outside enemy: it is a fight within. within the
country. within families. within each Spaniard. It was a war
which destroyed much more than homes and churches. It is said
that one million people lost their lives and untold numbers more
lost their capacity to believe. to trust. to hope. They lived
in fear: fear of hunger. fear of torture. fear of jail. fear of
another war. fear that someday they would forget their
disillusion and set themselves up for another final fall.
Pepe's parents and so many others like them. "los vencidos”. the
conquered ones. had the job of raising the next generation
during this time of physical. mental. and emotional devastation.
Part of what Pepe is today is due to this climate in which he
developed and formed lifelong attitudes. Of the various
memories which flash into Pepe Carvalho's mind throughout the
novels. some are tender. nostalgic snatches of the pest:
neighborhoods which remind him of home or a vague feeling of
being taken care of by his mother during an illness. However.
there is also his father's obsession with money. the need to be
cautious. to save. the need to ensure that his son will not
suffer as he did. His father’s years of financial deprivation
are with Pepe as he carefully saves for the future. for his old
age. In every one of the novels. Pepe is seen studying his
financial situation. wondering if he will have enough to live a
dignified old age.

There is. however. one memory that Pepe has of his father

which must have affected him above all others: his belief that

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no caring human being would bring another into this world of
pain. hunger. betrayal. and nuclear bombs. For his father. the
world in which he lived was an unforgiveble trick to play on
one’s own progeny. This view of life as a living hell where one
is a victim at the mercy of powers beyond his control was
continually inculcated in Pepe's mind by the one person who
perhaps influenced him the most during his childhood and
adolescence: his own father. That opinion of the world is seen
in this quote from La soledad del manager:

Hasta su muerte. Evaristo Carvalho sintio
remordimientos cada vez que veia a su hijo y tretaba de
lavarle e1 cerebro el instinto de la paternidad con toda
clase de detergentes. Deeds e1 balcén de siempre
contemplaba el paso de los coches y las generaciones. Los
coches eran e1 simbolo de la locura humans lanzada a dar
una mayor velocidad a la sbsurda marcha desde ls nada a la
muerte. Y los niflos descolgados de les barrigas de las
muchachas del barrio eran victimss. perdedores de todo y
ganadores de casi nada.

"Fijate. La del namero siete ha tenido otro hijo.
Ay. Sefior. Que falta de cabeza. Traer victimas a este
mundo.”

Carvalho se quedo con las ganas de preguntar a su
padre si hubiera pensado lo mismo en caso de no haber
perdido la guerra civil." (SM. p. 167)

This quote demonstrates the total disillusionment that had taken
hold of Pepe’s father. This disillusion began with the civil
war and was proven even more valid with each successive event:
World War II. the nuclear bomb. the Franco regime. It also is
evidence of how the Spanish Civil War and Francisco Franco
continue to reach out their seemingly endless tentacles long
after their physical presence has faded from view. Pepe’s

generation. those not involved in the war itself. have not

escaped its aftermath. Growing up during the repressive years

171

of the Franco era under the influence of parents permanently
scarred by civil war has produced a man who would not dream of
fathering a child. who pictures people as either victims or
executioners.

This adolescent with his skeptical mind fought against this
pessimistic. faithless view of people. Though there is evidence
in the flashbacks to Pepe's years as a Communist that he never
lost his need to question. the fact that he risked his life and
his freedom for this cause proves that at that point he had
overcome some of his father's doubts in mankind. He was part of
a larger whole. trusting in others and believing that good could
conquer. This was definitely the idealistic phase in his life.
an attempt to disprove his father’s ideas. But then. as his
father would view it. reality set in. His own comrades
suspected that he might have been informing on them to the
police. Seeing him come out of the police station only seemed
to corroborate their opinion of Pepe as a dissident: a member
of the party who did his job but never seemed to accept anything
without questioning it first. In that sense. the Communist
party proved to Pepe that it was not capable of being flexible.
of being challenged. Also he was jailed for two years because
of his clandestine activities. It was an experience that
brought home all that his father had taught him: right does not
always triumph over wrong. people do not merit faith. and the
world is a place which has room only for victims and

executioners. Pepe had played the role of the victim. at the

172

mercy of others and now he wanted to be in control. His
idealism had been snuffed out and what replaced it was a
cynicism much harsher than his father had ever been able to
instill in him. Now he had experienced personally the injustice
of the world. a piece of evidence far more damning than mere
hearsay. It was this realization that drove him to leave his
parents. his friends. and his country. It was an effort to
escape the world that had opened his eyes to a truth he had not
wanted to accept: all the things he had fought for. friendship.
love. freedom. country. were not to be trusted.

Pepe left Spain and went to the United States where he
later became a C.I.A. agent. He was now part of an agency that.
according to widespread opinion. had its own set of rules and
was above public scrutiny: a perfect position for someone who
was tired of being a pawn. Being a secret agent gave Pepe the
chance to reverse his role from that of a puppet with no powers
of his own. to one of the puppeteers who could pull a few of his
own strings. He was‘part of an organization whose number one
enemy was Pepe’s former group: the Communists. What a perfect
way to show his rejection of them. Finally. he was also a
double agent. in essence a man with no allegiance to anyone or
anything who would do anything for a price. At this point in
his life he was a man alone with absolutely no connections.
personal. political. or patriotic. He had not ended up this way
by accident. This was a man who had purposely cut himself

adrift from all the things which life had to offer. finally

173

knowing. not just suspecting. that they were all hollow anyway.

After four years in the C.I.A.. Pepe Carvalho returned to
Spain and became a private detective. The simple fact of his
return is an indication that he has stopped fleeing from his
roots: the people. places. and events which made him the person
he is. He is still cynical and unwilling to believe in anyone
or anything but now his life is not a total. violent rejection
of what life has to offer. What was once a fierce repudiation
of love. trust. and human solidarity. has now softened into a
lifeless indifference. The Pepe Carvalho that is presented to
the reader in Igppgjg has settled into what could be described
as a comfortable existence. He has a job. a house. a best
friend. and a girlfriend. Of couse. the job is no ordinary
employment. In fact. it is a perfect job for a man of his
talents and temperament. Being a private detective is a job
that requires many of the skills which have become second nature
to him through his experience as a member of a persecuted
political group and a C.I.A. agent. Pepe is still a cynic.
always prepared for the possibility that the person he is
questioning may be lying to him. If he has to fight off a few
bad guys. his C.I.A. training has given him the ability to do
so. His past experience makes it difficult for him to be in the
employ of an organization where he would have to answer to an
employer and trust in coworkers. As a private investigator.
Pepe is his own boss. answerable only to his clients and

himself. Being a private detective allows Pepe to be somehow

174

above the law. to be in control. to escape the role of the
victim that he had played in his younger days in Spain.

His private life seems to be undergoing more of a
metamorphosis than his form of employment. After being the man
without a country. without human ties. the reader is confronted
with a changing Peps. Seemingly unbeknownst to him. he has
become a man who is expected to feel a responsibility to other
people and sometimes does. a man upon whom other human beings
have become dependent. It is a state of being that he had
previously rejected. But after awhile he has slipped into the
comfortable position of having friends and a girlfriend.
intermittently forgetting that life has taught him not to trust
people and relationships. The use of the word intermittently is
not accidental. It is a reference to another one of Pepe’s
personality traits that has been discussed previously: that of
his ambivalent feeling toward commitment and responsibility. It
is precisely this move toward change which is the source of his
acceptance one day and rejection the next of Charo and other
relationships. As Pepe feels himself falling into this more
connected state. perhaps only unconsciously at first. he starts
rebelling against it. pulling back. The more a part of other
people’s lives he becomes. the more he fights it. There is a
gradual. though definite progression seen in the first three
novels. which indicates in one sense his increasing involvement
in life and in another the beginning of his backlash against

this.

175

lgppgjg contains an important quote which is evidence that
a metamorphosis has begun within Pepe Carvalho. In his effort
to discover the name of the dead man with the tatoo that reads
”He nacido para revolucionar el infierno". he has gone much
further than his client has requested. He feels a certain
affinity with this dead man and the person he was in life. Due
to this he is compelled to find out not only who he is but the
identity of his murderer. too. Pepe's feelings about the case

are described as follows:

Se sentia possido por la investigacién. como antes.
cuando se sentia ligado a los enigmas haste su
desvelamiento. Era como si recuperara una potencia
perdids. aunque dolorosa: la capscidad de entusiesmo. (I.
p. 132)

His previously indifferent stance toward life is showing signs
of being replaced by a new feeling. one he used to have but has
since forgotten. Until this point. Pepe seems to have lost much
of his enthusiasm for life. There is no doubt that he still
loves to eat and have sex but these things are such concrete.
instinctual needs. What he has lost is the ability to feel the
less tangible sensations: compassion. pity. love. faith.
involvement. This enthusiasm for life is called a painful power
or strength. In this somewhat paradoxical description lies the
ambivalence that is coming to life within Pepe. To feel excited
about life is to expect good things from it. When these
expectations are fulfilled. one is strengthened. However. when

life falls short of what has been anticipated. the extra pain

that these dashed hopes bring can be debilitating. Pepe

176

realizes that life has not measured up to his expectations in
the past. So he deals with this by unconsciously deciding that
if he expects nothing from life. he will not be disappointed.
This lack of enthusiasm may dull his enjoyment of life but it
will never reach up and slap him in the face. Pepe does not
want to become as vulnerable as he was in the past. As such.
this feeling of excitement which has returned must be
frightening as well as welcome because it is a signal that the
emotions which Pepe has tried so hard to repress are starting to
resurface.

The changes observed in Pepe’s relationships with the
recurring secondary characters. Biscuter. Fuster. and most
importantly Charo. are another indication of Pspe's inner
turmoil. Without realizing it Pepe has become enmeshed in
Charo's life. He has come to care about what happens to her and
she has begun to picture him as a part of her own existence. In

Tatuajg. the police have gone into the prostitute section and

 

arrested a lot of the women. Two prostitutes who escaped have
taken refuge at Charo's apartment. Pepe knows that this mass
arrest was not routine: it was part of an effort to round up
people involved with drugs. He believes that it is a
potentially dangerous situation for Charo and does not want
these two to stay with her. There is a marked lack of humanity
on Pepe’s part with respect to the absence of sympathy felt for
the plight of these women. He does not understand Charo's

feeling of solidarity which demands that she help them.

177

However. Pepe’s actions do illustrate that he cares about
Charo's well-being and he has come to picture himself as her
protector whether he or she wants it or not.

Later in the novel. in a weak moment a thought pops into
Pepe’s consciousness that could not have sprung to life a few

years previously:

"Algan die me cassre con ella." penso Pepe.

Decididamente aquel vino aparentaba menos de lo que era.

Se casaria con Charo pero cuando fueran viejos.

"Muy viejos." (I. p. 179)
The minute such an heretic thought is allowed to take shape in
Pepe’s mind. he must slap it away and pretend it was alcohol
induced. He keeps suppressing them but those so—called "normal”
feelings keep fighting for life.

Throughout the first two novels. Pepe seems to be settling
further and further into a life where caring about and being
part of other people’s lives is acceptable. He still sleeps with
other women but it is Charo he comes home to. In a scene from
La soledad del manager. he still acts with indifference when
Charo and Biscuter fawn over him after being questioned by the
police but it is these two people who come to mind when Pepe
thinks he might be killed. It is important to him that Charo
and Biscuter receive the money he has saved and the house that
he has loved. These are not the actions of a loner with no ties
to others. When Charo is beaten in order to convince Pepe to
stop investigating the case in the same book. the reader sees a

tender side of the private detective heretofore not displayed.

Seeing Charo threatened. insulted. and beaten brings tears to

178

the normally stolid Carvalho and his solicitous care of her
bruised physical and emotional state is another signal that he
has begun to identify himself with someone else. Through the
entire scene. the reader can see that Pepe feels her fear and
pain.

In many ways. it is the third novel of the series. Sp;
mares del §_p. that is pivotal in a discussion of the
development of the protagonist'e personality. It opens with an
event that for the cynical Pepe Carvalho of the past would have
been impossible. However. at this point. it seems a fitting
culmination of many of the changes he has undergone. He buys a
dog. It appears perhaps a small. inconsequential action but it
symbolizes a great deal. Of his own accord. he has bought a
helpless creature for whom he is totally responsible. He alone
must supply the food. the protection. and the affection for this
animal. His desire to do this is just one more element of proof
of a fact the reader has been aware of for quite some time:

Pepe has once again become an integral and reciprocal part of
other lives.2 Los mares del sur is a turning point in Pepe
Carvalho's private life because in this book it is Pepe who
finally realizes how intertwined with others he has allowed
himself to become:

De pronto habia tenido conciencia de que buscando no
crearse ataduras en esos momentos era el responsable
sentimental y moral ds tres personas y una perra: el mismo.
Charo. Biscuter. Bleda. (Sgp. p. 30)

In a backlash to his life in Spain as a member of the Communist

party and part of a family with the societal. political. and

179

personal responsibilities these roles entail. Pepe walked out on
all of it. never expecting to return. As a C.I.A. agent. he did
not even have to take responsibility for his 933 actions: he
followed orders and walked away from the consequences. Now.
having returned to the "scene of the crime” so to speak. he has
fallen into another set of responsibilities and attachments.
Talking with an old friend from his Communist days. Pepe finds
himself repeating a phrase which is seen in Tatuaje and which
one imagines had become one of his pet lines often employed to
explain his solitary. no-tiss existence: "ni siquiera tengo un
gato." (I. p. 44) Hearing himself automatically utter these
words. he is reminded that they no longer apply to him:

Era una respuesta hecha que tel vez en el pasado
hubiera traducido la realidad. Pero no ahora. Carvalho

penso: ”tengo una-perra. por algo se empieza: éacabare
teniendo tantas coses como los demae?” (Sur. R- 44)

The segment of Pepe’s life that this book portrays is an
intensification of the accept-reject syndrome that has been
present in his personal relationships since his return to Spain.
As he realizes that he has permitted himself to become involved
in an interdependent relationship. the rejection aspect becomes
more prevalent. However. the renunciation that used to be an
attempt to prevent his becoming attached to others is now an
effort to reject the connections which have already crept into
his life.

Logically. it is Charo from whom he begins to retreat most
consistently for she is the one whose invasion of his solitary

existence has been most constant. Their first encounter in this

180

pivotal novel sets the tone for the remaining ones as she
arrives at his office furious because Pepe has been ignoring
her. She rails at him for his neglect of her and he sits
quietly absorbing her wrath. He does apologize but his excuse
of being tired is a weak one and one suspects that his
exhaustion is more than just physical. He asks her how her
prostitute business is going which is not one of her favorite
subjects:
Pepe habia olvidado queOel tema de su oficio le
molestaba tratarlo con el. £0 no lo habia olvidado?
Queria que Charo se marchese pero sin agraviarla. (Spy. p.
30)
He has a lame excuse for his negligent behavior and he
introduces a subject that he may or may not have forgotten
bothers her. These are tactics that. though partially
unconscious. still are meant to push her and the attachment and
responsibility he feels toward her away.

The next time Charo enters the novel is in Pepe's thoughts.
But she comes no further into his reality on this occasion and
he convinces himself not to go to see her:

Dudo entre regresar a la patria de patetas a la
navarra. o ir a ver a Charo. recian levantada mal humorada
por sue olvidos y desdenes. preparando el cuerpo para la
clientele del atardecer apalabrada por telafono. clientee
fijos en su mayorie que le consulteban problemas familiares
y en ocasiones haste la ruta del aborto pare sue hijos
precoces o sus propias mujeres. prsfladas después de cinco o
seis copes de champafla L'Aixsrtell. el que anuncian
Marsillach y Nuria Espert. Preparando el cuerpo o
preparando reproches para un Carvalho cada vez mas
distante. (Sur. p. 116—117)

Their next encounter is another fight with Charo playing

the wronged woman and Pepe the indifferent. noncommittal lover.

181

She sarcastically tells him how happy she is that he could find
time to visit her. This time there is no apology from Carvalho.
In fact he turns the situation back on her. threatening to leave
if she does not stop her tirade. He tries to make her feel that
her nagging is the source of their problems. that it is all her
fault. There is a very telling line in reference to Charo as
Carvalho muses about the women in his life: "Charo pasandole
factura por tan large inversiOn de sexo y compafiia.” (S21. p.
204) He feels that after so many years of "free" sex and
companionship. Charo is finally sending him the bill. In other
words until now she has never asked him for what many people
request from a long-standing relationship:' fidelity.
commitment. and a declaration of love every now and then. She
is finally asking him to take some responsibility for their
relationship perhaps because she senses Pepe's retreat from
whatever closeness they had achieved.

The final scene between these two in this transition novel
is a telephone conversation. Pepe. who is drunk. has called
Charo to confirm their plans to go away. She says that she
hopes he will not spend the whole weekend inebriated. Even such
an insignificant comment from Charo is enough to infuriate Pepe
in his precarious state. This is an infringement of his
independence and to his sensitive ears has the ring of a wifely
remark. Right now the last thing he wants to be or to be
treated like. is a husband. He tells her rudely that he will do

whatever he pleases and hangs up feeling remorseful. He has

182

Biscuter send flowers to Charo (note that he does not take the
time to do it himself). However. the important question here
is. what prompts him to do that? Is it a sincere attempt to
make Charo feel better after his rebuff or is it done to make
himself feel better. so he can temporarily lift the weight of
guilt that his recent treatment of Charo has added to his
conscience? One way or another. in this novel. hurting Charo
has become second nature to Carvalho as he continues to lead his
own double life of an uncaring stranger and e contrite lover.

It is a gentle. concerned Pepe who buys a dog and in so
doing enters another world of responsibility. This purchase
does not seem to indicate flight from caring and attachments.
However. it may be another part of his steps away from
involvement with other human beings. He needs no excuse to
explain why he solicitously takes care of an animal: they are
helpless. dependent creatures. His inherited code which deemed
concern for and commitment to people a foolhardy undertaking
said nothing about dogs. People are much more suspect than
animals because "Ningan perro ha construido San Hegin. Ningan
perro ha declarado jamas uns guerra civil." (Spy. p. 205)
However. this resurgent code which will not let him trust people
nor feel for them also steps in when a wave of tenderness
engulfs him and he wants to go home and see Bleda. the dog:

Ya en el coche se dirigio maquinalmente hacia
Vallvidrera y a medic camino razono el impulso por el deseo
de ver a la perra. incluso de llevarsela a la cite en San
Magin. Msnude estampa compondrias. Pepe Carvalho.

Pasarias a la historia como Peps Carvalho y Bleda.
equiparables a Sherlock Holmes y el doctor Watson. Le

183

irrito su debilidad y dio media vuelta. (Spy. p. 204)
Again his learned code triumphs: it tells him that the tender
feeling that this little dog has awakened in him is a sign of
weakness. one that must be eradicated for it is a chink in the
independent armor that he has been wearing for so long. The
final scene of the novel where Pepe finds Bleda dead. is one of
the most moving of the series. As Hammett often gives his
readers one detail which lets them know a dead body is about to
be found. so does vazquez Montalban in this situation. The
minute that Pepe enters the house and Bleda does not come to
greet him. the reader realizes even before Pepe. that he will
not find the same clumsy. affectionate puppy he left that
morning. His extreme pain is evident as he gently buries her
lifeless body along with her bowls and toys:

Rscubrio la tierra con la gravilla que habia separado.
tiro la pals. se senta sobre la baranda del muro y se
aferro con las manos a los bordes de ladrillo para que el
pecho no se le rompiera por los sollozos. Le ardian los
ojos. pero sentia una sabita limpieza en la cabeza y en el
pecho. Mirando hacia la ciudad iluminada dijo: ”Hijos.
hijos de puta." (Spy. p. 287)

This heartfelt emotion on Pepe's part is in one sense reassuring
because it proves that his past has not inured him to death.
that he cannot be indifferent to this loss. On the other hand.
losing the dog demonstrates once again the things he has always
known: the weak and powerless suffer and it hurts to care. It
is much the same lesson he learned during his clandestine fight

for his country and its freedom: a fight which also brought pain

and disillusion.

184

In Asesinatq_§n_gl Comitg Central. the spotlight is on
Pepe. his political past. and the Communist party. Most of the
action takes place in Madrid instead of Barcelona. For this
reason. Charo only enters the novel through telephone
conversations and Pepe’s thoughts. However. it is obvious even
from the dialogues presented that Carvalho is still moving away
from Charo. Just before leaving for Madrid. he realizes that
the only thing that remains to be done is his ”obligation” to
say good-bye to Charo. The very usage of this word connotes a
feeling of coercion. something he feels compelled to do out of a
sense of responsibility. not because he freely chooses and wants
to do so. She is already not too pleased that he has chosen to
say good—bye over the telephone and Pepe does not even tell her
where he is going. His distant behavior is starting to cause
reciprocal reactions in Charo though she always seems to come
back to him.

This is a case that causes Pepe to become immersed in his
political past and he feels the need to communicate with his
present: Biscuter and Charo. However. he decides to call
Biscuter because she would be in the middle of her work or as
Pepe describes it: "La pillaria en pleno fingido orgasmo con
cualquiera de sus clientee telefonicos hebituales.” (ASS. p.
139) Though Carvalho claims not to care about Charo's
”profession”. it seems to be used quite often as his excuse for
not communicating with her.

