Carvalho Under Construction: Yo maté a Kennedy

Abstract

Yo maté a Kennedy (1972) has been mostly read as a harsh critique of post-world war II American capitalism and as well as an experimental novel that exemplifies the neo-avant-garde movement of its time. In this article, I defend a reading of the text based on the application of R. Williams’ concept ‘structures of feeling’ on artistic social recreations. I propose that beyond challenging the American status quo of the sixties, Vázquez Montalbán explores how this particular form of capitalism impacts his main character, Pepe Carvalho, and also himself as a communist author. In the narration, the writer recreates an ironical game between Carvalho, the author and many intellectuals of the time wherein the invasion and acceptation of capitalism is unstoppable. In a manipulated control of internal and external tensions, the narration builds a novel that shows the importance of a specific approach to Otherness in American patriarchy capitalism as a key piece of the specific structure of feeling that guides the novel’s characters development and its influence in the western world. In this sense, the changes based on the implementation of this structure will impact the rest of the Carvalho saga.