The following work will talk about the figure of literary detective Pepe Carvalho in three selected novels by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán from the Carvalho literary series: La Rosa de Alejandría, Roldán, ni vivo ni muerto and El hombre de mi vida. The first part will present the crime novel in general, its origin, its main characteristics and the development of the detective as a literary character over time. This will be followed by a description of the characteristics of the Spanish crime novel and its development over three different historical periods: from the beginning of the twentieth century to the beginning of the Spanish Civil War; in the post-war period and the period of Francoism; and in the period after Franco’s death in 1975 to the present day. The problems of uniform naming of the literary genre in Spain and the most famous works and their authors will be presented. This will be followed by an introduction to the life and work of Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, with particular emphasis on the Carvalho series. The second part of the thesis will be followed by an analysis of the three characteristics of the literary hero, which will try to confirm three hypotheses: the popularity of the hero, his humane character and his involvement in the urban environment.
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