Upon his return Pepe does call Charo and invites her over

185

that night. As usual it is she who says "I love you” and his
typical response is:

"Alla tn."
Alla ella. Un dia que no tuviera nada que hacer seflalarie

en algan calenderio futuro la fecha de la bode con Charo.
Antes del aflo dos mil. seguro. 0 dentro de quince dies.
(ASS. p. 286)
It is as if Pepe feels that inevitably one day he will marry
Charo. This type of an attitude hides any trace of real feeling
which may or may not exist. If he should marry her. it would be
because their relationship is a habit. not because of a
conscious declaration of love on his part.
No tenia clero el mena. pero si que aquella era una
noche pars cocinarla y para dar a alguien la sorpresa de
una invitaciOn. Quiza a Charo si se portaba bien y no le
recriminaba el poco caso que ls estaba haciendo
altimamente. (ES. p. 27)
From these words which form the first mention of Charo ianos
pajaros de Bangkok. it is clear that the state of the
relationship between Pepe and Charo has not altered. They are
still together but only up to a certain point. Due to Pepe's
continual neglect of Charo. their relationship has reached a
standstill. It has ceased to grow because Pepe will make no
further attempt to deal with his need to avoid the day to day
communication necessary to forge a strong. reciprocal
association.

In this same novel there is a quote describing Pepe's
attitude toward his relationship with Charo and male/female

couples in general. It sums up the characteristics which have

come to form the framework of the tenuous union these two have

186

developed:

Lo cierto era que Carvalho no la necesitaba. ni
siquiera necesitaba sentirse necesitado. Pero al igual que
una cuenta de ahorros de afectoe. Carvalho no queria
cancelar sue relaciones con la muchacha. Habia por medio
una inversién de afecto que considereba estdpido
regalarsels a la nada. Como un viejo matrimonio cansado de
serlo. pero sin la obligacién de la convivencia. de mercar
e1 reloj de las convenciones morales. de mantener el
decorado para que los niflos crezcan en el error de que las
parejas son posibles y lleguen a la condicién de pareje con
une capscidad de autoengafio. que no les servira ya adultos
para evitar una tardia pero absolute sensacidn de estafa.
(25.! pe 66)

Within this quote are all the traits which have become Pepe's
trademarks. The ambivalence is there: he does not really need
Charo but neither does he want their relationship to end. he
does not really love her but he has a certain affection for her
that holds meaning for him. The inevitability of the situation
is there: they are like an old married couple. remaining as a
pair not because this state gives them what they need but rather
because after such a long period of time. they cannot imagine
themselves apart. Finally the pessimism is there. The attitude
which prevents Pepe from surrendering to the flashes of love and
human solidarity which sometimes assail him can be clearly
observed here. As his father could not let him believe that the
world is a fair. just place neither could Pepe let hypothetical
children of his own grow up with the misconception that a
mutually fulfilling male/female union is possible. Anyone who
believes otherwise is willingly participating in a self—
deception that will sooner or later lead to the bitter

realization that Pepe has already accepted. Pepe's own father.

187

in his effort to portray the world as truthfully as possible.
has ripped off the mask of life and exposed the harsh unyielding
realities beneath. Again the Flitcraft parable from Dashiell
Hammett's Ihe Maltese Falcon applies. for in much the same way
as Charles Flitcraft's close brush with death has "taken the lid
off life and let him look at the works”. the Spanish Civil War
has done this for the elder Carvalho. Like Flitcraft. he knows
from personal experience that life is not to be trusted.
However. the continuing repression and deprivation of the
postwar years did not allow Pepe's father to slide back into the
normal. self—deceptive attitude as Flitcraft did in his new life
as Charles Pierce. The beams may have stopped falling for
Flitcraft but (like Sam Spade) they never did for Pepe’s father:
the Franco regime never permitted them to stop. Convinced as he
was that injustice. victimization. and treachery were the true
characteristics of life. he could not in all conscience let Pepe
live unaware of these facts. However. in his attempt to reveal
the real nature of life. Pepe's father and also the
circumstances of Pepe’s own life. have stripped Pepe of what
could be called the self-deception necessary to enjoy and
believe in friendship. love. marriage. and life itself. Whereas
Sam Spade will not "play the sap" for Brigid. Pepe will not
"play the sap” for life.

With the previous example and various others. vazquaz

Montalban brings home one of his themes: human beings are

products of the time period. the historical events. the

188

environment. and the people that surround them. Pepe's external
actions and his internal view of the world have definitely been
influenced and at times totally decided by the unique aspects of
his past. Also. no matter how hard he tried to escape them by
physically leaving the country and the people who were
contributing authors to that past. Pepe still found himself back
in that same milieu in the end. However. having returned to the
place where his idealism soured into disillusionment did not
mean that he had come to terms with his past and the part Spain
and her problems had played in it. His continuing rejection of
his birthplace is seen in his actions and his words. In
Tatuajs. a sudden rage flickers to life within him as he
encounters a Spanish History professor. Hie hatred of this man
mirrors his animosity toward Spain and her past so intimately
tied to his own. Knocking him down and brandishing a knife at
him is Pepe’s way of pushing his past away. keeping it at arm's
length. Another indication of this is his fascination with
burning books. He had originally prepared himself to be a
member of academia and his house is full of various types of
books: poetry. philosophy. fiction. political essays. However.
he has begun using these works of art as kindling wood for his
fireplace. These are books which used to contain great truths.
entertain him. make him think. spark political or philosophical
discussions. As the well—meaning characters in Don Quixotg
burned the chivalric novels to save mankind from falling under

their spell so Pepe burns his own volumes to prevent himself

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from being deceived once again into thinking they have something
to offer. Also like Goytisolo's Julian and his passion for

smashing flies in works of Spanish literature. Pepe sets fire to
his books as a symbol of his renunciation of the country that
has stolen his ability to believe. "la culture que le habia
aislado de la vida.” (Spy. p. 249)

However. even though it was a past that haunted him. it was
also uniquely his own. no one else's. Due to this fact. there
came a time when his need to accept that history as his own. no
matter how painful it had been. overcame his urge to flee from
it. His flight from and eventual return to the streets of his
past are described in Lp_soleded del manager:

La primera vez que Carvalho abandons aquellaa calles.
PO? un cierto tiempo psnso que se habia liberado para
siempre de la condiciOn de animal ahogado en la tristeza
historica.. Pero la llevaba encima como el caracol lleva su
cascara. y cuando ya tarde decidio aceptar todo lo que le
habia hecho lo que era y quien era. volvia al escenario de
su infancia a adolescencia. (SM. p. 112)
Pepe chose to run away from postwar Spain. the Spain that had
persecuted him and jailed him and left the peOple in his barrio
"humillados y vencidos. en la cotidiana obligecidn de pedir
perdén por haber nacido." (SM. p. 112) However. in the end. his
rejection of his homeland and his past became a rejection of
himself.
_ps mares del sur supplies more examples which illustrate
the power the past holds over people. Ana Briongos. like Pepe.

has led the difficult life of a leftist radical while trying to

improve the conditions in the barrio in which she lives. She

190

comments to Pepe that it would be very easy to leave it all
behind. Pepe. needless to say. knows better:

(Pepe): "Este barrio y estas gentes se irian con usted.

Cada caracol lleva su cascara."

(Ana): "No pienso irme. Aunque le parezca mentira no

sabrie desenvolverme en otro sitio.” (SM. p. 57)

She too realizes that she is part of this environment just as it
has become a vital element within her. Unlike Pepe. Ana has
become aware of this fact without physically abandoning her
past.

Two other characters within the novel are pictured as
products or more accurately victims of the environment in which
they developed. The first is Ana’s half brother. Pedro. the
product of an extramarital affair of their father's. The mother
allowed this child to grow up in her household but her
generosity seems to have stopped there. He is a gang member. a
person who tends to solve life's problems with violence. But
Ana sees him differently:

"A veces me viene la imagen de mi hermano cuando era
pequsflo y no sabia que era culpable. culpable de la
humillacién de mi madre. Recuerdo su carita y de pronto la
veo deformada por toda la brutalided que ha caido sobre
61." (Spy. p. 255)

Ana's father’s indiscrstion becomes an error that not only he
himself must pay for. but also his son.

The second victim is one of Pepe’s students when he was
teaching kindergartners before he left Spain. This little boy
always speaks as if he were apologizing for something. Upon

meeting his mother. Pepe realizes from whom the boy picked up

this self—deprecsting manner. Both he and his mother are

191

victims of an unforgiving society in which single women do not
have children. Again the same idea is presented: people cannot
escape their past and often that past is something over which
they have had absolutely no control.

There are numerous instances where Pepe openly declares the
lack of allegiance he feels toward Spain and Spaniards in
general. In Igtuaje. one of the policemen in Amsterdam tries to
talk him into staying there to work by appealing to Pepe’s sense
of solidarity with his fellow Spaniards. It is an attempt which
is doomed from the start because Pepe. the man without a
country. replies: "No tengo compatriotas." (I. p. 154) Later
an exchange between Pepe and Dieter Rhomberg's sister in pp
gpppppg_gel manager reveals just how angry an assumption which
insinuates his association with anything Spanish can make him:

(Rhombsrg’s sister): "Me parece que usted tiene un
temperamento muy eapaflol. Muy tragico. No se puede ir por
el mundo dando sustos asi."

Estaba a punto de llorar.
(Pepe): "Seflors. Hagame caso. Busque la prensa y la
fotografia de Dieter. Mi temperamento es el de un solists
de arpa y no me he puesto unas castafiuelas en las manos en

toda la vida.”
"Que la den por culo.” penso cuando oyo que la mujer

empezaba a llorar. Lae alusiones a une supuesta complicidad

con los t6picos patrioticos 1e sacaban de quicio. (SM. p.

133)

Similar quotes are found throughout the novels as Pepe
impresses upon the reader his total lack of connection with
anyone or anything. Added to "No tengo compatriotas.” (I. p.

154) are "No tengo partido." (Sur. p. 44). "Ni siquiera tengo un

gato.” (Sur. p. 44 and I. p. 155). and ”No soy camarada de

 

nadie." (ACC. p. 83). However. there is one instance in pp

192

soledad del managsy where Pepe demonstrates that within him. no
matter how well hidden. stir some feelings of allegiance to his
country. This example is taken from one of the flashbacks to
Carvalho’s time as a C.I.A. agent in the United States sometime
in the early to mid-1960s. This is the conversation between
Peps and Dieter Rhomberg. a German socialist than living in
Spain:

"Parece mentira que los espsfiolss lo hayan aguantado

tanto."

La quejosa observacion iba dirigida e Carvalho.
"Preocapense ustedes del centinela de Occidente que

tienen en case: Willy Brandt.”
”(Que tienen que decir ustedes de Willy? Los
espafioles no pueden criticar a nadie. iAguantar a Franco

treinta shoe!"
"Ustedes nos lo dsjaron como reliquie. ustedes
hicieron posible que genera la guerra."
Carvalho estaba molesto consigo mismo. Odiaba lee
actitudss apasionadas. (SM. p. 25-26)
With this quote. Pepe identifies himself with at least a part of
the Spanish people as he defends them and himself in the face of
Rhomberg's verbal attack. In no other instance in the series
does Pepe so openly identify himself with Spain though his
constant and sdament verbal rejections make one suspect the
motivations which lie behind them. Do they symbolize real
feelings of rejection or are they a type of self—defense
mechanism to keep from accepting a homeland that has already
betrayed him once?
As was mentioned earlier. owing to his father's
preocupation with saving money. Pepe. too. has always been

conscious of how much money he has set aside and whether he will

have enough to see him through his old age. These thoughts of

193

and preparations for the later years of his life are isolated
comments in the first four novels of the series. However. they
become much more pronounced and frequent in the fifth book. Spy
pajaros de_Sppgppk. Pepe has been growing older right along
with his readers and he has reached the age of forty nine by
this installment. Many people on the brink of fifty suffer a
crisis of some sort as they cope with feelings of loss.
unrealized dreams. and the certainty that the infirmities of old
age and death are no longer out of sight. There are many
indications that such feelings are haunting the dark corners of
Pepe's thoughts.

The character of Pepe Carvalho has throughout the novels
viewed life with a large dose of distrust. Having been the
victim of many types of treachery. he is afraid that old age is
going to be the final betrayal. the final loss of control over
oneself and one's body. When Francois Pelletier asks Pepe what
matters to him. his answer is a telling one: “Envejecer con
dignidad." (SS. p. 301) This response in itself is indicative
of how important and real old age has become to Pepe as he
approaches it. The significant word in that statement is
dignity. What does that mean to Pepe? Living life with dignity
for him in the past has meant avoiding all the untrustworthy
elements that in the end can only deceive him: love.
commitment. emotions. dependence on other people. and believing
what books say. He fears that old age will cause him to drop

the protective shield which he has maintained around him and

194

cause him to fall into the ultimate form of self—deception:
that life is worth living no matter what one must suffer. Pepe
is terrified of being at the mercy of a weak body or a feeble
mind or spirit. He tries to save as much money as he can
because.
la perspective de una vejez sin dinero suficiente
para que alguien le limpiara el culo si era necesario le
indignabs. porque ls indignaba tener miedo y sobre todo de
8! mismo. (SS. p. 30)
He explains to Fuster why he burns his books:
"Digamos que lo quemo porque me gusto en su tiempo y
porque a medida que me hago viejo me da miedo sentir algan

dis la tentacion de volver a leerlo." (ES. p. 32)

He gets angry with one of his clients. when he is too old and
soft to carry out the punishment of a lying and embezzling son—
in-law because he pictures himself in the future and is afraid
the same thing might happen to him. This is his humorous yet
partially serious solution: "Cuando cumpla cincuenta y cinco
afios. Biscuter. me metes cianuro en un guiso de bacalao a1 pil
pil." (SS. p. 138)

In the other four books. the only murder is the one for
which Pepe is contracted to discover the killer (with the
exception of Los mares del sur in which there are two murders).
In striking contrast to this rather small production of killing
is Los pajaros de Bangkok with its death toll of seven. In this
concrete sense. there is much more focus on death in this novel.
In this way vazquez Montalban has the opportunity to present

various aspects of dying: how a person's death effects or does

not affect the people who knew him. how some people desperately

195

cling to life while others voluntarily throw it away. and how
taking the life of another human being can destroy one person
and have no effect on another.

Most peOple like to think that their death will have a
profound effect upon the people who shared their life. that
their absence will matter to someone. This hardly is the case
with the book’s main victim. Celia Mataix. As Pepe goes from
one of her so-called "friends" to another. he finds a marked
lack of emotion at the fact that she has died. Although it
seems that in life she was always surrounded by admirers. her
shallowness and the superficiality of these relationships have
prevented anyone from really caring about her death. This
example mirrors one of Pepe’s thoughts about death and dying
found earlier in Los mares del sur:

El muerto tsmpoco 1e imports a nadie. Cada asesinato
revelaba la inexistencia del humanismo. A la sociedad le
interesa el muerto sn funcion de que puede encontrar al
asesino y hacer un castigo "ejemplar". Pero si no hay
posibilided de encontrar al asesino. el muerto deja de
interesar tanto como el asesino mismo. Alguien que te
llore en serio. Como lloran los nifloa cuando han perdido a
sus padres entre la multitud. (Sur. p. 77-78)

This totally disillusioned attitude toward the importance of
life and death so reminiscent of Espronceda's anguished outcry
from El diablo_ppndo. "que hays un cadaver mas. iqué imports al
mundo!"3 again has been engendered by his past. As a victim of
the repressive Franco era. life did seem to have little meaning
and death became commonplace. Also as a private detective.

often those who hire him do not do so in an attempt to bring

their loved one’s killer to justice: they do so to protect

196

themselves (Reman-1ppppjp) or to prevent a scandal (la sefiore
Pedrell——Los mares del sur) or no one cares enough about the
murder victim to hire him (Cslia-—Los pajaros de Bangkok).

The suicide of Marta Miguel and her mother is another
situation which deals with the varied aspects surrounding death.
Marta's decision to take her own life and her mother’s also. is
an example of what life itself can do to people. For Marta.
life has been one struggle after another with no chance to
recuperate. It finally seems easier to simply stop fighting and
let it all go. She views her mother's life as the same sort of
situation: one of frustration and humiliation at her increasing
loss of control over her life and even her bodily functions.
Marta makes the decision for both of them because she feels that
life has done them much more damage than death will.

Ironically. it seems that her mother. though she has lost the
ability to feed herself. to bathe herself. to talk. and to walk.
has still managed to preserve the one thing that has escaped
Marta: the belief that life is worth living.

Finally these murders present the reader with two very
different attitudes toward killing which in actuality indicate
two contrasting views of life. Marta has killed Celia in the
heat of passion. of anger. the culmination of a lifetime of
frustration. Every element of that particular situation would
have to be repeated for her to murder again. Marta had been
able to withstand all the things that life had taken away from

her but she could not bear the fact that she had taken life from

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someone else. On the other hand. someone like Jungle Kid is a
totally different person. He is part of the Thai underworld and
killing to stay in control of that world is not uncommon. He is
a composite of an orgainized crime leader who unlike Marta feels
no compunction about taking the life of another human being. It
is interesting to note that within the character of Pepe
Carvalho. as he has gone through the progressive stages of his
personality. are elements of both of these attitudes toward the
act of murder. During the phase of his life as a C.I.A. agent.
when he had totally cut himself off from any person and any
value. Pepe had the ability to kill without guilt or feeling of
any sort. Now. still skeptical of life but no longer devoid of
feeling. taking a life is not easily done. In fact. while he
has injured people during this series of six novels. he has
killed no one. He certainly still has the capacity to kill but
now it would not be second nature nor would he leave the scene
unaffected. Even accidentally running over a rabbit affects him
now:

El pequeno ruido del cuerpo contra el parachoques le
dolio en el pecho durante kilametros y kilémetros. a el. a
un hombre que sabia lo que era mater y morir. (SS. p. 127)

The large number of people murdered during the course of
this case has not gone unnoticed by Pepe. Though he has killed
no one. he has seen death and felt its randomness as innocent
people and guilty alike become its victims. As he drives to mar
Manor in search of Teresa. he rails against her foolish actions

which have cost the lives of many people. When he is shown the

198

lifeless bodies of Marta and her mother. he pictures Archit's
mother. his own mother. and finally himself. all condemned to
die but as always powerless to choose when or how. Death for
Pepe has become a reality that frightens him because he cannot
control it. Like so many things in life. he is also at the
mercy of death. Pepe admits that:
la posibilided de morir a trozos. dsspedazado por la

enfermedad. autoengafiedo por el deseo de sobrevivir. le

ponia al borde de una locura homicide. homicide de la

memoria y del deseo. alcahuetas en la ocultaciOn del rostro

verdadero de la muerte. (ES. p. 321)

pp_Rosa ds Alejandria is another pivotal stage in the
analysis of the psychological progression seen in the character
of Pepe Carvalho. The detective of Los mares del sur whose
psyche is enbroiled in a seesaw battle between acceptance and
rejection of an attachment to people and things has done a
partial about-face by often being a willing accomplice to the
formation of connections. There are various moments in the
sixth novel which exemplify the ways in which vazquez
Montalban's private investigator is adopting a less "hard-
boiled" stance toward life and the people around him. In one
instance. Charo's cousin. Mariquita and her unemployed husband.
are arguing in the presence of Carvalho and Narcis Pons. Their
bickering stems from his feelings of worthlessness because he
cannot support his family and her inability to help him through
this difficult period. It is a more sensitive Pepe who

understands the pain which causes their constant sniping at one

another. He feels like an unwilling voyeur to a scene made

199

worse for the participants by his presence. At another time. he
might have avoided their pain by reciting a cold. analytical
explanation as Pons does: "’Saben que han de parecer infelices
para hacerse psrdonar su fracaso. Es muy interesante.’ Aquel
didactica era una mezcla de asistsnte social y de hijo de la
gran puts." (RA. p. 57) Pepe’s reaction indicates that he is
already beginning to suspect that this is a man whose lack of
feeling for others is his most salient characteristic.

When Pepe’s pursuit of EncarnaciOn’s killer takes him away
from Barcelona. Vazquez Montalban informs the reader of his
homesickness. his desire to be among the places and people that
make him feel a part of a larger whole: ”Salio a la calle
Carvalho. con la noche cerrada por testigo de sus ganas de
volver a case. a los guieos de Biscuter. a la chachara quejica
de Charo. a1 no tener nada que hacer 0 a1 tener algo menor que
hacer. pero volver a horizontes propicios donde su vida tuviera
algun sentido." (pp. p. 135) Even in his reference to the
complaints of Charo. he seems to consider them more an endearing
trait as opposed to a negative one. As was previously
documented. her tendency to nag him and to attempt to make him a
more permanent part of her life has not been an appealing
characteristic for Pepe in the past.

There are several occasions when Pepe shows himself to be
thoughtful with respect to the feelings of other people. When
he is in the part of the country where Charo's mother grew up.

Pepe takes the time to remember details of the area so that he

200

can describe it to her upon returning to Barcelona. Knowing
that this place and her memories of her mother mean a lot to
Charo. he even tries to buy a book on its history. When Charo
is saddened at the plight of her relatives. it is Pepe who is
there for her. who takes her in and cooks for her. who lets her
cry. He does not shy away from her psychological pain as he has
done in the past with her. Biscuter. and Marta Miguel among
others. He allows himself to be there for another person. to
show compassion.

Immediately preceding this scene is another where Pepe
wants to console Mariquita's children during their family
crisis. This time it is the old Pepe with his suspicions of any
tendency toward human solidarity who wins out:

Carvalho estaba molesto o angustiado por tanto
dramatismo o quiza estaba molesto porque empezaba a
angustiarle tanto drama y especialmente una extrafia piedad
dirigida hacia los nifios que desobedecian una y otra vez la
consigna materna de cenar algo. ds calentarse algo. que no
mama. que no tenemos gana. mama. Carvalho penso ofrecerse
a llevarselos al frankfurt porque suponie que les
entusiesmaria la idea. pero es reprimia porque temia quedar
ridiculo asumiendo el papel de tio postizo y porque no
queria ser corresponseble de la deformacidn del gusto de
los muchachos. En las situaciones dramaticas. se burla
Carvalho de 31 mismo. es cuando hay que demostrar la
sntereza de los principios. (3p. p. 214)

Peps is upset with himself because the pain of this family is
causing him anguish. too. He has allowed himself to connect
with these people. He feels especially sorry for the plight of
the children and wants to make them feel better. However. he is

afraid that this show of emotion or sentiment would make him

look ridiculous to others and most of all to himself. Like his

201

hard-boiled predecessors. Pepe has not lost the capacity to feel
tenderness and compassion. However. overt demonstrations of
these feelings still have to fight in order to emerge.

