The sky over Lima

by Juan Gómez Bárcena

"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...