The expert in the work Manuel Vázquez Montalbán José Colmeiro has found an unpublished novel by the Barcelona writer among the documentation from the collection that his family had bequeathed to the Library of Catalonia. The novel was found in a box labeled “1962-1965”, so it would be the first literary work by Vázquez Montalbán, who until then had published only the essay Informe sobre la información (1963) and it would not be until a few years later when he would publish his first book of poetry –A sentimental education, 1967– or the first narrative –Remembering Dardé, 1969–.
As it appears on the first page of the manuscript, the author presented it for the Biblioteca Breve award, but did not win it and the work was relegated to a drawer, until now. His family did not know of the existence of the manuscript, which will be published by the Navona publishing house, which has reported the meeting. The publisher has pointed out that the novel describes the Barcelona of the sixties, a scathing and ruthless portrait, with references to life in prison and the clandestine anti-Franco struggle, with a protagonist who is clearly an alter ego of the author.
According to the publisher, Vázquez Montalbán gave the characters European names such as Admunsen, Ilsa or Laarsen and although it takes place in Barcelona, ​​he named it after Leiden, in the Netherlands, to avoid Franco’s censorship. It is a finished typescript and later corrected by hand.
Daniel Vázquez Sallés, son of Vázquez Montalbán –and who manages his work– has said that it is “a novel that has reminded me of his best texts. It is a fundamental meeting to understand the work of my fatherâ€. For Colmeiro, who found the manuscript and will be in charge of editing it, “it represents the writer’s fascinating black box, which advances us in an embryonic way the concerns, themes and obsessions that he will develop throughout his prolific and varied literary career.” .
The publication of the work is also part of the systematic recovery by Navona of a part of the editorial fund of Vázquez Montalbán, since in May 2022 Autobiography of General Franco was published and, recently, Los alegres muchachos de Atzavara and El strangler, to which in June will be added Sentimental Chronicle of the Transition, in Folch