Another example of the increased sensitivity on the part of
Pepe Carvalho witnessed in pp_gpga de Alejandria, 13 the fact
that he feels sorry for the murderer. Gines Larios. Due to the
certainty that Gines is going to have to pay for the crime that
he pyg commit ppp the one that he did not. Pepe even
contemplates sending him a warning telegram so that he can
escape the law. Though he does decide against it because it
might jeopardize his private investigator license. this urge to
aid Gines mystifies Pepe. He is not accustomed to such feelings
of identification with his acquaintances. not to mention someone
that he has never met. It is the hard-boiled Pepe who says. "Y
por si faltara algo. .s ti que coho te imports? .Acaso area an
madre o su dios? Es mayorcito y que vsnda caro su tiempo porque
poco tiempo va a pesar en la calls en los aflos futuros. Me joda
que pague por lo que no he hecho.” (SA. p. 243) It is his
feeling that Gines will be dealt with unjustly and the
solidarity that he feels with Ginés but cannot explain. which
demands that he be present at the arrival of La Rosa de
Alejandria and his apprehension by the police. He does not
condemn this man that he pictures as an ”adolescents sensible".
someone who has allowed himself to believe in love and other
people. It is the shattering of these beliefs that drove Gines

to murder—-an act which turns out to be a renunciation of his own

202

life as well as Encarnacién’s. For Pepe. who has carried out
his own variation of rejecting life for so long. Gines'
disillusionment is something he can understand.

Another illustration of the changes going on within the
detective protagonist in this novel is related to his penchant
for burning the books that used to have meaning for him-
professionally and psychologically. Throughout the series. Pepe
has mentioned that he is afraid that someday he will once again
deceive himself into believing that these words have something
to say to him: once again he will allow himself to consume the
literary history of his native Spain. the country that he has
kept at arm's length for so many years. It seems that day has
arrived because two times Pepe has tried to sacrifice Federico
Garcia Lorcs's gpppp_gp_yueva York to the flames and two times
it has found its way back to the book shelf. He has reread some
of the lines in this book of poetry because ”1e parecieron
cargados de verdad." (SS. p. 39) If that is so. then one of his
worst fears. put into words in Los pajaros de Bangkok. has been
realized: ”’Digamos que lo quemo porque me gusto en su tiempo y
porque a medida que me hago viejo me da miedo sentir algan die
la tentacion de volver a leerlo.’" (SS. p. 32) Having faith in
people. feelings. and other elements which have Proved
treacherous in the past. is a frightening proposition for Pepe
Carvalho. For many years. beliefs of this kind have been an
indication of either growing old and senile. getting soft. or

blindly ignoring the facts of life. Thus. it is no surprise

203

that these tentative steps toward such faith both alarm and
bewilder Pepe.

Pepe's final scene with Charo in this latest installment of
the detective series is the antithesis of their relationship
charted through the first five novels. In the past. it has been
Charo who wanted to spend more time together and Pepe who either
avoided her or saw her out of a sense of obligation. On the
contrary. this time it is Pepe who tries to talk Charo into
spending the day with him and Charo who has to work. He even
goes so far as to ask her to stay with him for awhile. to try
living together. Both of them are disconcerted and thrown off—
balance by this out of character suggestion. After years of
sharing an on-again. off-again relationship with him. Charo is
totally unprepared for an offer that comes amazingly close to an
attempt at commitment on Pepe’s part. Her first thought is that
he has made the offer because he feels sorry for her and the
trauma that she has experienced recently. His pity is the last
thing that she wants. After suggesting that she stay. Pepe is
"errepentido ds una oferta que carecia de sentido.” (SA. p. 232)
It is difficult to ascertain the reasons for his immediate
regret at having made the offer. He has taken an emotional risk
which is completely alien to him. It has surprised and perhaps
frightened him. In addition. Charo. herself shocked and
suspicious of Pepe’s motives. does not respond positively. The
reader is not permitted to witness Pepe's immediate reaction to

Charo's negative decision. However. the topic surfaces again as

204

he talks with his friend. Fuster and relates his conversation
with Charo: ”'Me habia sentido o generoso o viejo y le habia
ofrecido a Charo quedarse a vivir aqui. a pruebas. una
temporada. luego. quien sabe. Pero. despuas de pensarlo. nada.
medio minuto. me ha dicho que no. que cada uno es cada uno. que
guise peor que yo. que lo suyo es lo suyo. Y se ha ido.’” (35.
p. 244) It is a telling statement about his feelings in
several ways. In an attempt to explain how he could have asked
Charo to stay. he does not say that he has realized how much he
loved her or that he felt particularly close to her after
helping her cope with her family problems. He says that he was
feeling generous or old. These rationalizations for his less
than hard-boiled actions indicate that only someone self-
sacrificing and again old and senile would suggest an attempt at
a permanent relationship with another person. He also clearly
mentions that he noticed how quickly Charo rejected his offer.
He seems hurt that she hardly gave it a moment's thought. Both
Pepe and Charo are victims of a life which has taught them that
human relationships are at best fleeting respites from
loneliness. and at their worst. clear examples of the complete
futility of trusting other people and love. It has not robbed
them of their ability to feel but it has made them suspicious of
offers of companionship: slow to make such an offer. and quick
to retract it at the slightest hint of rejection. the slightest
hint that their distrust was justified after all.

It is interesting to observe that both Dashiell Hammett and

205

Raymond Chandler’s literary private investigators. the
Continental Op and Philip Marlowe were accused by some critics
of forsaking their hard-boiled traits and falling into softness
and sentimentality in the latter part of each respective

4

series. It is specifically the Continental Op onThe Dain

Curs who generates this judgement. William Marling talks of

 

the Op's "nobility". "knighthood”. and ”chivalric form" and
asserts that "this Op is not very hard-boiled." (DE. P. 67)
Philip Durham states even more strongly that. ”Dashiell Hammett
virtually traded a hard—boiled hero for a part—time
sentimentalist. a character who could recognize in himself such
emotions as might occasionally be acceptable in the traditional
hard—boiled hero. but for Hammett it could mean only that his
hero had grown old and soft. Long live the Op. He was ready
for discard."5

It is Philip Durham again who outlines some of the reviews
received by Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye. When it was
still in manuscript form. Chandler sent it off to his agents.
According to Durham. "both Bernice Baumgarten and Carl Brandt
thought something unfortunate had happened to Philip Marlowe-he
had gone sentimental and Christ-like.” (Mppp. p. 101) limp
magazine said that the Philip Marlowe of The Long Goodbye ”seems

"6 The

a rather mellow and gentlemanly sleuth these days.
ultimate transformation and some would say betrayal of the hard-
boiled rules. which Chandler wrought in the character of Philip

Marlowe. was to marry him off in his final detective novel. The

206

Poodlp Springg Story. which remained unfinished at his death.
Published posthumously in Raymond Chandler Speaking (1962). one
wonders if Chandler would actually have finished and published
the book himself considering his own doubts as to the decision
to have Marlowe marry Linda Loring. He realized that being
married removed the lonely. solitary. non—trusting edge from his
hard—boiled character. His doubts are obvious in this letter to
another author of crime fiction. Maurice Guinness:

I think I may have misunderstood your desire that

Marlowe should get married. I think I may have picked the

wrong girl. But as a matter of fact. a fellow of Marlowe's

type shouldn’t get married. because he is a lonely man. a

poor man. a dangerous man. and yet a sympathetic man. and

somehow none of this goes with marriage. I think he will

always have a fairly shabby office. a lonely house. a

number of affairs. but no permanent connection... But

somehow. I think he would not have it otherwise. and
therefore I feel that your idea that he should be married.
even to a very nice girl. is quite out of character. I see
him always in a lonely street. in lonely rooms. puzzled but
never quite defeated... P.S. I am writing him married to

a rich woman and swamped by money. but I don’t think it

will last. (Ray. p. 248-240)

Chandler also seems to have discarded his own rules for the
writing of a mystery novel. In rule #4 in an addsnda attached
to the original ten. he writes: "(4) Love interest nearly
always weakens a mystery because it introduces a type of
suspense that is antagonistic to the detective's struggle to
solve the problem. It stacks the cards. and. in nine cases out
of ten. it eliminates at least two useful suspects. The only
effective kind of love interest is that which creates a personal

hazard for the detectivs——but which. at the same time. you

instinctively feel to be a mere episode. A really good

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detective never gets married." (Ray. p. 70)

From a critical standpoint. it is difficult to decide how
many overt demonstrations of human solidarity can be allowed to
a hard-boiled detective without stretching the formula into an
unrecognizable distortion. As has been stated. a certain amount
of humanity must be portrayed in the hard-boiled protagonist in
order to differentiate him from his antagonist. the criminal.
Also. as David Madden reminds the reader. the hard-boiled
character was not necessarily born that way: it is society which
has forced him to don the tough guy persona. Thus. it should
not be a shock to see that facade crack from time to time:

The sentimentality that sometimes surprises us in the tough

guy is partly a betrayal that the hard-boiled attitude is a

willed stance. taken for daily occasions. that often gets

set as self—delusion. Sometimes this streak of
sentimentality or softness. especially in Cain. makes
almost credible the incredible attitudes and behavior of
the tough guy. It is also simply true that sentimentality
is one of the things the tough exterior is created to
conceal: a similar defensiveness is revealed in 'serious’
writers. who strive relentlessly to avoid lapsing from wit

and irony into sentimentality. (Sp. p. xviii)

Taking into account this characterization of the hard-boiled
protagonist. a few lapses of sentimentality are in order.
However. many of them could be indicative of a need on the
author’s part to switch to a new form of expression. to break
out of a formula that may have become too limiting. While
Chandler was working on his final completed detective novel.
Playback (1958). he wrote this letter to Helga Greene. his
literary agent: ”...I haven’t touched the book yet. but I shall

have it finished when I come to England. It's not difficult.

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it's just that I think I may have outgrown this kind of thing.
I did my whack for the mystery story. and many writers. although
not all. concede that I did manage to recreate a worn-out
medium. and that. but for me. they would hardly be able to
exist. The problem is what to write...” (Spy. p. 239)
Chandler's desire to express himself outside of the detective
novel and his actual attempt at changing the emphasis within
that genre by making Philip Marlowe a married man. illustrates
his need to broaden his literary horizons. In a letter to
Bernice Baumgarten. he states that "it has been clear to me for
some time that what is largely boring about mystery stories. at
least on a literate plane. is that the characters get lost about
a third of the way through.” (Spy. p. 233) He wanted to delve
further into characterization. clashes of principles. and ”moral
dilemmas. rather than in who cracked who on the head.” (Spy. p.
233) It seems logical then that the drastic change to Philip
Marlow/married man. sprang from a conscious effort on the part
of Chandler to stretch himself as a writer. to experiment a bit.
Vazquez Montalban. too. has indicated that he would like to
move on to another form of expression. According to a review of
La Rosa de Alejandria in El Pais. he intends to write three more
works in the detective novel vein.7 With this latest novel.
vazquez Montalban like Raymond Chandler. is experimenting with
the formula. seeing how flexible it has the capacity to be. not
only with the protagonist but also through the structure. That

experimentation will be delved into in the final chapter of this

209

study.

Chapter 6
The Role of the Secondary Characters
in Manuel Vazquez Montalban’s Detective Fiction

As was discussed in the previous chapter. Pepe Carvalho's
girlfriend. Charo. is the most important of the secondary
characters which form the detective’s circle of friends. In
general. her importance lies in her relationship with the
protagonist and what their interactions tell the reader about
him. With respect to the other recurring secondary characters.
again their main function is to shed light on the various facets
of Pepe Carvalho: his personality. his values. his past. In
addition to the four who comprise the group of people who join
Pepe Carvalho in each installment of the detective fiction
series. Wazquez Montalban creates other striking characters who
cross the protagonist’s path as he endeavors to solve each
crime. They. too. lead the reader to a better understanding of
the complex Pepe Carvalho as they love him. challenge him. and
provoke him. Often these secondary men and women. both
recurring and non-recurring take on a symbolic role as they
represent social classes or various facets of Spain’s past and
present. As such. though certainly not the main focus of this
study. the roles of the secondary characters merit analysis
because they are so closely related to two elements that are
essential to Vazquez Montalban’s detective novels: the

detective. Pepe Carvalho and Spain.

210

211

I. Pepe Carvalho and the Recurring Secondary Characters

Unlike the majority of the American hard-boiled detective
fiction writers of the 1930s and 40s. Vazquez Montalban
surrounds his protagonist with a rather large network of
recurring secondary characters: Charo. his prostitute
girlfriend. Biscuter. his former jail partner and present cook.
Bromuro. a shoeshine who provides Pepe with information from the
seamier side of Barcelona. and Fuster. his confident and
gastronomic accomplice. The size of thier role differs from
novel to novel but each plays a specific and important part in
developing the background of the novel or helping to define the
personality of Pepe Carvalho. In some ways their recurring
presence in the novels is contradictory to the picture of Pepe
as a loner. However. these characters serve as indicators of
the ambivalence in Pepe’s personality which causes wide swings
between compassion and cold indifference toward people.

Charo’s basic role. as was outlined in Chapter 5. is
to emphasize Pepe's ambivalent feelings about love.
responsibility. and relationships. Their relationship is a
mirror of his inner self as he reaches out one moment and steps
back the next.

Biscuter is a simple. good man who is obviously devoted to
Pepe. He is depicted as a kind and rather naive person with

"aquellas facciones de hombre que no habia crecido e de nifio

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viejo." (SS. p. 64) Biscuter’s character performs two principal
functions: to provide a marked contrast to the Pepe Carvalho
personage and to supply the reader with information about the
detective and his past. Biscuter’s personality seems to be the
exact opposite of the protagonist. Though he has lived through
the identical time period as Carvalho. and knows the uncertainty
of postwar Spain. he has not become bitter and disconnected like
Pepe. He has not forgotten the years when peOple entered the
police station and never came out. but these facts do not deter
him from trusting and caring about people. He believes in Pepe
and would do anything for him. He has Charo over for dinner in
an effort to cheer her up when she and Pepe have problems.
Unlike Pepe. showing his emotions is not forbidden as is
evidenced in the fact that he is deeply saddened by his mother's
death and worried as well as tearful when Pepe leaves for
Bangkok in Los pa1pypg_pp_SppgSpS. He does not suffer from the
cynicism and commitment—phobia that Pepe does which tends to
make these facets of Pepe's personality even more striking.
Biscuter's character is also employed as a means to provide
the reader with more details of Pepe's past and the often
hidden. softer side of the detective's personality. His
presence in Pepe’s present life recalls scenes from the past.
especially the mutual time they spent in jail. a period of time
which affected Pepe greatly. The very fact that Biscuter is a
part of Pepe’s everyday existence sheds some light on a Carvalho

trait which sees little exposure: his compassion. Biscuter had

213

been in and out of jail for stealing care when Pepe offered him
the job of cooking and taking care of his office. With this
gesture. he gave Biscuter a reason to stay out of jail-he has
someone to take care of now. It is also through Biscuter that

the reader is shown another side of Pepe which cannot be seen in

his outward actions: his generosity. As Biscuter explains to
Marta Miguel in Los pajaros de Bangkok: "Parece un hombre frio

que no piensa en los demas pero. oiga. no se le escape nada y
siempre tiene un detalle. Conmigo. con su novia. la sefiorita
Charo. con Bromuro. A mi me ha abierto una cartilla de ahorros
en la Caixa y me ha nombrado su heredero. a mi. équé le parece?"
(SS. p. 173) He goes on to describe how Pepe takes care of him
and has made sure that he will have social security benefits
after he retires. This is a Pepe Carvalho who has taken
responsibility for another human being: something he has not
wanted to do in the past. Due to his interaction with Biscuter.
the reader is permitted to believe that there is another. less
cynical side of Pepe.

Enric Fustsr is Pepe’s friend who shares his penchant for
good food and drink. In the scenes between these two
characters. the reader sees Pepe with his guard down—-the one who
wakes up his friend in the middle of the night to come over and
eat roast duck. the one who bribes him with a bottle of port so
that he will stay and protect him from Charo's wrath. Fustsr
sometimes helps him gather information for his cases and at

times plays the role of listener as Pepe tries to reason out the

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clues he has uncovered or attempts to express his frustrations
and feelings of futility. As was discussed in Chapter 5.
through Charo’s comments. the reader knows that from Los mares
del sur until La Rosa de Alsjandria. Pepe has been retreating
from her and their relationship. In both Los mares del sur and
Los pajeros de Bangkok. Fustsr also reveals that Pepe has been a
less than attentive friend: "'Tfi este afio no has querido venir
a mi casa para la matanza. Si Mahoma no va a1 Maestrazgo. el

Maestrazgo va a Mahoma.’ (Spy. p. 118) "’SOlo te acuerdas del
electorado cuando hay elecciones. Pareces un politico.'” (SS.
p. 30) In this way. Vazquez Montalban also utilizes Fuster's
character to give information about the state of being of his
protagonist. Fuster's comments on his friendfs neglect of him
do not provoke Pepe’s anger as Charo's do. Unlike Charo. Fustsr
does not expect anything of Pepe except perhaps a good wine or a
gastronomical delight. Whereas Pepe feels responsible to Charo
and responsible for Biscuter. that feeling does not enter into
his relationship with Fustsr. Between them is the easy give-
and—take of good friends who respect and enjoy a mutual
companionship.

The final character in the group that comprises Pepe's
circle of friends is Bromuro. one of the street people who can
go places where Pepe would not fit in and extract information
that would be beyond his grasp. In addition to giving aid to

the detective. his character provides a rather satirical humor

and various references to Spain and its past. His "cause

215

Celebre" that is presented in a half serious. half humorous
manner is his theory that bromide (hence his name) has been put
into the water and bread in order to pacify the sexual and
rebellious potential of the people. He explains his position as
if he were running for political office: "Si yo tuviera algan
poder politico. que no tengo ninguno. lo que haris seria
denunciar sl uso y el abuso bel bromuro bajo el franquismo. 2N0
estamos en pleno periodo de revisiOn? EQuieres ta una mayor
violacién de los derechos humanos que el empleo de bromuro
contra toda una colectividad?’” (SS. p. 36) This is Bromuro's
rather comical explanation as to why Franco’s rule lasted so
long in Spain and how Franco violated human rights during his
regime: both very sobering topics.

vazquez Montalban also employs the Bromuro character in
order to present another group which formed part of the wartime
landscape of Spain's past: the "Division Azul". The various
comments offered by Bromuro with respect to the Spanish military
corps that went to Russia during World War II in order to fight
the Communists give the reader yet another perspective on that
all-important period in Spain’s history.

With the exception of Fustsr. the remaining supporting
characters are all lower class representatives with low status
employment. Despite this lack of status and power. the
portrayals of Charo. Biscuter. and Bromuro are all permeated
with an underlying sense of decency and dignity. Though Pepe.

like his hard-boiled predecessors. moves easily from one social

216

class to another. it is obvious that the detective feels more at
ease with and has more respect for the colorful inhabitants of

Barcelona's Las Ramblas that make up his group of friends.
II. Peps Carvalho and Women

Pepe Carvalho's relationships with women throughout the six
novels are an indicator of the protagonist's ambivalent attitude
toward the female gender. He can be gentle and kind one minute.
rough and coldly cruel the next. Though involved in an ongoing
relationship with Charo. this in no way prevents him from
seeking out other sexual partners. Pepe seems to feel no need
to be faithful to her for there is never any sign of guilt or
soul-searching on his part. Similarly. Charo feels no remorse
with respect to her employment as a prostitute. However. they
do differ in their attitude toward each other’s sexual
activities. In general. Pepe accepts that his girlfriend makes
a living by sleeping with other men. On the other hand. Charo
does not always remain impassive toward the other women in
Pepe's life. In her opinion. her job as a prostitute is exactly
that. a job. the only way that she knows how to earn a living.
As such. the men that she knows are not a threat to her
relationship with Pepe. She is not always as sure that is the
case with Pepe’s other women as can be seen in this
conversation:

30ne sols me encuentro. Pepifio! iQué sole! He
pensado unas cosae. unas cosae que me den miedo. Pepe. te

lo juro. Te has cansado de mi porque soy un pendan.
Siempre temi que no duraria.

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Charo. llevamos asi ocho afios.

Pero nunca tan mal como altimamente. Pepe. Ta te has
liado con otra. Lo noto.

Siempre me he’lisdo con uns u otra. '

{Con quian? aCon quien te has liado? LQua necesidad
tienes de otras ties? Yo voy con otros tios para vivir.
para comer. pero 6y ta? (Spy. p. 201)

These "ties” which include Teresa Marsé in Tatpaje. Lgs mares

del spr. and Los pajaros de Bangko , Yes in Los mares del sur.
Gladys in Aseeinato en el Comité Centrpl. and Joana in Los
pajaros de Bangkok. all play roles of varying degrees of

importance in Pepe’s life. Both Gladys and Joana are one night
sexual partners who Pepe has just met. They mean nothing to him
except a way to pleasurably spend some time. The scenes
describing both of these purely sexual encounters are not
descriptions of a mutual give-and-take of pleasure but rather
Pepe’s opportunity to extract his own personal satisfaction and
exact an almost complete control over the situations and the
women. In many ways. it is almost as if Pepe is accosting them
instead of making love to them. Pepe calls Gladys ”mandona”
when she tries to communicate her desires and displeasure with
respect to his actions. Joana feels that he has tried to
humiliate her with his less than gentle treatment of her. She
describes their encounter as "animalssco" and wants to know why
they have done it. Pepe’s cold but probably truthful reply is
"porque lo hemos pasado bien y porque son las cinco de la
madrugada y aan no hen abierto el Corte Inglés." (SS. p. 103)
The experience for him has been just as casual and haphazard as

a trip to a department store.

