Juan Gómez Bárcena: The sky over Lima (2016)
275 pages
English language
Published Jan. 3, 2016
"A retelling of a fantastical true story: two young men seduce Nobel laureate Juan Ramon Jiménez with the words of an imaginary woman and inspire one of his greatest love poems. Jose Galvez and Carlos Rodriguez are poets. Or, at least, they'd like to be. Sons of Lima's elite in the early twentieth century, they scribble bad verses and read the greats: Rilke, Rimbaud, and, above all others, Juan Ramon Jiménez, the Spanish Maestro. Desperate for Jiménez's latest work, unavailable in Lima, they decide to ask him for a copy. They're sure Jiménez won't send two dilettantes his book, but he might favor a beautiful woman. They write to him as the lovely, imaginary Georgina Hubner. Jiménez responds with a letter and a book. Elated, Jose and Carlos write back. Their correspondence continues, as the Maestro falls in love with Georgina, and the boys abandon poetry for the pages of …
"A retelling of a fantastical true story: two young men seduce Nobel laureate Juan Ramon Jiménez with the words of an imaginary woman and inspire one of his greatest love poems. Jose Galvez and Carlos Rodriguez are poets. Or, at least, they'd like to be. Sons of Lima's elite in the early twentieth century, they scribble bad verses and read the greats: Rilke, Rimbaud, and, above all others, Juan Ramon Jiménez, the Spanish Maestro. Desperate for Jiménez's latest work, unavailable in Lima, they decide to ask him for a copy. They're sure Jiménez won't send two dilettantes his book, but he might favor a beautiful woman. They write to him as the lovely, imaginary Georgina Hubner. Jiménez responds with a letter and a book. Elated, Jose and Carlos write back. Their correspondence continues, as the Maestro falls in love with Georgina, and the boys abandon poetry for the pages of Jiménez's life."--
The Sky Over Lima is a classic tale of two twenty year-old would-be poets wooing an acclaimed "maestro" by impersonating a fawning young woman. The ruse continues far longer than expected before coming to a surprising conclusion.
