Indiana Jones: Biografía is an unauthorized, Spanish-language biography of Indiana Jones by the Valencian journalist Pau Gómez. It was published by Páginas de Espuma in 2006.
Publisher's summary[]
Original Spanish[]
El mundo le conoce como el buscador de reliquias más intrépido y carismático de todos los tiempos. Todos hemos sido testigos de sus extraordinarias aventuras en busca del Arca de la Alanza o el Santo Grial. Pero, más allá de sus increíbles logros, algunos detalles de la apasionante vida de Indiana Jones permanecían en secreto, o eran sabidos por muy pocos, hasta el día de hoy. La trágica muerte de su madre siendo aún niño, su inolvidable experiencia en un campo de concentración alemán durante la Primera Guerra Mundial, la pérdida de su joven esposa con solo veintiséis años, sus arriesgados viajes en busca del Arca de Noé o de la mismísima civilización perdida de la Atlántida... Momentos únicos que también contribuyeron a forjar la personalidad del héroe contemporáneo por antonomasia. Mediante esta biografía, y a través de los ojos de su inseparable amigo Marcus Brody, el lector podrá ser testigo de los diferentes episodios que marcaron para siempre la existencia de un tranquilo profesor de arqueología capaz de alcanzar la condición de mito armándose con un látigo y luciendo su viejo sombrero. El resto, es leyenda... Y la leyenda vivirá para siempre en cada una de las páginas de este libro
English translation[]
He is remembered throughout the world as an intrepid and charismatic finder of relics. We all have been witness to his extraordinary adventures in search of the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail. But, beyond the incredible artifacts, some details of the exciting life of Indiana Jones remained private, or were known by very few, until today. The tragic death of his mother when he was still a child, his unforgettable experience in a concentration camp during World War I, the loss of his young wife at age twenty-six, his dangerous trips in search of the Ark of Noah and the lost civilization of the Atlantis... Unique moments that together forged the personality of this contemporary hero. By means of this biography, and through the eyes of his inseparable friend Marcus Brody, the reader can experience the various episodes that transformed a calm professor of archaeology into a mythic character armed with a whip and donning a well-worn hat. The rest is legend... And the legend will always live on in the pages of this book.
Behind the scenes[]
- "«Ahem, this may be a tricky confession, but I'm afraid that Mr. Lucas does not know much about the book, heh, heh ... Seriously, there's no problem because it's not about making use of his characters to create a story of its own and make it public. Anyway, I sensed that this human Jabba the Hutt who is George Lucas would be too busy loading possible scripts for Indy IV, so I did not want to create more headaches.»"
- ―Translated statement from Pau Gómez[src]
In an interview with the fansite Indiana Jones Comunidad Fan Española, Pau Gómez revealed that he acknowledges that his work was made without authorization from George Lucas or Lucasfilm Ltd., but that there isn't any problem as he didn't use the characters for an original story with intentions of publishing it. In Gómez' words, he was sure that Lucas would be too busy "loading" possible scripts for Indiana Jones 4 that he didn't want to create more headaches for Lucas.[1]
The book is presented as being penned by Marcus Brody in 1948 and the postscript is attributed to Indy himself circa 1993. Though not endorsed by Lucasfilm, Biografía summarizes nearly all of the official Indiana Jones canon, including
- The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles,
- the first three theatrical films,
- the Marvel and Dark Horse comics,
- the Bantam and Goldmann novels,
- the Bantam young adult novels,
- the Ballantine Find Your Fate books,
- and the various Indy videogames.
The original French-language stories (e.g. the Bagheera comics and the Hachette youth novels) are conspicuously absent from the list of sources, as is the fourth theatrical film, which was released two years later.
In his efforts to fill in the gaps between the various adventures, Gómez occasionally missteps. For example, Indy's affair with Marion Ravenwood is described as occurring in 1925, before Indy's marriage to Deirdre Campbell; the official timeline (according to IndianaJones.com) sets the affair in 1926, after Deirdre's death.
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Pau Gómez interview at Indiana Jones Comunidad Fan Española (Web archive) (In Spanish)