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Pepe's relationship with Yes in Los mares del sur is more
important than these first two partially because it is of longer
duration and unlike Gladys and Joana. she does seem to elicit a
modicum of caring from a Carvalho who is trying very hard to
keep his connection with her on a strictly superficial level.
This relationship is also significant due to the fact that it
takes place in Los mares del sur. a novel which has previously
been designated as a pivotal one in the development of Pepe
Carvalho’s extremely ambivalent attitude toward commitment to
another person. As he sometimes purposely. sometimes
unconsciously separates himself from Charo. his long—standing
partner. he drifts into a relationship with another woman who
wants more from him than just sexual gratification. The Pepe
Carvalho of Los mares del sur who wants to be alone. who is
starting to become frightened by the noose of commitment which
he feels tightening around his neck. gets involved with Yes.

She is a confused young woman who obviously needs and wants
guidance. protection. and companionship. It is strange that the
normally observant and perceptive Pepe does not realize that a
change from Charo to Yes will not rid him of what he says he
does not want: a person who needs him and wants to be with him.
During their lovemaking which starts out gently. it is precisely
such avowale of love and need on Yes’ part which set off a blind
rage in Peps:

Hicieron s1 amor a una distancia de arbitas y salo cuando

recuperaron la visiOn del techo. ella parecio salir de su

suefio para coger frenéticamente la mano de Carvalho y
decirle que le amaba. que no queria marcharse. Carvalho

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pensaba que estaba en deuda y es sentia molesto consigo
mismo.

éCeda vez que te acuestas con alguien has de drogarte?

Estoy muy bien contigo. No me das miedo. Siempre me
da miedo. Contigo no me ha dado miedo.

Carvalho le dio la vuelta. la puso a custro patas y se
dispuso a sodomizarla. Ni una protests salia a; la cabeza
oculta por cabellos dulces y vencidos. Con los brazos
enlazadoe en su tells breve como un tronco joven desmayo
Carvalho la cabeza sobre la espalda de Yes y sintio que la
abandonaba el oscuro furor. (Spy. p. 97—98)

Pepe feels betrayed by Yes’ need for a psychological as well as
a physical connection with him and tries to blot out that need
by altering an act of caring into one of anger and violence.

The quote that vazquez Montalban chose to preface Spy
pajaros dg_SppgSpS continues the discussion of connections which
form between two people by formulating an analogy between the
human and the animal world. The excerpt from Jean Rostand’s
Bestiario ds amor is a continuation of the view that forming
ties with others sets one up for inevitable pain. loss of
individuality. and in extreme cases. loss of life:

El csso del psz ’ceratia’--una especie de rape-es tal vez
el mas aberrante de todos. Unas quince o veinte veces mas
pequefio que la hembra (que mide cerca de un metro de
large). el joven macho ’ceratia’ se fija en los flancos 0
en la frente ds ella. la muerde. y esta mordedura va a
decidir su porvenir. En adelente. como si hubiera caido en
una tramps. jamas podra desprenderse de su compaflera. sue
lsbios se habran soldsdo. injertado en la cerne sjena. No
se podra sepsrar de ella. a no ser que erranue sus tejidos
fusionados. Su boca. sue maxilares. sue dientes. su tubo
digestivo. sus agallas. sue aletas y haste su corazon van
experimentsndo una degeneracién progresiva. Reducido a una
existencia parasitaria. no tardara en ser mas que una
especie de testiculo disfrszado de pez diminuto. cuyo
funcionamiento incluso sera regido por el estado hormonal
de la hembra. quien es comunica con 61 a través de los
vasos sanguineos.

Una hembra ceratia puede llevar encima haste tree 0
custro de estos machos pigmeos.

 

220

Though there are various "hembrss ceratias" in the detective
novels of vazquez Montalban. women who bring death or heart—
rending pain to the people who are foolish enough to form an
emotional attachment to them. Teresa Marsé is the guilty party
in Los pajaros de BangSpS. She began her relationship with Pepe
in Tatuaiy as someone who had information that he wanted. After
throwing her dress in the firs. grabbing her by the neck. and
bending her head close to the flames in order to procure this
information. Pepe and Teresa became lovers. As the only novel
published while Franco was still alive. a self-censorship by the
author may be the reason that there is a fads-out during the sex
scenes instead of a detailed description similar to those found
in the other novels. As such. there is no direct evidence of
Pepe’s treatment of Teresa in the bedroom. However. his actions
prior to their lovemaking have once again combined violence and
sex. After a short. rather insignificant appearance in Spy
_§res del sur. Teresa reappears in Los pajaros de Bangko .
Despite the fact that she does not appear in the novel until the
final two pages. much of the action revolves around her
disappearance. its effect on those whose lives are intertwined
with here. and the search for her. As has been documented
before. it is an extremely unwilling Pepe who finally surrenders
to his feelings of responsibility and what is now friendship
toward Teresa by traveling to Bangkok to look for her. However.
before making his decision to go. Pepe walks out on the

imploring words of Teresa’s son as he begs the detective to go

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to his mother’s aid: "Carvalho ss trago las palabras que tenie
en la boca. dio la espalda a1 chico y salio de la agencia.

Tenia la sensacion de haber atropellado a un pajero o quiza a un
conejo......éQuien era el conejo? No. no era Teresa. Eran
Ernesto 0 en abuela. en los que habia vieto capscidad de amar a
una mujer de cristal. a la vez transparente y quebradiza.

iQue se veyan a tomer por culo!" (SS. p. 127)

Two other names which must be added to this list of those
who suffer because of their love for Teresa are Archit. her
young lover and Carvalho himself. It is Teresa who foolishly
starts the whole chain of events which leads to various killings
and the eventual murder of Archit as he throws himself in front
of her in order to save her life. Loving Teresa has cost Archit
his life. Caring about Teresa has put Pepe’s life in jeopardy
and given him another piece of evidence that trusting in people
and linking one’s life to another’s. is at best painful and at
worst. deadly.

In La Rosa de Alsjandria. again it is love. that of Ginés
for Encarnacion. which causes not only his loss of freedom but
also her loss of life. This part of the plot is a continuation
of the "pez ceratia" syndrome. On the other hand. it is also
the novel in which Peps pays for a prostitute (the kind of no
strings attached. no commitment sex that has appealed to him in
the past) but ends up listening to her problems instead of
sleeping with her. Even more surprising then this turn of.

events is his invitation to Charo to live with him for awhile.

222

It is the first novel since Sp soledad del manager in which Pepe
has confined his encounters with the opposite sex to Charo and
he has never expressed a desire to live with anyone in the past.
The Pepe Carvalho of La Rosa de Alejandria is a more considerate
and faithful version of the protagonist of the previous five
novels. Many of these changes can be observed in his attitude
toward women. specifically Charo. At this point in his life. it
is a less hard-boiled Pepe who disregards what life has taught
him about the futility of human relationships and takes a first
step toward some level of commitment-—a step that he has
consciously avoided in the past.

Given the fact that Vazquez Montalban is a member of the
Executive Committee of the Partido Socialists Unificado de
Catalufia and that his detective protagonist is an ex-Communist.
it is not too surprising that in various ways throughout the
books the subject of social class surfaces. There is no doubt
where the sentiments of the author lie both considering the
Marxist ideology and the books themselves. According to that
system of beliefs. the bourgeoisie has been in control too long
and sooner or later the masses. the proletariat. will attain the
power needed to create a more egalitarian political system. By
analyzing the various characters who appear in the novels. it
can be seen that the proletarian representatives are presented
in a much more sympathetic manner than those of the bourgeoisie
or the upper class. The character that comes to mind first is

the upper-middls—class Teresa Maree who plays a role in three of

 

223

the six detective novels. Due to her unique position of

playing a supporting role in more than one novel. the reader is
allowed to know more about her and her background than usual and
to see her from the vantage point of more than one person. This
is especially true in Los pajaros de Bangkok because. although
in actuality the only time that the reader sees Teresa is within
the last two pages of the novel. she is one of the main
supporting characters due to the commentary of the other people.
Here is not an evil character but rather an unthinking one. She
has been born into a social class for which everything comes
easily: money. education. power. If. however. anything should
have the nerve to go wrong. Mommy and Daddy and their money are
there to bail her out. She has taken all this for granted.
seemingly unaware that the circumstances of life differ for
anyone else. Vazquez Montalban uses a deft image as he compares
the lives of Teresa. the upper-middle-class representative and
Charo. a member of the lower class:

Sin ls caricaturesca melena. Teresa recuperaba una
identided incuestionable de hija de la alta burgueeis, con
las facciones biencultivadas por la buena alimentacién. la
higiene‘regularizada y una libertad de expresion que presta
al rostro la ssrenidad del acrobata que trabaja con red.

La Charo trabajaba sin red deeds que habia nacido y
Carvalho le adivinaba a veces el rictus canalla de quien es
defiends matando 0 el miedo de quien teme las caidas. (I.
p. 210)
If Teresa falls in life. whether she is conscious of it or not.
there is always some kind of net below her. be it her mother.

her son. their money. or being part of the social sector that

has the power. Charo goes through life knowing full well that

224

she has to perform without the security of any kind of net to
catch her when she slips. Teresa has lived her life in a
protective cocoon that has prevented reality from entering.
When she discovers in Los pajeros de Bangkok that her son and
his girlfriend are going to have a baby without being married.
she cannot handle this dose of reality and escapes to Bangkok.
Her padded life has not taught her how to handle such
disappointments or to accept the responsibility for her actions.
As the support system that she has known (her father and his
money) starts to unravel someone else has to take over and that
someone is an unwilling Pepe. Teresa is not a bad person and
even tough guy Pepe is worried about her but he is also
disgusted with "her kind":
"He tenido cuarenta y cinco aflos para madurar y saber
donde ss metia. Y si no lo ha aprendido es porque
pertenece al sector social que mas detesto. la pijeria. A
los pobree los aplastan las inundaciones o as lee
descarrilan los trenes. pero no van a buscar las
inundaciones. ni juegan con los trenes. A veces se tiran a
ellos. si estan locos o desesperados..." (SS. p. 127)
The poor do their best to avoid problems because they know no
one is there to save them. Teresa seems to go out of her way to
find them because. at least in the past. people or money have
always been there.

Celia Mataix of Los pajsros dy_Sangkok is another
representative of the bourgeoisie whose character is very
similar to that of Teresa Marsé. Like Terese she needs to be

taken care of. Both of them have been provided with a job by

whomever was entrusted with their care at the moment (Tsresa-her

225

husband. Celia-—her parents) in order to keep them from being
depressed. Both are portrayed as women who live their lives as
if they have been set adrift in a boat without a rudder. with no
sense of direction or purpose in life. This is the opinion that
Celia’s sx-husband has of her:

"Quiza haste la piedra mas pequefla tiene sentido en el
equilibrio del universo. pero hay personas que no tienen
ningan sentido. y Celia era una de ellas.” (SS. p. 51—52)
Another member of the moneyed faction and even more so than

the Marse family is Argemi. the man who engineers the murder of
Antonio Jauma. He is now a very wealthy businessman whose
ostentatious style of living is even more objectionable and in a
sense ironic in light of his younger. leftist days. Of the six
friends focused on in La soledad del manager. three of them
remained true to their Communist beginnings and three of them
decided to join the capitalists and make as much money as
possible. Unlike Teresa Marsé. who has inherited her role as
part of the upper middle class. Argemi has carefully plotted his
rise to wealth and enjoys it to a degree that seems almost
repugnant in its total disregard for the fact that other people
have so much less. Money and the comforts that it provides have
become the gods in his life while friendship. love. fidelity.
loyalty. and respect for the life of another human being have
completely lost meaning for him. The portrayal of this member
of the upper class is definitely more damning than that of
Teresa Marse for his maneuvers are the conscious actions of an

entirely unscrupulous person.

 

226

The lower—class characters are seen in a much more
sympathetic light. Of the recurring secondary representatives.
Charo. Biscuter. and Bromuro are all pictured as basically good.
caring individuals. In addition to them. Marta Miguel is a good
example of the lower-class people represented in vazquez
Montalban’s detective novels. Though she is in fact Celia
Mataix’s murderer. this is far from the most important piece of
information about her life. She is portrayed much more as a
victim than as an executioner. Coming to the university from a
small town in the country. her whole life has been a continuing
attempt to catch up with the members of the bourgeoisie that
surround her. It is Marta herself. through her conversations
with Pepe and Charo. who informs the reader of the hardships
that she has endured in this constant battle and there is no
doubt of the bitterness which tinges her every remark. While
the rich and spoiled middle-class university students floated
through life easily. Marta was spending every waking moment
studying in an effort to be part of a social class that would
never accept her as one of their own. She explains the chasm
that lies between these two social classes to Charo:

”Una class social tan cinice. tan dominante acaba
convirtiendose en una razs y te lo escupen a la care.
palabra a palabra. gesto a gesto: no eres de los nuestros.
aunque ta velges cien veces mas que ellos y te hayas roto
los codos para saber tanto como ellos. lo mismo que ellos.
Pero por mucho que aprendas. nunca llegeras a saber lo que
verdaderamente los distingue. una capscidad de aprecio e si
mismos y de relativizaciOn de lo ajeno para la que nosotros
no estamos dotados. Por muy fuerte que consigamos ser.

aunque tsngamos dinero. incluso culture 0 poder. seguimos
pidiendo perdOn por haber nacido." (SS. p. 253)

 

227

Celia Mataix’s ill—fated invitation to stay was for Marta a sign
that she had finally made it. that she was to be accepted as
"one of them". Celia’s subsequent rejection and insults brought
Marta back to the reality she had always known: they would
never accept her. This humiliation also ignited all the
frustration. hate. and bitterness that she had suppressed for so
many years. In reality. both Marta and Celia are victims of the
bourgeoisie mentality.

Los mares del sur’s Ana Briongos. a representative of the
poor. working class. is another character who contrasts sharply
with images presented of Teresa Marse and c9113 Mataix. While
Teresa is a "mujer de cristal. a la vez transparente y
quebradiza” (SS. p. 127) and Celia is "fragil", Ana 13 "una
muchacha baja y robusta. de facciones grandee y morenas”. (Spy.
p. 176) Ana is one of those people who goes to work day in and
day out in order to be able to eat and have a roof over her
head. not in order to prevent depression. She has strong
beliefs and is involved in politics in a concrete attempt to
back up these opinions with actions. Because of her political
convictions. Ana. like Carvalho. knows what the basement of the
police station in Via Layetana is like. Upon discovering that
she is pregnant. she takes the responsibility herself and
accepts the fact that she will probably be both mother and
father to the child. Feeling that her half brother. Pedro. has
been a victim of society. Ana risks being arrested as an

accomplice in order to protect him. The Ana Briongo character

 

228

is a strong and sturdy one who has fought for change and
suffered for it. who has taken responsibility for her own life.
That life has not been easy for her but she has not surrendered
to its hardships nor become one of its victims. vazquez
Montalban’s lower-class literary creations are not perfect.
fairy—tale heroes. though in comparison to his middle and upper-
claes counterparts. their good characteristics do take on a
heightened quality. The author’s sympathies obviously lie with
those like Charo. Marta. and Ana who must tightrope walk through
life "sin red".

Vazquez Montalban’s characterization of the protagonist.
Pepe Carvalho. is a carefully constructed portrayal of one man’s
struggle to cope with the situations —— good and bad - which
life has thrown in his path. Interwoven among the details of
this in;depth look at the detective are the lives of the
secondary characters. Whether functioning as sources of
information pertaining to the main character or symbols of
certain sectors of Spanish society. these characters are an
essential element of Vazquez Montalban’s panorama of post-Franco

Spain.

Chapter 7
The Style and Structure
of Manuel vazquez Montalban’s Detective Fiction

An analysis of the style and structure utilized by Vazquez
Montalban in his series of detective novels brings to light both
the traditional techniques popularized by Dashiell Hammett.
Raymond Chandler and others. in the original hard—boiled model.
as well as some very modern. experimental ones generally not
associated with a representative of formulaic literature. In a
literary genre that has often been accused of lacking literary
style and even described as a form of expression in which
literary style has no placel. both Hammett and Chandler brought
stylistic respectability to detective fiction. These two
writers produced novels which cloaked the tough guy hero.
suspense. violence. and murder common to all hard-boiled
detective works. in a style worthy of literary criticism. While
Hammett expressed himself in a spare. terse manner with emphasis
on short but action-packed sentences. Chandler experimented a
bit more with the language and tried to stretch it to its full
poetic and expressive potential. D.C. Russell thought that
Chandler had "artistry of craftmanship and a realism that can
rank him with many famous novelists. In his hands words do
become beautiful and wonderful things. operating with economy

2 These two writers required detective fiction

and precision."
to be exciting both thematically and formally and in so doing.

laid the groundwork for future detective novelists like vazquez

229

230

 

Montalban.

The following treatment of the stylistic and structural
techniques found in Vazquez Montalban’s detective fiction will
show that in many ways his formulaic fiction is reminiscent of
that of Hammett and Chandler. However. this Spanish hard-boiled
descendant tends to modify these characteristic stylistic
touches. Some of these modifications are slight expansions
where vazquez Montalban utilizes the original techniques and
takes them one or two steps further. Others are more radical as
he uses structures developed and commonly employed in the
original form. ppp as a model to reproduce. but rather as an
element to be exploited by the author in order to shape
something new out of something formulaic. Since vazquez
Montalban has been a keen observer of popular cultural modes of
expression for many years. he knows that certain stylistic and
structural forms have been used so often that they have become
engraved on the minds of their readers. As such. they become
potential ways in which to challenge and frustrate the typically
complacent reader of formulaic fiction by not giving him what he
expects. Playing with reader expectations is one more example
of vazquez Montalban’s interest in employing the novelistic
structure as well as the actual plot as a means of communicating
a message. Prior to the inception of the Pepe Carvalho
detective series. Vazquez Montalban also utilized his fictional
production as a forum for structural experimentation as he

delved into the various levels of metafiction found in the works

231

designated as "escritura subnormal". Vazquez Montalban’s hard—
boiled detective fiction. though very different from his
"escritura subnormal." owes its structurally experimental slant

to that phase of his literary production.
I. High Literature vs. Popular Literature

A discussion of the stylistic and structural techniques
utilized by vazquez Montalban in his detective fiction must by
viewed within the context of one of the theories set forth
previously as a possible cause of the outpouring of detective
fiction in the 19703 and 80s in Spain. If the detective novel
is considered a reaction against the peninsular experimental
novels of the 1960s and 708. vazquez Montalban’s detective
series seems to fit nicely within that category. His own rather
extreme switch from the experimental literature of Cuestiones
marxistas to the formulaic art of Tatuaje can similarly be seen
as an attempt to return to a more straightforward form of
communication. In an interview with Federico Campbell. while
discussing what he interprets as a lack of confidence in the
novelistic genre itself. vazquez Montalban talks of his
increasing disenchantment with and distrust of the technical
experimentation being practiced by Spanish authors including
himself:

Esa incertidumbre formal es dramatica en el caso espafiol

porque en gran parte se trata de un fenOmeno artificial:

se ha fijado como meta del escritor el innovarse
tecnicamente. el crear una pequefla conmocidn tecnica en su

obra: y esto en parts ha sido culpa de las bases del premio
Biblioteca Breve que casi todos hemos tratado de ganar.

232

-—2A que aspecto de su convocatoria eludes?

-—Al que dice que se premisra a las novelas que
aporten algo a nivel técnico. Exists una propension un
tanto desmesurada a1 experimentalismo por el
experimentalismo. Unida a la inseguridad cultural del pais
ha producido unas novelas de solitario tremendas: se ha
creido que la novels es un arte experimental que termina en
si mismo. no he habido ningan nivel de respuesta cordial al
pablico y haste ahora no existe un movimiento literario.
(SI. p. 157-158)

These words render vazquez Montalban’s move to a less
structurally experimental mode of expression more
understandable.

When seen within the context of Michael Holquist’s article
"Whodunit and Other Questions." mentioned previously. there is a
definite precedent set for what seems to be at first glance
vazquez Montalban’s extremely radical transition from one mode
of literary expression to another. According to Holquist. the
intellectuals of the 1920s and 30s read the classical detective
story as both a formal and thematic escape from the structurally
experimental modernist novel with its chaotic world view. The
classical detective story with its uncomplicated form and
confidence in the power of reason provided the antithetical mode
of expression needed. Vazquez Montalban similarly chose to
write detective fiction as an antidote to high literature. at
least to that facet of the avant-garde that he began to view as
an artificial "experimentalismo por el experimentalismo."
However. vazquez Montalban’s decision to style his novels after
the hard-boiled detective mode proves his move from high to

popular literature to be a formal change but not a thematic one.

Both classical and hard—boiled detective fiction. in their

233

original forms. utilize a direct. uncomplicated structure to
relate their story. But. as has been pointed out previously.
the view of the world projected by each of them is hardly
similar. According to Steven Marcus. the works of Dashiell
Hammett and the American hard—boiled school project the ”ethical
irrationality of existence. the ethical unintelligibility of the

d"3 and a picture of American society where ”violence is the

worl
decisive means indeed. along with fraud. deceit. treachery.
betrayal and general. endemic unscrupulousness." (Sp. p. xxvi)
Given the irrationality. violence. and injustice attributed to
human existence by hard-boiled writers. Vazquez Montalban did
not turn to detective fiction for Holquist’s ”easy reassurance."
He did. however. switch to popular literature in order to move
toward a form of expression that was less linguistically
experimental. less geared toward the elite reader. than the
works found in his "escritura subnormal”. vazquez Montalban’s
entrance into formulaic literature was in part motivated by his
desire to reach a wider audience and to communicate the same
subjects which have formed the thematic basis of his previous
works to this larger group of readers. Though. in a structural
sense. Vazquez Montalban may have sugarcoated his various
messages by choosing to convey them through popular literature.
he has not abandoned those themes. His critical and questioning
attitude toward Spanish and United States society specifically.

and life in general. remains. As such. Holquist’s distinction

between high and popular culture. ”art is difficult. kitsch is

 

234

easy” (Spppppyp. p. 152) can certainly be applied to vazquez
Montalban’s brand of popular art at the thematic level. While
the comparatively uncomplicated presentation of the story makes
its plot readily accessible. the doubts raised and the
criticisms leveled are not easily forgotten. His detective
novels include a murderer who is allowed to retain his freedom.
unpunished and unremorseful: a father who feels guilty because
he has brought a child-victim into a world of civil war.
dictatorship. and the nuclear bomb: and a protagonist whose view
of the world and the people in it lead him to this conclusion:
"Lo que ocurre es que solemos vivir como si no supieramos que
todo y todos son una mierda. Cuanto mas inteligente es una
persona menos lo olvide. mas lo tiene presente. Nunca he
conocido a nadie realmente inteligente que amass a los demae o
confiase en ellos. A lo sumo los compadecia. Ese sentimiento
si lo entiendo." (Spy. p. 197) These events and words portray a
world where justice and freedom are not inalienable rights but
rather arbitrary concepts reserved only for certain sectors of
society: where love and trust in other people are sentiments
reserved only for fools. The ideas exemplified in Vazquez
Montalban's detective novels cause the reader to think. to
examine his own feelings about the state of things in this life.
They fit into Holquist’s definition of high art because ”instead
of reassuring. they disturb. They are not an escape. but an
attack." (Shodunit. p. 175) Thus. Vazquez Montalban’s

detective fiction is a kind of "high pop-art” due to its

235

capacity to encompass much of the reassuringly familiar formula
essential to popular cultural forms as well as the
disconcertingly uncertain portrayal of the rationality of people
and life itself found in high art.

In this general assertion that Vazquez Montalban has chosen
a less complex. more straightforward form to convey his ideas.
one must be careful not to assume that he has abandoned the
structural experimentation begun in the novels of his "escritura
subnormal." Though his detective fiction is indeed accessible
and readable in a way that much of the Spanish novelistic
production of the 1960s and 70s is not. vazquez Montalban has
found the detective novel to be a particularly fertile genre
with respect to the possibility of employing metafictional
devices. Thus. the structure which holds vazquez Montalban’s
detective fiction together is a combination of new and old
techniques. high and popular art as he adheres to some of the
traditional rules of thumb and breaks others.

Again. it is informative to utilize Michael Holquist’s
treatment of detective fiction in "Whodunit and Other Questions"
as a basis for vazquez Montalban’s transformation of a formulaic
model into a form with decidedly "high" art tendencies. In
addition to projecting classical detective fiction as a
comforting escape for the intellectual readers from the
constantly questioning and unsettling modernist works of that
period. Holquist also presents the metaphysical detective story

as the form chosen by the postmodernist writers to express their

236

equally chaotic view of life. They. as it will also be shown
with respect to vazquez Montalban. used detective fiction as an
opportunity to manipulate the model and specifically reader
expectations of the model. The formulaic works. of course. have
an extremely high number of structural and plot devices which
are expected of them. These expectations are perfect
opportunities to experiment with the flexibility of the form. to
see exactly what levels of high art can be reached within a
supposedly sub-literary genre. Instead of despairing over the
depths to which popular literature often sinks or the
undecipherabls heights of which the avant-gsrde is capable.
vazquez Montalban has taken Holquist’s advice and held onto his
faith in culture and its ability to combine the best of both
literary worlds. As Holquist states: "If we really believe in
culture. we should have faith in its capacity to survive by
going on the counterattack. exploiting kitsch for new effects of
which kitsch in its complacency. its urge to reassure. was

itself unaware." (Whodunit. p. 173) vazquez Montalban’s long—

 

standing fascination with the various forms of the popular
culture makes him an expert on exactly what those models do and
do not have to offer as well as an informed opinion as to their
literary potential.

Holquist describes Edgar Allan Poe. Alain Robbe-Grillet.
and Jorge Luis Borges as all having "a deep sense of the chaos
of the world.” (Whodunit. p. 172) However. unlike Poe. the

originator of the classical detective story. neither

237

postmodernist. Robbe-Grillet nor Borges could "assuage that
sense by turning to the mechanical certainty. the hyperlogic of
the classical detective story. Postmodernists use as a foil the
assumption of detective fiction that the mind can solve all: by
twisting the details just the opposite becomes the case.”
(Whodunit. p. 172-173) Like Robbe-Grillet and Borges. vazquez
Montalban’s own sense of the basic "irrationality of existence"
(pp. p. xvii). as Marcus calls it. could not be contained within
a form which sees the world as an ordered place where the human
mind is in control and crime is a momentary lapse which will
soon be eradicated. This ordered view of the world did not ring
true for Dashiell Hammett either. Consequently. he developed
the hard-boiled model with its emphasis on disorder and crime as
integral features of society. Trapped within this world is a
detective fighting a losing battle against an endless barrage of
injustice. Thus. though Hammett’s hard-boiled detective fiction
is first and foremost a direct response to the society and times
in which the author finds himself. it is also very much a re—
working of the classical detective story in which very few of
the classical "rules" are followed. A reader who comes to the
hard-boiled detective novel with expectations molded by Edgar
Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle will find those expectations
betrayed. Similarly. vazquez Montalban takes the basic hard-
boiled detective model and adds a new dimension to it by again
depriving the seasoned reader of this type of detective fiction

of those sacred elements which he has supposedly been promised.

 

238

Borges’ and Robbe-Grillet’s postmodernist metaphysical
detective fiction and vazquez Montalban’s model. are all
examples of the potential for "high” art which often lies hidden
within formulaic fiction. that agressive element present when
the unwritten contract struck between author and reader is
broken. The reader is not allowed to continue along with the
familiar but must deal with the unexpected. the strange. as the
author attacks the reader’s preconceived notions of what the
detective novel should be. For Holquist. ”That is the lesson of
the metaphysical detective story in our own time. It sees the
potential for ’reel’ violence—-violence to our flabby habits of
perception-—in the ’phony’ violence of the detective story.”
(Whodunit. p. 173-174) Vazquez Montalban. too. in his own way
wreaks havoc with "our flabby habits of perception" as he strays
from the accepted hard-boiled characterization and structure.

II. Stylistic Techniques:
The Simile. Humor and Language

The following examines vazquez Montalban’s stylistic and
structural manipulation of reader expectations through the
movement between strict adherence to the hard-boiled model and a
deliberate flouting of it. Included within those stylistic
elements employed by both the original hard-boiled writers and
vazquez Montalban are the simile and humor. which will be
subsequently discussed. As was previously outlined. the simile
was an important and creative descriptive tool within the

American hard—boiled detective writer’s repertoire. vazquez

239

Montalban has not neglected to employ this technique though he
does not rely on it as much as Raymond Chandler. He tends to
use phrases beginning with ”como si” indicating a contrary to
fact comparison more often than the classic form of the simile.
In Los mares del sur. he describes Peps and his penchant for
drinking: ”Carvalho BSSUIa obseeivo con su vino. como si
estuviera practicando una transfusiOn de sangre blanca y fria."
(Spy. p. 31) Los pajaros dy_Syngkok supplies a description of
some of the people on Pepe’s flight from Spain to Thailand: "El
mallorquin lo contemplaba como si el chino le falters en su
coleccién de insectos tropicales." (SS. p. 143) In Los mares
del sur again. Vazquez Montalban portrays the streets in Sen
Magin: "Tambien alguien habia dado la orden de salida a les
mujeres prefledas y picoteaban lee aceras como patitos
inseguros." (Spy. p. 152) These comparisons are a very
efficient way to communicate a description to the reader because
of the vivid images that they conjure up. The simile is also
one of the sources of humor. which is another important facet of
vazquez Montalban’s style. His very unique brand of humor is
one of subtlety. understatement. and irreverence. After
suffering a beating at the hands of some criminals in Ipppyjy.
vazquez Montalban describes Pepe’s pain with an understated form
of black humor: "Carvalho se encogio de hombros. Un pinchazo
en las costillas ls invité a no repetir el gesto.” (I. p. 115)
In Los mares del sur. Charo complains that the economic problems

being suffered in Spain are causing lots of women to turn to

240

prostitution and causing too much competition for the genuine
"working women": "Con eso de la crisis economics as hen puesto
a joder haste las monjes." (Sur. p. 30) On another occasion in

La Rosa de Alejandris. Pepe jokes about the possibility of

 

another war in Spain. It is hard to believe that someone who;
has been so profoundly affected by the Civil War and the
divisive elements in Spain could make jokes about further armed
confrontation. However. it is all a part of the cynicism which
has become his protective cocoon. Making fun in this instance
is one of his self-defense mechanisms. After seeing the movie
Under Firy which deals with the Sandsnista revolution in
Nicaragua. Charo asks Pepe if he would like there to be a
revolution in Spain:

"La revolucién. édénde?"

"Aqui. en Barcelona."

"Saldrian los tanques a la calle y pondrian la

circulacion imposible." (SS. p. 68)

His flip answer to Charo’s serious question is indicative of his
need. and that of many other Spaniards of his generation and the
previous one. to deny the possibility of another war within
Spain.

Another opportunity for humor taken advantage of by the
original hard—boiled detective novelists. and carried on by
vazquez Montalban. is the snappy. joking banter utilized in
discussions between the detective and his antagonists in
situations of possibly grave danger. This happy-go-lucky patter

may in fact hide the very real fear being felt by the

protagonist. Whether sincere or employed as a way to mask his

 

241

true feelings. this joking manner has long been an integral part
of the hard-boiled detective persons. In Aseeinato en el Comite
Central. Pepe arrives at his hotel room to find an uninvited and
unwelcome guest awaiting him. This man who wants information
from Pepe suggests that the detective order breakfast for two.
True to his hard-boiled heritage. Pepe is ready with a
wisecracking quip:

"EY mi reputacién?"

Esta vez la mano libre la empleo para apretaree e1

epicentro de las carcajadas. exactamente el tercer pliegue

de carne amontonada sobre la bragueta.
"aPerdio la otra mano en el sitio de Stalingrado?”

Amontono mas carcajadas sobre lss anteriores. pero no
saco la mano invisible.

"Es usted muy gracioso. el detective mas gracioso que

he conocido." (SSS. p. 165-166)

Another stylistic technique employed by vazquez Montalban
can be categorized simply as his talent for manipulating the
Spanish language and constructing dialogues. One specific usage
is that of employing a single word which simultaneously forms an
association between two unrelated elements. _For example. when
Marta Miguel and Ross Donato have a fight and hit each ether.
Marta leaves and walks out into the night air. where ”el frio de
la primera noche de novismbre balsamizo el calor del champan y
s1 de la bofetada.” (SS. p. 250) In a straightforward context.
these two elements. champagne and a slap received on the face.
seem to have nothing in common. But with one word. the Syyp
caused by each one. vazquez Montalban forms a connection between

these two nouns. The two following examples both function in

similar ways giving the reader a carefully constructed and

242

stylish description. In a scene in Los mares del sur. Pepe
tries to decide whether to go back to the office or to visit
Charo whom he has been neglecting recently. He chooses the
former as he pictures her ”Preparando e1 cuerpo o preparando
reproches para un Carvalho cada vez mas distante.” (Spy. p. 117)
When Pepe’s quest for the identity of a corpse takes him to ~
Amsterdam in lyppyjy. Vazquez Montalban cleverly relates two
very different types of canals: ”Los canales se le habian
oscurecido. pero e1 llevaba los canales de la sangre iluminados
por el alcohol.” (I. p. 69)

Another way in which vazquez Montalban displays his
literary talents lies in his ability to describe a common event
or feeling in a new and original manner. For example. many
people have felt at one time or another that they were not
living up to their parents’ expectations. that they were a
failure. That situation existed between Pepe and his father
when his father was still alive. vazquez Montalban does not
just state that Pepe’s father had never been satisfied with his
son’s accomplishments or lack of them. Instead. he says in Spy
mares del sur that "Carvalho le demostro que saldria de la
universidad. de la carcel. del pais. de la vida con las sienes
libres de corona de laurel.” (Spy. p. 178) Along these same
lines. it is interesting to observe Vazquez Montalban’s
descriptions of an event that is a common occurrence in
detective fiction: a murder. The description of violent death

in the original hard-boiled detective story is comparable to the

243

stark. reporter—like accounts of the aftermath of this violence
described earlier in this study. A good example of this direct
style. often devoid of human emotion. is found is Dashiell
Hammett’s short story "The Golden Horseshoe" as a fight breaks
out amongst the criminals:

Kewpie bent forward. Her left hand went under the hem
of her skirt. The hand came up-—empty. The flash from
Gooseneck’s gun lit on a flying steel blade.

The girl spun back across the room--hammered back by
the bullets that tore through her chest. Her back hit the
well. She pitched forward to the floor.

Gooseneck stopped shooting and tried to speak. The
brown heft of the girl’s knife stuck out of his yellow
throat. He couldn’t get his words past the blade. He
dropped one gun and tried to take hold of the protruding
heft. Halfway up to it his hand came. and dropped. He
went down slowly--to his knees-—hands and knees--rolled over
on his side—-and lay still. (SS. p. 82-83)

This straightforward. unflinching way of relating a murder can
be seen as completely appropriate since these descriptions are
supposed to be coming out of the mouth of a time—wearied

”gumshoe". On the other hand. Vazquez Montalban imbues his
killings and their written descriptions with a more overt style
which borders on the poetic. They are striking in their
combination of two contrasting elements: physically violent
death and poetic language. It is a technique that allows the
reader’s focus to be divided between the taking of a life ypp
the language used to describe that event whereas the strictly
hard-boiled style used by Dashiell Hammett does not permit his
attention to stray from the physical effects of death. vazquez
Montalban’s style is a more self-conscious one in that it allows

the focus to linger on those stylistic elements employed to

244

report the events. not solely on the events themselves. As
such. Vazquez Montalban draws attention to the language utilized
in a way that Hammett does not. When vazquez Montalban depicts
a murder. the reader is provided with not only the physical
results of the violence inflicted but sometimes the mental and
emotional response as well. as the victim feels life slipping
away and tries vainly to halt that exodus. When Fernando
Garrido is assassinated in the opening pages of Aseeinato en sl
ComitSSantny. the audience is informed of the details in this
succinct but expressive way: "Un dolor de hielo ls trespass el
chaleco de lens inglesa y le vacio la vida sin poder
aguantarsela con les manos.” (ACC. p. 17) Archit in Los
pajaros de Bangkok has a little more time than Garrido to try to
stop the flow of life away from his body after both he and Pepe
are shot by Jungle Kid:
Archit abrio los brazos y cubrio con su delgado cuerpo de
muchacho sl de Teresa. para recibir un balazo que le hizo
encogerse. doblarse hacia adelente. caer desarticulado...
Carvalho estaba mareado. Se arrodillo junto a Archit. le
tumbo sobre la arena. as enfrento al espectaculo de sus
ojos que divagaban por el cielo en busca de un asidero para
no caer en sl pozo de la muerte. Carvalho miro hacia el
cielo en la esperanza de poder ayudar a Archit a encontrar
e1 asidero dessntendidos los dos de los sabios sollozos
desgarradores de la mujer. (BE. P. 328)
When Dieter Rhomberg is disposed of in La soledad del
manager. Vazquez Montalban's description is concise and direct
with increased emphasis on the physical: "Dieter ss volvio pero

ean vio de refilOn en la mano del hombre percheran el brillo que

le sego la gerganta como si fuera cuchillo en el agua.” (SS. p.

245

62) However. he still cannot resist a careful choice of words
whcih supplies the violently expressive "segar" instead of
perhaps the more common "cortar". In addition. he employs a

comparison. "como si fuera cuchillo en el agua. in order to
make the image a bit more vivid.

Finally. there is the action in the opening scene of ng
Rajaros de Bangkok where Celia flataix finds herself at the mercy
of the murderous hands of Marta Miguel. a woman who has been
rejected by people and by life once too often. It is a scene
which is carefully done stylistically to communicate a specific
feeling of detachment between the perpetrator of the crime.
Marta Miguel. and the crime itself. Throughout the entire
description of the struggle and eventual murder. never is it
stated directly that Marta Miguel strikes Celia Mataix. The
first act of agression is presented as follows: ”La mano de la
mujer ha salido lanzada y se ha apoderado do un punado ds Jersey
de lanilla. y esa mano es un elemento extraflo que Celia
contempla asustada y la otra asombrads. Y tras esa mano llega
un impulso ciego que tira de la lanilla y la arranca. deJando a1
descubierto piel de mujer rosada y tibia. un pezon que aparece y
desaparece a1 vaivén de la respiracién del animal asustada."
(_§. p. 12-13) It is as if harta's hand is a separate entity.
detached from her body. no longer under the controlling
Jurisdiction of her mind. Her attacking hand is an "elemento
extraflo" which grabs Celia's shirt. an action which leaves the

hand's owner "asombrada". She is overwhelmed by "un impulso

246

ciego." again emphasizing the helplessness of Marta Miguel with
respect to the violence which wells up from heretofore hidden
and repressed depths. This style is further proof that the
author wants the reader to view this as an act which borders on
temporary insanity: Marta Miguel would not become a killer under
any circumstances but these. Celia's rejection of Marta has
driven the latter’s hands to actions which her rational mind
would have stopped in any other situation. This is another
example of Vézquez Montalbén’s self-conscious use of language as
he carefully manipulates the structure of his narrative. An
image is evoked in the reader’s mind not only by the actions
described but also by the manner in which those actions are
related.

In addition to this separate stylistic technique. the final
depiction of the death blows dealt by the hands of Marta Miguel
is carefully described: "Los golpes caen sobre Celia con la
voluntad de aniquilarla. y la barrera de los brazos cruzados
nada puede contra los molinetes cargados de odio. Y en el aire.
apenas un volumen 0 el vacio que abre y ocupa. una botella muere
matando contra la pequefia cabeza. Sellada por la sangre. una
melena repentinamente lacia. descolorida. de mufieca rota. (as.
p. 13) It is in these descriptive passages where it can
plainly be seen that the author is also a poet who knows the
expressive potential of words and has the capacity to exploit

that untapped power.

III. The Function of Narrative Passages:

247
Self—Conscious Narration

Another structural element which is developed further by
Vazquez Montalban than the original hard-boiled writers is found
if one analyzes the narrative disposition of the novels. The
great majority of the narrative passages in the American hard-
boiled detective fiction of the 1930s and 403 contain a minutely
detailed physical description of the people. their surroundings.
and their actions. 0n the other hand. VAzquez Montalban varies
the function of these passages as he also employs them as
opportunities for flashback to the various phases of Pepe's
past. musings on the protagonist’s personal relationships.
ideological discussions. and even cooking demonstrations. One
of the most important uses of these narrative passages is that
of flashback. It is one of the main ways in which the reader is
informed of various pieces of information relating to Pepe
Carvalho’s background. Through these interspersed scenes
depicting the past and also through information provided by the
recurring secondary characters. it is possible to piece together
- the significant moments in Pepe's life. These glimpses into the
past help the reader to understand Pepe's present cynicism and
unwillingness to trust in love. relationships. and other people.
The use of personal flashbacks to past events in the life of the
detective is indicative of the importance given to the
characterization of the protagonist in VAzquez Montalbén's
formulaic novels. If one compares the importance of the solving

of the mystery itself to the characterization of the detective

248

among the types of detective fiction under consideration in this
study. a steady progression of increased emphasis on the
character of the detective can be observed. Returning to the
classical detective story. there is a strict adherence to what
is considered to be the focal point of each work. the actual
process of detection. Employing Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock
Holmes as the prototype of the classical detective. it can be
seen that the reader actually knows very little about the inner
man. Though the author treats his audience to an interesting
array of eccentric habits. he seldom offers personal details
pertaining to his detective. As has been stated previously. it
is not Sherlock Holmes. the man who is the protagonist. but
rather Sherlock Holmes. the mind. It is the ratiocinative
process which captures the reader’s imagination and nothing else
is allowed to distract from that unswerving focus.

The entrance of hard-boiled detective fiction causes that
focus to diverge in order to include other elements such as
adventure. romance. and characterization of the detective. The
hard-boiled protagonist emerges much more clearly as a real
flesh and blood human being who sometimes suffers a personal
crisis or has to grapple with his conscience as well as the
criminal. Though the reader is still given a modicum of
information on the past or present personal life of the hard-
boiled detective. the emphasis has shifted away from a precise.
cerebral solving of the crime to a rough-and—tumble approach by

a detective who gets personally involved in his investigations

249

to a degree unheard of in classical detective fiction. The
hard-boiled detective may not capture the reader’s imagination.
but he does from time to time capture his heart. He is able to
do so because of the increased attention given to his feelings
and his values. As David Geherin points out in the introduction
to his book. Song of Sam Spade. every hard-boiled detective
writer from Hammett to those writing presently has been ”drawn
to something more than the simple mystery element: to the
distinctive narrative style of the genre. for example. or to its
effectiveness in commenting on American life. manners. morals.
values. and institutions. But the primary attraction for them.
as it has been for virtually all writers in the field. is the
appealing figure of the detective hero. the urban cowboy
fighting society's wrongs. the knight errant defending the weak

«4

and powerless against the evils of the modern city. In

Vazquez Montalen’s detective fiction. to a much greater extent
than in the original hard—boiled stories. the detective. his
past. his relationships. and his values. all receive a great
deal of the author's attention. The detective. Pepe Carvalho.
is in fact the protagonist of the series. no longer overshadowed
by the mystery element and the process of uncovering the
mystery’s solution.

In general. these passages from the past in vazquez
Montalbén’s novels are isolated scenes which intermittently find
their way into Pepe’s consciousness. reminding him of life at

home with his parents. the years of clandestine activities

250

during the Franco regime. his incarceration. the time spent in
the United States with the C.I.A.. or the first time that he met
Charo or Biscuter. However. there are two novels in which the
flashbacks are not isolated fragments of memory. In both Lg
gglgggg_gel manager and Aseeinato en el Comité Central. the
crime that Pepe is hired to solve in the present is directly
related to his personal past. As such. it is logical that the
flashback scenes are a much more frequent and integral feature
of both of these novels.

The initial section of La soledad del manager is one of
those frequent flashbacks in which the reader is given a
firsthand account of Pepe’s past dealings with Antonio Jauma,
whose murder provides the whodunit? element of this novel. The
reader is given no advanced warning or setup by the author or
the protagonist: he simply finds himself reading about a Pepe
Carvalho who is a C.I.A. agent living in the United States
instead of a private investigator residing in Spain. Since
these sections are not filtered to the reader through
introductory statements. they impart a greater sense of
immediacy: it is as if the reader is given a front row seat to
view the scenes played out in Pepe's mind. They do provide some
insight into the character of Pepe Carvalho in that the reader
is permitted to be an eyewitness to a pivotal period in
Carvalho's life heretofore only briefly mentioned in passing.
In this way. these flashbacks help to fill in some of the gaps

left by the partial description of his past outlined in the

251

previous novel. Tatuaje. In La soledad do; manager. these

sections also shed light on the character of the victim. Antonio
Jauma. By choosing to present the dead man as a former
acquaintance of his detective. Vazquez Montalen opens another
avenue of information for Pepe Egg the reader.

The flashback episodes utilized by Vazquez Montalban in
Aseeinato en el Comite Central. unlike those in La soledad del
manager. are much more well-defined. They are inserted within
sections dealing with the present and given introductory and
concluding statements wherein the reader is given pertinent
facts as to time and place. Pepe is also allowed to muse on
these past experiences by giving personal impressions from the
past and the present. The function of these flashbacks is
personal both on an individual and a societal level. They
create an impression of what life was like for Pepe Carvalho and
for a great many Spaniards during the years following the Civil
War when.the existence of dissident parties was denied and
outlawed. His memories of clandestine meetings. police torture.
and Jail. mirror those of the Spaniards who chose to continue to
fight against the Franquist regime in any way possible. Thus.
the flashback scenes in Aseeinato en el Comité Central serve to
shed light on Spain’s past as well as Pepe's.

Another element which is intermittently inserted into the
structure of the novels is a gentle mockery of the cliches and
stereotypes which have become an accepted part of the detective

fiction tradition. Due to his various analyses of the different

253

he acts. Neither Pepe nor his creator. vezquez Montalbén wants
these expectations to become a type of self-fulfilling prophecy.
In his efforts to create an original detective novel. vezquez
Montalban tends to go back and forth between the old and the
new. Sometimes the criminal is punished. sometimes not:
sometimes the reader knows whodunit immediately. sometimes not:
sometimes Pepe acts like a typical hard-boiled detective.
sometimes not. In much the same way. the author’s mockery of
some of the common devices of traditional detective fiction is
an ambiguous one precisely because he continues to utilize the
very elements that have been the targets of that mockery.

In somewhat the same vein. there is a scene in Los mares
del sur in which Pepe happens upon a conference that is dealing
with the subject of the hard-boiled novel (Novela Negra). This
time the target of vazquez Montalbén's criticism is not the
novel itself but those so-called experts who spend their time
playing a game of ”ping pong intelectual” (figg. p. 70) and
trying to make themselves look intelligent and others look
inferior. He describes them as having ”ese aspecto de huevos
cocidos que tienen los intelectuales en todas partes." (ggg. p.
70) and accuses them of being more concerned about the
impression that they are making rather than actually saying or
learning something valuable. Mocking the self—importance and
self-absorption of the intellectual seems a very appropriate
stance for the habitually critical hard-boiled detective novel.

However. doing so within the context of a conference dealing

254

with the hard-boiled novel which itself is within the pages of
an actual hard—boiled work is an original way of performing that
function. Vazquez Montalen has utilized this construction as
an opportunity to ridicule those intellectuals who have so often
refused to accept the hard-boiled detective novel as a valid
literary genre worthy of critical analysis. The addition of
such a scene demonstrates how very aware vazquez Montalen is of
the various facets related to this genre. Once again. vezquez
Montalbén presents an aspect of self-conscious narration as he
purposely draws attention to hard-boiled detective fiction as

the subject of literary criticism.

IV. Structure

A. Discovery of the Body

True to its hard-boiled detective fiction heritage. each of
the six novels centers around a murder investigation. although
in Los pajaros de Bangkgg Pepe is involved in a missing persons
case as well as the mandatory homicide. In his first three
offerings. the reader is introduced to the corpse in the same
manner. though each is a uniquely creative situation. The
murder has already been committed and body disposed of. just
waiting to be found. In each case. the people who discover it
have nothing to do with the rest of the story. As often happens
in real life situations. it is someone with absolutely no
relation to the victim who stumbles upon him. This in itself is

a unique method not generally used by the hard-boiled novelists.

255

Normally either the finding of the corpse is not described or it
is the detective who discovers it. What makes this technique
even more distinct is the description of these people unlucky
enough to find a dead body. Since discovering the body is the
sole function of these characters. one would guess that little
information would be given about them. However. with the three.
four. and seven pages respectively devoted in each book to them
and their find. the reader is given a precise. though rapid
portrait of each of them. On one’s first reading. not realizing
that this short scene is the only entrance of these characters
into the script. one tends to observe them closely. feeling they
must be important if the author takes the time to describe them.
Thus. within the first few pages of the novel. Vazquez Montalban
has already begun to manipulate the reader by not giving him
what he expects. It is his way of keeping the reader off-
balance and refusing to lead him by the hand down the familiar
structural road paved by many authors of formulaic fiction.
Through these characters. though unessential to the actual
story line. Vézquez Montalbén creates another opportunity to
depict a personality or some all too human characteristics. In
Tatuaje. in three short pages. a number of very human traits are
illustrated by the man and the woman who find the corpse of
Julio Chesma while swimming. "El hombre aceitunado y calvo"
begins to notice that the swimmer thought to be the woman’s
companion. has not come up for air in a rather long time.

However. he does not say anything at first for fear of playing

256

the fool in front of the woman if in actuality the swimmer is
holding his breath. When ”la muchacha dorada” notices the
prostrate swimmer. she looks around to see if anyone else is
looking to give her courage to check on him. At the girl's
first scream of alarm. the man swims over with his best form.
hoping to impress the girl in his efforts to assist her. Once
they have dragged the body to shore. various others try to take
part in the spectacle but the man will not surrender his role as
protagonist. The horrified shout which emanates from the group
at the sight of the faceless corpse makes more people gather
around. Fear of embarrassment. vanity. egotism. morbidity-—these
are all human foibles which are described in a scene that in the
original hard-boiled model often would either be excluded or
dealt with by concentrating on the body instead of those who
discover it.

The description in Lg soledad del manager is even more
detailed and specific of Joan. a resident of Vich on his way to
work. As he waits in his car for the train. the reader is
allowed to see his thoughts as he watches the city come to life.
listens to the radio. and relives scenes from his past and his
present. In the middle of these reveries. Joan feels the need
to urinate and in typically detailed VAzquez Montalen fashion.
the reader is treated to a point by point description of the
process as he heads for the bushes. What starts out as a normal
day in the life of an ordinary man. turns into an appointment

with horror as he spies a hand sticking out of the ground. This

257

technique is even more effective because of the patently
everyday. mundane feeling inspired by the situations described.
The shock in itself at the discovery of a dead body is
heightened by this type of presentation.

Finally. Los mares del sur supplies a firsthand view of a
juvenile delinquent. his sexual bravado. and his penchant for
taking chances. breaking the law. and challenging authority
figures. As he chances upon the body of Stuart Pedrell in his
flight from the police. "Bocanegra". like the characters in the
first two novels. is quickly sketched in by Vazquez Montalban.
As such. the function of these introductory paragraphs is
twofold. The discovery of the bodies provides VAzquez Montalen
with an opportunity to introduce another character type. another
facet of the human animal. At the same time. the space and
detail employed by the author in his description of these scenes
and these characters. misleads the reader as to their importance
to the developing story line. However. after reading the first
three novels in the series which have each used this same
technique. the reader is lulled into accepting and even
expecting that he need not pay close attention to these
beginning pages due to their comparative insignificance with
respect to the plot. It is at this point that the fourth novel.
Aseeinato en el Comité Central is inserted into this developing
pattern and promptly changes it. The reader who has begun to
skim over the heretofore inconsequential opening episodes will

have to return to a more careful style of reading with this

258

detective story. Instead of insignificant characters finding
the already dead body. the reader and several important
characters are all present during the murder itself. However.
none of them can be called eyewitnesses to the actual event
because the lights go out at the exact moment of the killing.
Though this is a very different manner of introducing the murder.
it is similar in its outcome: as in the previous three books. it
is as if no one but the assailant saw the actual murder because
of the imposed darkness. Again. vazquez Montalbén plays with
reader perceptions by returning to the structural pattern which
most detective fiction readers would have expected at first.
Hoever. the first three novels have molded reader expectations

to a different model. thus betraying them for the second time.
B. Discarding the Whodunit? Element

It (the detective story) does not show us the inner
workings of the murderer’s mind-—it must not: for the
identity of the murderer is hidden until the end of the
book. (99. p. 102)

These words of Dorothy L. Sayers in her First Omnibus of Crime
written in 1928 describe the early phase of the genre. With his
fifth detective novel. Los péjaroe de Bangkok. VAzquez Montalbén
refutes the importance of keeping the identity of the murderer a
secret. as he demonstrates yet another way of presenting the
victim. He strays from the rule laid down by Sayers and from
the technique used by most of the original hard-boiled detective

authors because in this novel. unlike the previous ones. the

reader himself is an eyewitness to the murder of Celia Mataix by

259

Marta Miguel. Within the first five pages the ”whodunit?"

element is discarded by the author. With this novel. Vazquez

Montalen employs his own special version of the "inverted"
detective story where the question of "who?” is replaced by
”how?" and "why?". According to Melvyn Barnes in his overview
of the development of the detective novel. Best Detective
Fiction. this technique was one of the new. innovative elements
contained in the modern crime novel which emerged in the 19308.
He discusses some of the advantages and disadvantages of the
method:
The element of surprise. and of the reader being
caught unawares by a clever detective. is of course absent.
But the reader is compensated by being in a position of
superiority. of knowing all the facts before the detective
is even called in. and a different kind of satisfaction is
derived from observing the detective at work. The question

is ’how will the detective prove the criminal's guilt?’
rather than ’whodunit?’.

Though the reader is indeed given the opportunity to watch
Pepe at work. already knowing what he has yet to discover. this
inequality is soon erased because of Marta Miguel’s obvious
guilt. VAzquez,Montalbén has switched the emphasis away from
the detective’s techniques toward the psychology of the
perpetrator of the crime. The focus is on the past and present
of Marta Miguel and how the events in her life have affected her
personality. As Pepe gradually learns more about her through
their conversations (conversations instigated by Marta because
of her overwhelming need to share her guilt). the reader is
given insight not only into why she did it but also what effect

taking the life of another human being can have upon a person.

260

Again the portrayal of Marta in Los pajaros de Bangkok fits into
Barnes’ description of one of the elements of the modern crime
novel:
There is clear interest in criminal psychology; in the
little man or woman involuntarily drawn out of their depth
into a criminal situation from which there is no escape:
and in the humdrum. everyday scene where an ordinary person
is driven to uncharacteristic violence. (BEE. p. 86)
This method diverts the focal point of the story away from the
detection element toward the characterization and psychology of
Marta Miguel gag Pepe Carvalho. For not only are the effects of
Marta's guilt observed. but also Pepe’s own personal inability
to answer her desperate plea for a confessor or to turn her in
to the police. The significant part of this situation is not
that the reader is witness to the murder itself but that he is
witness to the psychological unraveling of Marta and the effect
of her mental pain on Pepe. Perhaps due to this marked turning
away from the mystery component in the section of the story
concerning the murder of Celia Mataix. vazquez Montalbén has
added another story line which he develops simultaneously:
Pepe’s search for Teresa Marse in Bangkok. This search is full
of missing persons. murder. and intrigue and helps to balance
the entrance into the analysis of the human mind found in the
first story line.

Upon reaching the sixth novel in Vézquez Montalbén’s
detective fiction series. La Rosa de Alejandria. the reader has

very little idea of what to expect because he has been deceived

and surprised so many times. There is no comfortable feeling of

261

familiarity that one normally experiences when beginning the
next installment of a series of formulaic novels. Should he
read carefully or skim over this initial chapter? Is it or is
it not essential to the story line? Is Ginea Lariog one of the
main characters or has he been created solely to find a dead
body? Or will he himself turn out to be the corpse since the
beginning of all five previous novels has presented the reader
with a murder victim? Is the reader going to be an eyewitness
to a murder or kept in the dark? By switching back and forth
between the techniques used to open the novel. Vazquez Montalbén
has convinced the reader that there is only one thing of which
he can be sure: and that is that he can never be sure of
anything concerning these initial episodes. He is challenging
the reader and making him think. Within the basic format of a
hard-boiled detective novel. vazquez Montalbén is exploiting one
of the principal elements that define the traditional formula
novel: its familiarity.

La Rosa de Alejandria also contains the only murder which
is. unbeknownst to the killer. witnessed by not only one but two
important characters in the novel. It is also the only one in
which the reader is not present at the discovery (or murder) of
the body. However. due to the unusually detailed description of
the condition of the corpse. the reader feels as if he had been
an eyewitness. Normally. a one or two line report on the state
of the body is given. with little emphasis on the grotesque. On

the contrary. in La Rosa de Alejandria no less than two entire

262

pages are spent in the agonizing description of the grisly
mutilation perpetrated on Charo’s cousin. Encarnacion. The only
precedent found for this focus on the maimed state of the
cadaver (though with nowhere near the same amount of detail) in
VAzquez Montalbén’s detective novels is in Tatuaje. It is
interesting to note that until the end of both works there is a
confusion as to the identity of the actual killer due to the
fact that the violence committed is the combined effort of more
than one person. The mutilation of the bodies plays a part in
ascertaining the true identity of the murderer in each of the
novels. Though the reader is not permitted to view the murder
firsthand as in Lgs pejaros de Bangkok, very early in the novel
he is given enough information to conclude that Gines Larios is
probably the murderer. Once again. vazquez Montslen emphasizes
the psychological effects of taking a human life on a normally
nonviolent person. In addition. in La Rosa de Alejandria. the
author presents the reader with an increased opportunity to
observe Pepe Carvalho’s detection methods as he waits for the
detective to unearth the connection between the victim and her

executioner.

C. Punishment of the Criminal

The mystery novel must punish the criminal in one way
or another. not necessarily by operation of the law courts.
Contrary to popular belief. this has nothing to do with
morality. It is part of the logic of the form. Without
this the story is like an unresolved chord in music. It
leaves a sense of irritation. (Egg. p. 66)

This is rule #9 in Raymond Chandler's Casual Notes on the

263

stterz Novel written in 1949. Looking at the novels by
Dashiell Hammett. he seems to agree with Chandler on the
necessity of punishment for the bad guy or girl. Hammett often
concludes his stories by assuring the reader that the respective
criminal has already found his comeuppance in the gallows.
Chandler sometimes allows his criminals to escape the clutches of
the law but they pay for their crime in some way. In ”Spanish
Blood". Sam de la Guerra allows his friend's wife-murderess to
go free because that is what his friend wanted. But she has
lost the two men that she loved. She killed her husband out of
rage and jealousy and by this action she completely alienated
Sam too.

The conclusions of the detective novels of Vazquez

Montalban are much more ambiguous and in this way do not provide
the catharsis that poetic justice tends to inspire in the
reader. Of the six murderers found in these novels. only one of
them is punished by the legal system. and some are not punished
at all.

Tatuaje. Ramon had Julio Chesma beaten up but it is Queta
who actually kills him. The concluding episode finds Ram6n
murdered supposedly by Queta who is wanted for questioning by
the police. Pepe knows the circumstances of the original murder
but does not seem to be on his way to the police as the novel
closes. The reader is left up in the air as to whether Queta
will have to pay for her crimes. However. the reader can assume

she will be punished either by the police or by a life on the

264

run. totally alone now that she has killed both of her men.

La soledad del managg_. Argemi is the person who has cold-
bloodedly hired an assassin to kill his friend in order to
silence him. There is absolutely no remorse in this character
and thus he is perhaps the killer out of all six who the reader
would most like to see punished. However. Pepe and Charo have
been beaten up in an effort to procure their silence and though
Argemi admits that he had Jauma killed, there is no evidence.
This coupled with the fact that Pepe is later threatened with
death permits this murderer to arrogantly "get away with
murder”. This novel certainly strays from Chandler's
prescription for success because Argemi suffers in no way:
neither physically nor psychologically. Vasquez Montalban has
'broken the tacit agreement that existed in the past (and often
still does in the detective novels of the present) between the
reader and the author: evil will be punished and good rewarded.
He has allowed the real world to creep in.

Los mares del sur. Again the police do not discover the
true killer of Stuart Pedrell. His wife does not really care
who killed her husband though she knows because Pepe has figured
it out. She also does not want her reputation sullied by
prompting the discovery of the scandalous circumstances
surrounding his death. According to Ana. her brother. the
killer. has already been punished by his past which has made him
the mixed-up. violent person that he is. By permitting Pedro to

go free. Pepe follows the tradition set by his hard-boiled

265

forefathers: he has taken the law into his own hands and denied
the police the opportunity to inflict their own punishment on
Pedro.

AE2Eifl§£2_§fl_§l_£2$i££_£gggggl. Esparza Julve. Fernando
Garrido’s assassin. is murdered in a gangland type slaying.
staged by his own comrades as he leaves the building where the
Communist party is meeting. However. before the actual killing.
he is stared down by all of them. knowing as they do that one
of their own has taken the life of their leader. As Pepe says:
"Ya era un cadaver cuando salio del hotel. Le habian matado de

desprecio." (A C. p. 281)

Los pajaros de Bangkok. In the case of Celia Mataix, it is

the killer herself. who inflicts the punishment. Marta chooses
the death penalty as she turns on the gas in her apartment.

This is her way of atoning for her sin and escaping a life that
has been too difficult and a burden of guilt that has proved too
heavy.

L§_gggg_ge Alejandgig. This is the only novel of the six
published to date in which the murderer is punished by the legal
system. Nevertheless. this does not mean that vasquez Montalban
has allowed the conclusion to this novel to be tied up in the
neat package prescribed by Chandler. It is also the only work
in which the reader is never permitted to know positively who
actually dealt the death blow to'EncarnaciOn. It is assumed
that she was dead upon Ginés’ exit from the scene but the doubt

lingers. Also. it is a known fact that it was not Ginés who

266

mutilated the body. but rather the captain of his ship.

However. the only witness to that fact is Narcis Pons. and he
has no intention of going to the police with his true. but less
than believable and self-incriminating. story. Thus. not only
is Ginés left to pay for a murder he may not have committed but
he will also pay more dearly because of the mutilation of the
corpse. This is a heinous act that he absolutely did not do and
the person who did. goes free. It is ironically fitting that
the one time that the punishment of the criminal is performed by
the authorized law enforcement officials is also the only
occasion when the identity of the actual murderer is left in
doubt. This situation is indicative of Vasquez Montalban’s
unwillingness to blindly prescribe to Chandler's rule #9 for the
mystery story. He does 39; punish the criminal in every novel
for precisely the same reason that Chandler does: "It leaves a
sense of irritation." (Egg. p. 66) This sense of irritation
left in the reader’s mind on various occasions is another way in
which vasquez Montalban mirrors the injustice of life through
his fiction. In this instance. he carries "the irrationality of
existence" found in the original American hard-boiled
representatives even further than his predecessors.

Another way in which vasquez Montalen exemplifies the
ambiguity of life to a greater degree than his American hard-
boied counterparts is found in the peOple who play the role of
murderer in his detective fiction. It is comforting to believe

that all people who commit murder are cold-blooded. lying

267

individuals like Brigid O’Shaughnessy of The Maltese Falcon. the
girl with the silver eyes in the short story of the same title.
or Lash Canino in the The Big Sleep. However. surveying the
majority of the Vasquez Montalban killers forces one to accept
the theory that in the right situation. almost anyone can be
driven to murder. Queta in Tatuaje. Pedro Larios in Los mares
del sur. Marta Miguel in Los Eajaros de Bangkok, and Gines
Larios in La Rosa de Alejandria are all pushed to take a human
life by emotions that have careened out of control: fear.
vengeance. rage. frustration. and jealousy. Most of the
murderers found in Vasquez Montalban’s detective fiction do
nothing to reassure the reader that he or his acquaintances are
immune to the murderous impulse. With the exception of the
mafia-type underworld portrayed in Log pajgros de Bangkok.
vasquez Montalban describes individual murderers as opposed to
the criminal gangs or networks found in many of the original
hard-boiled detective stories like The Maltese Falcon. The Big
Slggp. and Red Harvest. Evil may be less pervasive in vasquez
Montalban’s novels. but it can also come from totally unexpected
sources: a beauty operator. a best friend. a college professor.
or a mild mannered sailor.

Thus. in his attempt to experiment with the formulaic model
by altering the basic elements that hard-boiled detective
fiction readers have been taught to expect (poetic justice.
hiding the murderer’s identity from the reader. and murderers

who are stock characters). Vasquez Montalban has brought a

268

lesser degree of formula to his works. That "essential
standardization” to which Cawelti points as one of the main
reasons for the condemnation of formulaic fiction in the past.
has been tampered with and cannot always be counted on in
vasquez Montalban’s detective series.

The discovery and resolution of each of these crimes has
been accomplished with little help but often with the unwanted
intervention of the police. Pepe’s attitude toward this group
is very similar to that of Chandler’s Philip Marlowe. He would
rather perform the job without their aid and seems to have
little confidence in their honesty and in their ability to
improve the situation. In La soledad del manager. upon
discovering that Charo is being held prisoner. Biscuter asks if
he should call the police. Pepe’s disparaging reply is: "A
esos salo los llamas si te roban 1as habas." (SM. p. 188) Like
Chandler’s policemen. they spend their time harassing Pepe for
withholding evidence and threatening him.with the loss of his
license. There are certainly those cops that are depicted as

shrewd men. like Fonseca in Aseeinato en el Comite Central and

 

Charoen in Los pajaros de Bangkok. However. the other side of
these particular characters is an evil made even more
frightening by their intelligence. Undoubtedly this heightened
sense of malevolence seen in the policemen in vasquez
Montalban's novels is a consequence of living under a
dictatorship whose repression was carried out by the police.

For Pepe and for many Spaniards. "Del caserén aquel (the police

269

station) solo conservaba malos recuerdos y por mucha limpieza
democratica que la echaran. siempre seria e1 hoeco castillo de

la represiOn." (gg. p. 42)
D. Narrative Point of View

Though all six novels included in the detective fiction of
Vasquez Montalban are written in the third person. there are
various occasions when the author inserts first and second
person pronouns amongst the normal third person forms. It is a
technique which allows the reader from time to time to see
directly into the protagonist’s thoughts without the distancing
filter of an outside narrator. This switching of perspectives
can be seen in Los mares del sur as Pepe muses on the females in
his life. not the least of which is his dog. Bleda:

Ya en el coche se dirigio maquinalmenta hacia Vallvidrera y
a medio camino razono e1 impulso por el deseo de ver a la
perra. incluso de llevarsela a la cits en San Magin.

Menuda estampa compondrias. Pepe Carvalho. Pasarias a la
historia como Pepe Carvalho y Bleda. equiparables a
Sherlock Holmes y el doctor Watson. Le irrité su debilidad
y dio media vuelta. Los ojos rasgados de Bleda le
persiguieron durante kilometros. Soy un racista. qu un
ser humano me habria sacrificado y al fin y al cabo éde qué
depends que un hombre y una mujer sean seres humanos y un
perro no? (Sur. p. 204—205)

 

This switching to first and second person makes the narrative
more personal as the reader eavesdrops while the protagonist
silently talks to himself.

With respect to the first four novels. the only scene where
Pepe is not present is the opening one in which the discovery of

the body takes place. In each scene thereafter. Pepe is an

270

eyewitness to the events that transpire. As has been mentioned.
the author employs a third person narrative in the majority of
the descriptive paragraphs. However. it is.an interesting type
of third person usage in that in many ways it seems very much
like first person. When opinions are proffered by this third
person narrator. they often are very similar to those of the
protagonist. In addition to this similarity. it is also true
that the only person into whose mind this narrator goes is that
of the detective (excluding the opening scenes). His is an
omniscient narrator only as it concerns the protagonist: when
describing other characters he is privy only to knowledge that
can be outwardly observed.

The fifth and sixth novels change this format by increasing
the amount of time in which the protagonist. Pepe Carvalho is
not present. What started out as a short scene at the beginning
of each novel has become more substantial in Los pajaros de
Bangkok. In addition to the initial scene of the novel which
has been converted into the actual murder scene (not simply the
discovery of the body after the fact). there are three other
scenes where the detective does not appear. While Pepe is in
Bangkok. Vasquez Montalban shifts the emphasis away from the
detective. Instead. he focuses on the recurring secondary
characters as well as Marta Miguel who. in addition to Pepe
Carvalho. is the subject of the author’s psychological analysis.
Since Pepe knows and is involved with all of the people who take

the spotlight in these sections. vasquez Montalban has not

271

totally abandoned his protagonist. In fact. part of the
function of these passages is to supply the reader with
additional information on Pepe Carvalho’s personality. this time
seen through the perceptions of his friends.

The sixth novel. La Rosa de Alejandria takes up where Egg
pajaros de Bangkok left off with respect to distancing the focus
of the narrative away from Pepe Carvalho. Actually. vaequez
Montalban goes much further than the previous novel by
constructing the plot not only around the private investigator
but also around another sort of co—protagonist. The murderer.
Ginés Larios is the principal character of almost one third of
the novel. As such. one third of the entire work is devoted to
someone other than the detective and his endeavors to solve the
crime. Unlike Los pajaros de Bangkok. these extensive sections
are totally devoid of references to Pepe Carvalho. They are not
further opportunities to gain knowledge of the protagonist and
those who surround him: they are passages which entirely divert
the story line away from Pepe and his actions. It is a
structural technique uncommon to Vasquez Montalban's first four
detective novels. not to mention practically unheard of in the
large production of American hard-boiled detective fiction. The
latter’s tendency to make use of the first person point of view
where the protagonist/narrator is always present and monitoring
the action. renders this particular setup virtually impossible.
Thus. Vasquez Montalban’s choice of narrative voice has given

him the flexibility necessary to employ a more open and varied

272

structure. Just as he has used the progressive changes seen in
Pepe Carvalho throughout the series as a way to open up the
rather closed system of character development found in most of
the original hard—boiled detective prototypes. vasquez Montalban
has also utilized this structural counterpart in an effort to
once more broaden the definition of detective fiction. Together
with vasquez Montalban’s plot experimentation (lack of poetic
justice as his criminals are sometimes allowed to escape
retribution and supplying the reader with the answer to the
whodunit? question within the first five pages). his less than
traditional characterization and structural techniques are a
continuation of the tendency toward metafiction which surfaced
in the "literature subnormal" phase of his production. Just as
his experimentation with the narrator/character/audience
relationships and language within his non-detective novelistic
structure was a means of analyzing the capabilities of that
genre from the inside out. so too. are his unusual techniques in
detective fiction. The detective novel. like the other examples
of formulaic literature. has generally proved itself to be a
rather static form markedly closed to experimentation. A reader
generally selects this type of reading material in order to see
a protagonist with a one-dimensional. tough guy personality.
with little focus on his.past or future. to be titilated by the
violence and crime. and yet also to see the criminal get his
well-deserved comeuppance. He wants to have the opportunity to

attempt to solve the crime as the detective does and he does not

273

plan to be distracted by structural and plot experiments. Given
the degree of reader expectation that is inherent in traditional
detective fiction. Vasquez Montalban’s detective novels are a
test not only of this genre's capacity to tolerate techniques
which stray from the established norm. but also its audience’s
willingness to accept them. The success of such experimentation
within a type of formulaic as opposed to non—formulaic
literature is a much more tenuous proposition precisely because
of this necessity to adhere to an already established form.
However. it is also this preconceived formula which provides an
abundant amount of opportunities to experiment. to test. to
analyze. to stretch the form (hopefully not beyond recognition).
and to betray the reader’s expectations (hopefully not beyond
his limit). Vasquez Montalban has chosen a mode of expression
that has traditionally been extremely willing to give the reader
what he expects. He has also adhered to many of those unspoken
but nevertheless. understood rules which bind the formulaic
novelist to his audience. However. mixed in amongst the bad
guys. the fight scenes. the sex. and the wisecracking. hard—
drinking protagonist. are other not so common elements which are
part of vasquez Montalban’s way of treating the reader in a more
aggressive fashion and tapping formulaic fiction’s potential for

”high" art.

Conclusion

Whenever a trend in a particular literary genre. theme. or
style develops among a generation of writers. it can seldom be
entirely explained by only one element. There is often a
multiplicity of factors necessary to provide the appropriate
impetus. Such is the case with the increased production of
detective fiction witnessed in Spain during the decades of the
1970s and 80s. After studying possible explanations for this
literary phenomenon. it is clear that a certain combination of
elements laid the groundwork needed to usher in this surge of
Spanish detective novels.

In this study it has been theorized that the Spanish
publishing houses in the first half of the twentieth century
retarded the development of Spanish detective fiction. This was
accomplished by encouraging translations of foreign novels and-
discouraging the production of original Spanish crime fiction
written by peninsular authors using their own names and native
locales and events as background. The rationale was that the
reading public wanted and would only accept this literary genre
were it presented in British and North American cities. presided
over by Anglo-Saxon sleuths. A possible explanation of the
popularity enjoyed by detective fiction in England and the
United States is the opinion held by the general populace
regarding its law enforcement officers. Both of the countries

where this form of fiction has traditionally flourished. also

274

275

have democratic legal systems wherein the police are generally
seen as people who use the law as a means of protecting its
citizens. not to subjugate them with harsh and repressive
measures. Such is not always the case in some South American
countries and Spain where the police force has played the role
of persecutor of anyone who dared to voice dissent to the
dictatorial regime in place at that time. If the detective in
his job of pursuing criminals is associated with the law
enforcement officer. such a literary protagonist runs the risk
of not proving very popular. On the other hand. the hard-boiled
detective is often viewed as an antagonist to the police force.
However. once again. for a country like Spain under the
repressive rule of Francisco Franco between 1939 and 1975. such
a protagonist hardly seems realistic or within the boundaries of
those story lines allowed by the censors. It is not
coincidental that the marked increase of detective fiction
(specifically the hard-boiled type with its potential for
societal and political criticism) has taken place since Franco’s
death. since Spain’s entrance into a new age of freedom and
governmentally sanctioned dissent.

Not only was Spain ripe for detective fiction with regard
to the political system in place. but also from a literary
standpoint. During the early years of the rigid and stifling
Franco regime. Spanish authors had been employing the novel
thematically as a statement against and in protest of that

dictatorship. In the 1960s and 70s. the structural element

276

became the focus and a great deal of structural and stylistic
experimentation was attempted. For those who may have found
this experimentation somewhat artificial or too open to reach a
large reading public. a move to formulaic fiction was appealing.
In addition. once again the Spanish publishing houses played a
role in the fortunes of detective fiction publication. However.
this time their actions of putting more editions of foreign
detective novels in bookstores and encouraging native writers of
this form of expression were instrumental in the increased
Spanish consumption and production of detective fiction.

Just as it has been demonstrated in this thesis that the
outpouring of detective fiction among a wide range of Spanish
writers in the 1970s and 80s is not such a shocking literary
phenomenon. neither 18 Vazquez Montalen’s switch from "serious"
to formulaic works. After surveying vazquez Montalban's
previous literary and nonliterary production. his entrance into
the world of detective fiction is not as paradoxical as it once
seemed. In fact. this mode of expression is in many ways a
synthesis of his past works. Choosing to express his ideas
through popular cultural forms is a culmination of the continual
fascination that formulaic literature has held for him. Not
only are his other works full of references to varied popular
cultural types of expression but he has also written two books
whose principal emphasis is the power and influence that these

forms have the capacity to wield: La cranica sentimental de

Espafla and El libro gris_ge la television espafiola. It is not

277

surprising that he would try his hand at one of the formulaic
representatives. As a social essayist. Vazquez Montalban has
always scrutinized Spanish and United States society with an eye
for imperfections. It is no mistake that the category of
detective novel that he has selected. the hard-boiled one. has
always counted social commentary and criticism as one of its
integral elements. Also. as can be seen in his vanguardist
novels. vazquez Montalban is not afraid to experiment with an
established form of expression. He repeats this type of
experimentation as he employs the original hard-boiled detective
novel as a framework. whose finished product is something
different. something broader than the original. Parallels can
be drawn between Vazquez Montalban’s detective fiction and his
"escritura subnormal". Both series of novels become
increasingly more experimental structurally toward the end of
the cycle. In addition. they both include examples of
metafiction as Vazquez Montalban uses the novel itself as a
vehicle for commentary upon the novelistic process. Finally.
the identical themes that Vazquez Montalban discusses in his
previous works find their way into these detective novels:
Spain. United States intervention. and the popular culture all
continue to play important roles. The vehicle has changed but
the message has not. And due to the fact that this message is
now part of a formulaic novel. it has reached a greatly expanded
audience in comparison to his previous production. vazquez

Montalban no longer writes for a small. elite group of readers.

278

Discussing vazquez Montalban’s detective novels in his
analysis of the postwar Spanish novel. La novela desde 1975.
Ignacio Soldevila Durante states that "Al final del relato. el
lector. desprevenido. se encuentra con que ha hecho. tal vez a

"1

su pesar. una doble lecture. This study has shown that

Vazquez Montalban's detective fiction can be read on many
different levels as he interweaves mystery. metafiction. social
and political commentary. and his chronicle of Spain into one
cohesive whole. These various and separate elements are brought
together in the character of the detective protagonist. Pepe
Carvalho. The reader is compelled to concentrate on the
protagonist in order to resolve the suspense generated by the
story line. to witness the changes that this character undergoes
as he strives to trust in life again. and to hear one man’s
opinion of Spain’s social and political situation. Finally.
vazquez Montalban’s detective also attracts the reader because
Pepe Carvalho is the author’s representation of Spain. Like
.Spain. he has not been able to escape the legacy of the Civil
War and the crisis of faith that such a vicious confrontation
can generate. Though he himself did not participate in the war.
Pepe’s father fought on the Republican side and was jailed by
the Nationalist forces. Consequently. the cynical Pepe is a
product of a man who was stripped of his ability to believe in
the goodness of man and the world. a man who thought that
bringing a child into a world filled with such atrocities as

civil war and nuclear bombs was an unforgiveble act. In

279

addition to the influence of his father. Pepe himself
experienced his own crisis of faith as he strove to regain a
voice for himself and the Spanish people in the Communist
underground during the Franco regime. For his hard work.
loyalty. and unswerving belief in the justice of his fight for
Spain’s freedom. Pepe was rewarded with the loss of that freedom
in a Spanish prison. The years of living under Franco’s
repressive measures and the subsequent years of incarceration
were Pepe's personal experience with ”man's inhumanity to man.”
This period of time taught him that people and life itself would
continually betray him if given the opportunity. The Pepe
Carvalho depicted in Vazquez Montalban’s detective fiction is a
man striving one minute to retain this cynical outlook in order
to protect himself and the next minute longing to believe once
more that people. political systems. relationships. and life are
worthy of his trust. In many ways. Pepe Carvalho represents
Vazquez Montalban's view of Spain: the pain of its past. the

uncertainty of its present. and the hope of its future.

NOTES

Chapter 1
The Hard-Boiled Model

1 John G. Cawelti. Adventuregmflysgery. and Romance
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1976). p. 8. All
subsequent citations will be taken from this edition and are
indicated in the text by AMR.

Z This tandem need is seen in other art forms also. For
example. when people go to see a Woody Allen film. they expect
to see certain situations and characters: the quintessential
Allen protagonist with his self-deprecating humor and total lack
of social adeptness. The public relies on this and when it is
confronted with something totally different such as Interiors.
it is not satisfied. For precisely the same reason that a film
like ng_£iggs did not appeal to the public. its originality. it
did appeal to the critics.

Raymond Chandler. "The Simple Art of Murder." in rt 31

the .xut rv aggry. ed. Howard Havcraft (New York: Simon &

 

Schuster. 1946). p. 232. All subsequent citations will be taken
from this edition and are indicated in the text by SAM.
Dorothy Gardner and Kathrine Sorley Walker. Raymogg

Chandler Speaking (Plainview. N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press.

--~—

 

1971). p. 48. All subsequent citations will be taken from this
edition and are indicated in the text by Rav.

5 For further details on the history of the detective

280

281

novel. see Dorothy L. Savers’ "The Omnibus of Crime." in Agt of

the Myste_y_Sg__v. ed. Howard Havcraft (New York: Simon &

 

Schuster. 1946). All subsequent citations will be taken from
this edition and are indicated in the text by QQ.

6 Arthur Conan Doyle. "A Scandal in Bohemia." in The

Adventu;gg_of Sherlock Holmes (London: John Murray & Jonathan
Cape. Ltd.. 1974). p. 18.

For more information on the worldview projected by
classical detective fiction. see Holquist's article entitled.
"Whodunit and Other Questions: Metaphysical Detective Stories in
Postwar Fiction" found in The Poetice_of Murdg; edited by Glenn
W. Most and William W. Stowe. Holquist also views the classical
detective novel as the representation of an ordered world where
problems can be solved and the reader is reassured not
challenged. However. instead of presenting the hard-boiled
variety as the representative of disorder. Holquist discusses
metaphysical detective fiction and the way in which it surprises
and challenges the reader in a way most formulaic works do not.
This article and its relationship to Manual Vazquez Montalban’s
hard-boiled detective novels will be further develOped later in
this study.

8 Wayne C. Booth. The Rhetoric of Fiction. 2nd ed.
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1983). pp. 153—154.
9 Raymond Chandler. IQg_Big Sleep (New York: Alfred A.

Knopf. 1945). p. 256. All subsequent citations will be taken

from this edition and are indicated in the text by Big.

N
03
K)

10 Arthur Conan Doyle. "A Case of Identity." in The

Adventuges of Sherlock Helmes (London: John Murray & Jonathan

 

 

Cape. Ltd.. 1974). p. 68.

11 Dashiell Hammett. The Mgltese Falcon. in The Novele of

 

Dashiell Hammet (New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1965). pp. 335-336.

v--

All subsequent citations will be taken from this edition and are

indicated in the text by ME.

12 For discussions of the Flitcraft story in the ‘hg

Mgltese Falcog. see: Beams Falling: The Art of Qgghigll Hammett.

 

Peter Wolfe: De 9;. l Hammetfl. William Marling: Dashiell

a. u—u—- 9...“ em

Hemmett: The Continental Op. introduction by Steven Marcus: and

Tough Guy Writers of the Thirties. David Madden. ed.-see

 

specifically the Robert I. Edenbaum article. "The Poetics of the

Private Eye: The Novels of Dashiell Hammett."

13 Dashiell Hammett. "The Golden Horseshoe." in D shiel

 

Hgmmett: The Continental Op. ed. Steven Marcus (New York: Random
House. 1975). p. 90. All subsequent citations will be taken
from this edition and are indicated in the text by GH.

14 Philip Durham. Down Thege Mean Streegg a Men Mugt Go

 

(Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. 1963). p.
82. All subsequent citations will be taken from this edition
and are indicated in the text by Mggg.

15 John K. Butler. "The Saint in Silver." in The Hggdboiled

 

ick“. ed. Ron Goulart (Los Angeles: Sherbourne Press. 1965). p.

70. All subsequent citations will be taken from this edition

and are indicated in the text by SS.

N
a:
U)

16 Raymond Chandler. "Spanish Blood.” in Spanish Blood
(Cleveland: The World Publishing Co.. 1946). p. 16. All

subsequent citations will be taken from this edition and are

indicated in the text by SB.

17 Dashiell Hammett. Red Harvee; in Ige Novels of Dgghiell

 

Hammett (New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1965). p. 108. All
subsequent citations will be taken from this edition and are

indicated in the text by RH.

18 William Marling. Da.hie l_H"mmetp (Boston: Twayne

Publishers. 1983). p. 24. All subsequent citations will be
taken from this edition and are indicated in the text by 23.
19 Peter Wolfe. Beams Falling: The Art of Dashiell Hammgpp
(Bowling Green. Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular Press.
1980). pp. 121-122. All subsequent citations will be taken from
this edition and are indicated in the text by gggmp.

20 Robert I. Edenbaum. "The Poetics of the Private-Eye: The
Novels of Dashiell Hammett." in Tough Guy Writers of the

Thirt es. ed. David Madden (Carbondale & Edwardsville: Southern

 

Illinois University Press. 1968). pp. 88-89.
21 This choice of reason over emotion made by the hard-
boiled detective may seem to contradict the Order vs. Disorder
terminology used previously to differentiate between the hard-
boiled and classical detective novel and their respective
protagonists. In fact. electing to allow his personal life to

be ruled by his head instead of his heart lg on one level

choosing order over disorder. However. seen from the

284

perspective of the effect this choice has on Spade’s life. it

cau_es a certain amount of disorder. Wolfe is correct in his

 

assertion that by acting according to what reason dictates
instead of his emotions. Spade ensures his survival: he
continues to eat and breathe. On the other hand. not trusting
emotions or people (as is explained in subsequent pages) makes
his life a lonely. disconnected place to be. Spade and the
hard-boiled detectives in general. are out of step with the
majority of the world who still count trust. friendship. and
love as valid elements of their lives. In that sense. living
according to reason as opposed to emotion is in itself orderly.
However. it can ggpge disorder.

22 Geoffrey O’Brien. nggboiled Aggricg (New York: Van
Nostrand Reinhold Co.. 1981). p. 77.

23 Sheldon Norman Grebstein. ”The Tough Hemingway and His
Hard—boiled Children." Tough Guy Writepgpof the Thirtiep. ed.
David Madden (Carbondale & Edwardsville: Southern Illinois
University Press. 1968). p. 26. All subsequent citations will
be taken from this edition and are indicated in the text by §_§.
24 David Madden. ed.. "lntroduction" to Tough Guy Writgpg

of the Thirpies (Carbondale & Edwardsville: Southern Illinois

 

University Press. 1968). p. xvii. All subsequent citations will
be taken from this edition and are indicated in the text by QM.

‘5 Raymond Chandler. as quoted in Tough Guy Writere of the

.———_——-— v-

lllinois University Press. 1968). p. xxvii.

285

Chapter 2
The Development of the Spanish Detective Novel

Cesar 5- Dlaz. La novel policia a (Barcelona: Ediciones

- to—-v~———.—~——o-—.-—_—~ ...—-

 

Acervo. 1973). p. 159. All subsequent citations will be taken

from this edition and are indicated in the text by LNP.
2 Salvador vezquez de Parga. ”La novela policiaca

espafiola." L 3 Cu ernos gel Nggte. 19 (1983). 28. All

...-we..." .-.-4...”... —-.— - .- ...- -——.

subsequent citations will be taken from this edition and are

indicated in the text by NPB.

V—o—auu-

3 Donald A. Yates. El cuento policial latinoamericano

 

(México: Ediciones de Andrea. 1964). p. 8. All subsequent
citations will be taken from this edition and are indicated in
the text by «EL.

Santos Alonso. Lg novela en 1; transicion, p. 86. All
subsequent citations will be taken from this edition and are
indicated in the text by NI.

5 William Marling is one of the critics who dismisses the
idea of _em.ngygst as a Marxist attack on capitalism: ”What

fueled some of this later round of admiration. however. was the

notion that Red ngveet was really a Marxist critique of

 

Capitalism. corrupt unionism. and the abuse of power by elected
officials. That Hammett had any of these notions in mind when
he wrote it is doubtful" (Qashiell_§gmm§§p (Boston: Twayne
Publishers. 1983). pp. 56-57). Peter Wolfe takes the opposite
opinion: "To Hammett. the end of the American frontier probably

meant the culmination. or self-fulfillment. of life under

286

capitalism. Brutal. cruel. and vicious. Personville could crush
stronger souls than the Op. The novel wasn't written to deal
the brave detective a defeat. but to show how capitalism maims
and mangles the individual and also how unbridled freedom

degenerates into chaos and the rule of force. (Beams Falling;

ngpArt of Dashiell Hegmepw (Bowling Green. Ohio: Bowling Green
University Popular Press. 1980). p. 89)

6 Using the works of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler
as a yardstick to measure the number of American hard—boiled
detective novel translations being published in Spain. the
following statistics gathered from El libro espanol (Madrid:
Instituto Nacional de Libro Espaflol) demonstrate the increase in
the publication of these translations in the latter part of the

1970s and on into the 80s noted by vazquez de Parga and Santos

Alonso:

1972: Hammett—4 Chandler-0
1973: Hammett-0 Chandler-1
1974: Hammett-O Chandler-O
1975: Hammett—0 Chandler-0
1976: Hammett-O Chandler-0
1977: Hammett-1 Chandler-1
1978: Hammett-0 Chandler—0
1979: Hammett-5 Chandler-6
1980: Hammett—5 Chandler-7

1981: Hammett-11 Chandler-7

N
a:
\1

7 . - . .
F01” Information on the post-Franco years. see: 3231“

1975-1980: The Conflicts and Achievements of Democracy. ed.

Jose L. Cagigao. John Crispin. and Enrique Pupo—Walker: 2g
Franco a las elecciones genepglgg. Jose Jimenez Blanco (Madrid:
Tecnos. 1978): and Spgin: Dictetorghip to ngocrggx. ed. Raymond
Carr and Juan Pablo Fusi Aizpuraa.

8 Michael Holquist. "Whodunit & Other Questions." in lap
Poetigg‘of Murder. ed. Glenn W. Most and William W. Stowe (New
York: Harcourt. Brace. Jovanovich. 1983). pp. 163—164. All
subsequent citations will be taken from this edition and are
indicated in the text by Whodunit.

9 Rafael Conte. "Policias y ladrones 0 el juego que queria
ser real." §”_£§;e (Madrid. Sbain] 5 August 1984. Book
Supplement 1.

10 Though both Vézquez de Parga and Santos

Alonso view,the development of detective fiction in Spain as an
interesting literary phenomenon worthy of analysis. neither is
quite ready to admit the existence of a body of works large

enough and original enough to be called the "Spanish" detective

novel:

Santos Alonso: Si existe o no una novela policiaca espaflola. es
algo que puede ponerse en duda. a pesar de la difusidn que
tiene entre nosotros en la actualidad esta forma novelesca.

(NI. p. 85)

288

vazquez de Parga: Se hace dificil hablar de la Novela Policiaca
Espafiola si por Novela policiaca espafiola debe entenderse
e1 conjunto de obras literarias de ficcidn caracterizadas
no solo por la unidad de su género sino ademas por la

'

coherencia de su nacionalidad.....Parece que no existe un
modo espafiol’ de hacer novelas policiacas o una novela
policiaca de ’estilo espafiol’. Hay si novelas policiacas
espafiolas porque se han escrito en alguno de los idiomas
espafioles. en Espafia. y por autores espafioles pero nada
mas. Y aun asi su numero es considerablemente inferior al
de las novelas policiacas escritas en otros paises. (N E.

p. 24)

11 Andreu Martin was mentioned by vazquez de Parga. Santos
Alonso. and Rafael Conte in their discussions of Spanish
detective fiction as one of the few Spanish authors who has
chosen to dedicate his writing talents specifically to the

detective novel. Among the ten novels that Martin has

published. his fourth one. Pratenig (1980). won the Premio

 

Circulo del Crimen. Classifying Martin as one of the two
authors (the other is Juan Madrid) who "creen en su tema". Conte
calls him ”el primero de la clase: es el mejor. el mas
prolifico. el mas profesional. el que con mas intensidad cree en-
el genera que practice. y quien mejor transmits esta conviccidn

a sus lectores.’ ("Policies y ladrones 6 el juego que queria ser

real." p. 3)

289

Chapter 3
The Literary and Nonliterary Works

of Manuel Vazquez Montalban

Manual vazquez Montalban. L§_penetracién americana en

Espafia (Barcelona: Editorial Cuadernos para el Dialogo. 1974).
p. 384. All subsequent citations will be taken from this
edition and are indicated in the text by LE.

2 Under the pseudonym of Sixto camara. vazquez Montalban
wrote a series of articles in the magazine Iriunfo commenting
upon current events in Spain and out. A compilation of these
articles was published in a book entitled QgpillevSixting.

3 Manual Vazquez Montalban. ggpllla Sixtina. p. 114. All
subsequent citations will be taken from this edition and are
indicated in the text by CS.

4 For more current Vazquez Montalban commentary on the
threat of nuclear war and Soviet/North American mutual
dissuasion as the reigning solution to prevent it. see the
following articles from El Pais: "La moral de la industria."
March 12. 1984. p. 52: "Paz y desarme." May 17. 1984. p. 64: and
"Pastoril." August 13. 1984. p. 13.

5 R. Richard Rubottom and J. Carter Murphy. Spain‘gnd the

United States. p. 13.

Manual vazquez Montalban. Los demoniog femiliares dg

 

FraQMQ (Barcelona: Dopesa. 1978). p. 168.

 

\1

Raymond Carr and Juan Pablo Fusi Aizpurda. Spain:

Dictatorship to Qemocpggx (London: George Allen and Unwin.

290

1979). p. 54. All subsequent citations will be taken from this
edition and are indicated in the text by SDD.

8 Manuel vazquez Montalban. "Kulturcamp." E1 Paig (Madrid.

 

Spain] 6 August 1984. p. 36.

9 Manuel vazquez Montalban. "Ron Collins." El Pais (Madrid.

Spain] 12 April 1984. p. 64.

10 Manuel Vazquez Montalban. ngglgg_§entimen;§l de Espafia.
p. 116. All subsequent citations will be taken from this edition
and are indicated in the text by ggg.

11 Manuel vazquez Montalban. El libro gris de la televisian
ggpgflplg. p. 51. All subsequent citations will be taken from
this edition and are indicated in the text by figig.

12 If one were to look at today’s television listings in
Spain. it would demonstrate that North American programs
continue to appeal to the Spanish audience in the present as
much as they did in the past.

13 Raymond Carr also notes this exclusion of television

programming from the general loosening up on censorship
experienced during the Frags Iribarne years. For additional
information concerning the development of pop-cultural forms
under the Franco regime. see: S ain: Dicpgtorship to Democregx.

w

Raymond Carr and Juan Pablo Fusi Aizpuraa. Chapter Six: Culture

1939-1977. pp. 118—130.

14 Manuel Vazquez Montalban. "Casablanca." El Pa 3 [Madrid.

""r—w

 

Spain] 20 August 1984. p. 32.

15 Manuel vazquez Montalban. "Corrientes. 348." §;_Egig

291

[Madrid. Spain] 16 April 1984. p. 62.

16
For other §l_E§;g articles by vazquez Montalban

containing discussions of various aspects of popular cultural
forms. see: "Lo que nunca muere." May 24. 1984. p. 63: ”E1
enemigo publico namero uno." March 26. 1984. p. 52: "Ports y
Garcia.” January 25. 1984. p. 48: and ”Elogio sentimental del
’Far West.’" August 9. 1984. p. 19.

17 Amando de Miguel. 40 millongg de espafioles 40 afios
después. p. 117. All subsequent citations will be taken from
this edition and are indicated in the text by 39M.

18 For a more detailed view of this increase in economic

growth and Spain as a consumer society. see Spain end the United

Statee. R. Richard Rubottom and J. Carter Murphy. ”’Miraculous’

 

Economic Growth.” pp. 96-97: Dicggpprghip and Politiggl Diggent.
Jose Maravall (New York: St. Martin’s Press. 1979). p. 23:
Spgin: Dictetorggip to Dempgpggy. Carr and Fusi. Chapter Four:
From Autarky to the Consumer Society. PP. 49-78: 40gmillong§_ge
ggpgfioles 40 afigs deeppgg. Amando de Miguel. Chapters Four and

Five. pp. 85-147.

19 Manuel vazquez Montalban. "Miseria informative." El Paie
[Madrid. Spain] 16 February 1984. p. 56.

20 For other recent commentaries by Vazquez Montalban
dealing with Central and South American issues. see the

following El Paig articles: ”La revolucidn traicionada."

 

January 19. 1984. p. 52; "El hijo de capitan.” February 27.

1984. p. 48: "Castro sour." March 1. 1984. p. 52: "Noticia de

292

Espafia.? April 5. 1984. p. 56: "Ron Collins." April 12. 1984. p.
64: "Las malas compafiias." June 7. 1984. p. 72: "La costilla."
July 5. 1984. p. 56: "Profetas y politicos." August 2. 1984. p.

36.

21 Manuel vazquez Montalban. "Memoria del poder.” El Pais

[Madrid. Spain] 3 January 1984.
‘2 Manuel vazquez Montalban. Mpnifiggto_§ubnormal. 3rd ed..
p. 27. All subsequent citations will be taken from this edition

and are indicated in the text by MS.

23 David K. Herzberger. ”Appegonia como metaficcidn." in E

-——

cosmog_ge Aptagonia (Barcelona: Editorial Anagrams. 1983). p.
107. All subsequent citations will be taken from this edition

and are indicated in the text by Herzberger.

24 Manuel vazquez Montalban. "Manuel Vazquez Montalban o la

mitologia popular." in I ' e TuLQm. ed. Federico Campbell. p. 66.

o-- .-—————_-v —

All subsequent citations will be taken from this edition and are

indicated in the text by IT.

25 Manuel Vazquez Montalban. Recordendo e DardéI Tres

novel§§_ejemplares. 2nd ed.. p. 33. All subsequent citations
will be taken from this edition and are indicated in the text by

32-
16 John W. Kronik. "Misericordia as Metafiction.” in

 

Homenaievg Antonio Sépchez Barbudo: Ensazos de la literature

 

espafiola_mgggpgg. ed. Benito Brancaforte. Edward R. Mulvihill

and Robert G. Sanchez (Madison. Wis.: Department of Spanish and

Portuguese. University of Wisconsin. 1981). pp. 41—42. All

293

subsequent citations will be taken from this edition and are
indicated in the text by Kpppig.

27

Manuel vazquez Montalban. Happz EndI Tres novelas
ejemplares. 2nd ed.. p. 147. All subsequent citations will be
taken from this edition and are indicated in the text by HE.

P Manuel VAzquez Montalban. Cuestiones marxistas. 2nd ed..
pp. 139-140. All subsequent citations will be taken from this
edition and are indicated in the text by QM.

29 Manuel vazquez Montalban. Yp_maté a Kennedy. p. 37. All
subsequent citations will be taken from this edition and are
indicated in the text by Kg_.

30 "En sus pueblos de origen. en el recuerdo familiar. los
espafioles de clase media no sabian lo que era deber: tener
deudas era una expresiOn malsonante. un vicio que habia que
ocultar. De repente. sin saber como. todo el mundo aprende lo
que es una letra de cambio. la verdadera ruleta nacional de los
altimos lustroe de la abundancia. La cosa era bien facil: e1
dinero valie cada vez menos y habia que estar debiendo siempre.
habia que gastar la page antes de cobrarla. Es increible lo

rapido que se difunde esta nueva mentalidad ’consumista’ en el

inicio de la epoca desarrollista.” (59M. p. 136)

 

"Por esas fechas ya estaba en marcha la operacian de comprar a
plazos. Los espafioles habian dejado de ser un pais de
analfabetos y como primera provision se disponian a firmer

letras de cambio." (30M. p. 137)

294

Chapter 4
Detective Novels as a "Crbnica Sentimental”
of Spain's Transition to Democracy

Manuel Vazquez Montalban. Le soledad_gel manager. 6th
ed.. Jacket Notes. All subsequent citations will be taken from
this edition and are indicated in the text by fig.

2

Juan Luis Cebrian. "The Pre-Constitutional Experiment."

trans. John Crispin. Spain 1975-1980: The Conflicts and

 

Achievement; of Demggpggx. ed. Jose L. Cagigao. John Crispin.
and Enrique Pupo—Walker (Madrid: Jose Porrfia Turanzas. 1982).

p. 16. All subsequent citations will be taken from this edition
and are indicated in the text by Egg.

3 Richard,P. Gunther. "Political Evolution Towards
Democracy. Political Parties." gpgin 1975—1980: The Conflictg

gnd Achievement; of ngocracz. ed. Jose L. Cagigao. John

 

Crispin. and Enrique Pupo-Walker (Madrid: Jose Porraa Turanzas.
1982). pp. 169-170. All subsequent citations will be taken from
this edition and are indicated in the text by 22.

4 Rose Montero. "The Alienation of the Majority." trans.
Ruth Katz Crispin. Spgjn 1975—1980: The Conflictg_gmg
Agmmgggments of Democragx. ed. Jose L. Cagigao. John Crispin.
and Enrique Pupo-Walker (Madrid: Jose Porraa Turanzas. 1982).
p. 41. All subsequent citations will be taken from this edition

and are indicated in the text by AM.

5 Manuel Vazquez Montalban. Los m es del s r. pp. 248-249.

 

 

 

All subsequent citations will be taken from this edition and are

295

indicated in the text by Sur.
Manuel vazquez Montalban.

p. 14. All subsequent citations

and are indicated in the text by

7 Manuel vazquez Montalban.

All subsequent citations will be
indicated in the text by

8 Manuel vazquez Montalban.

P8.

All subsequent citations will be

indicated in the text by RA.

Aseeinato gn el Cgmitg:Centrgl.

will be taken from this edition

C .

g

"95 pajgros de Bangkok. p. 231.

taken from this edition and are

72.

Le Rosa de Alejamgria. p.

 

taken from this edition and are

Chapter 5
The Development of the Protagonist

1 Manuel vazquez Montalban.

Iatuaje. 2nd ed.. p. 89. All

subsequent citations will be taken from this edition and are

indicated in the text by I.

There is a striking similarity between Pepe's unconscious

slide back into a
that of Hammett’s
extreme crisis of
order to get back
began to lead random lives.

with no ties to other people.

.Charles Flitcraft.
faith in life as a system of order.

into step with life as it really was.
floating

However.

life of responsibilities to other people and

Both men had suffered an'
Thus. in
they

from one place to another.

after a period of time.

both Pepe and Charles settled back into an existence which once

again indicated a belief in the basic order.

of life.

the old way of life. Pepe is not

justice. and logic

Though Flitcraft does not seem to notice his return to

so fortunate. The realization

296

that he has again fallen into the trap of living as if people.
love and life could be trusted will push him into another
rejection of such beliefs.

3 Jose de Espronceda. El diablo mendo (Madrid: Espasa-

Calpe. 1969). p. 67.
4 Not all critics note this gradual softening of Hammett’s
Continental Op. In fact. Steven Marcus views the deve10pment of
this detective as a steady progression toward an increased
inability to feel and a pervasive isolation from people and
life. He feels that "the Op’s toughness is not merely a
carapace within which feelings of tenderness and humanity can be
nourished and preserved. The toughness is toughness through and
through. and as the Op continues his career, and continues to
live by the means he does. he tends to become more callous and
less able to feel. At the very end. awaiting him. he knows. is
the prospect of becoming like his boss. the head of the Agency.
the Old Man. ’with his gentle eyes behind gold spectacles and
his mild smile. hiding the fact that fifty years of sleuthing
had left him without any feelings at all on any subject.’ This
is the price exacted by the use of such means in such a world:
these are the consequences of living fully in a society moved by
the principle of basic mistrust. ’Whoever fights monsters.’
writes Nietzsche. ’should see to it that in the process he does
not become a monster. And when you look into an abyss. the

abyss also looks into you.’ The abyss looks into Hammett. the

Old Man. and the Op." (Qeehiell Hammett: The Continente} Op. ed.

297

Steven Marcus (New York: Random House. 1975). p. xxvii) With
this quote. Marcus indicates that not only is Hammett’s hero
becoming meme hardened as he continues to function in a
treacherous world. he is also losing the characteristic which
according to Sheldon Norman Grebstein distinguishes the hard-
boiled detective from the criminal: the capacity to feel.

5 Philip Durham. "The Black Mask School.” Toggh Guy Writeme

of the Thirtiee (Carbondale & Edwardsville: Southern Illinois

University Press. 1968). p. 69.

 

6 "Murder Is Their Business." Time 29 March 1954. P- 29-
Francesc Arroyo. "Una mujer. el pero y un viaje al final
del mar integran la nltima aventura de Carvalho." El Pais

[Madrid. Spain] 23 May 1984. p. 981.

Chapter 6
The Style and Structure
of Manuel vazquez Montalban’s Detective Fiction

1 Willard Huntington Wright. ed. & intro.. The World's

Greet Detective Storiee (New York: Blue Ribbon Books. 1931). p.
8.

"The style of a detective story must be direct. simple.
smooth. and unencumbered. A ’literary’ style. replete with
descriptive passages. metaphors. and word pictures which might
give viability and beauty to a novel of romance or adventure.-
would in a detective yarn. produce sluggishness in the actional
current by diverting the reader’s mind from the mere record of

facts (which is what he’s concerned with) and focussing it on

298

irrelevant aesthetic."

FThis quote written by a classical detective fiction writer
(Willard Huntington Wright writes under the pseudonym of 5.5.
Van Dine). exemplifies one of the basic differences between
classical detective fiction and the best of the hard-boiled
detective production: hard-boiled fiction ggee allow the focus
to stray from the mystery itself with romance. adventure. or
literary style unlike the classical form. The novels of
Dashiell Hammett. Raymond Chandler. and Manuel vazquez Montalban
are excellent proof that literary style should be an integral
element of all good detective fiction.

2 D.C. Russell. "The Chandler Books." The Atlentic Monthly

March 1945. p. 123.
3 Steven Marcus. ed. and intro.. Dashiell Hammett: the
Continentel Op (New York: Random House. 1975). p. xvii. All

subsequent citations will be taken from this edition and are

indicated in the text by Qp.
4 David Gehrin. Some of Sam_§pege (New York: Frederick
Unger Publishing Co.. 1980). p. 3.

5 Melvyn Barnes. Best Detective Fiction (Hamden. Conn.:
Linnet Books. 1975). p. 82. All subsequent citations will be

taken from this edition and are indicated in the text by BDF.
Conclusion

Ignacio Soldevila Durante. Le novela desde 1936 (Madrid:

Editorial Alhambra. 1970). p. 409.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Manuel VAzquez Montalban's Works

vazquez Montalban. Manuel. geesinato en el Comité Central.

m

 

 

Barcelona: Planets. 1981.

-——. erilla Sixtine. Barcelona: Editorial KairOs. 1974.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---. "Casablanca." _l_£eie [Madrid. Spain] 20 August 1984:
32.

-—-. "Corrientes." “l_£§ie [Madrid. Spain] 16 April 1984:
62.

———. Cronmge sentimental de Espafie. Barcelona: Bruguera.
1980.

—--. Cuestionee marxispee. Barcelona: Editorial Anagrama.
1979.

—--. Lee deionios femiliepeg_ge Fremco. Barcelona: Dopesa.
1978.

---. "Espafla—USA: Las bases." Triunfo 16 November 1974: 8-
11.

---. "Kulturcamp." El Pais [Madrid. Spain] 6 August 1984:
36.

-—-. El libro_gm;§ de Le televisién espafiola. Madrid:
Ediciones Informes 99. 1973.

—--. Menifiestogembnormal. Barcelona: Editorial KairOs. 1970.

——-. "Manuel Vazquez Montalban o la mitologia popular." Infame
Imppe. Ed. Federico Campbell. Barcelona: Planets. 1979.

—--. Lee mares d l s r. Barcelona: Planets. 1979.

 

 

 

---. "Memoria del poder." El Pale [Madrid. Spain] 3 January

299

300

1984.

"Miseria informative.” El Pais [Madrid. Spain] 16
February 1984: 56.

Los paj~32§_ge_§emgwg§. Barcelona: Planets. 1983.

Le penetpec16n_emep;geme_em_fispafi_. Madrid: Editorial
Cuadernos para el Dialogo. 1974.

"Ron Collins." El Pais [Madrid. Spain] 12 April 1984:
64.

La Rosa de Alejendrie. Barcelona: Planets. 1984.

La soledad del manager. 6th ed. Barcelona: Planets.
1981.

Igppeje. 2nd ed. Barcelona: Plaza y Janes, 1979.
Tres novelas ejemplares. 2nd ed. Barcelona: Bruguera.

1983.

Yo mate a Kennedz. Barcelona: Plaza y Janés. 1977.

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"xiiifljiiimiflifliilfl