Sketches of Spain
In May 1969, nineteen-year-old New Yorker John J. Healey arrives in Málaga, intending to spend a few months on the outskirts of Churriana. There he discovers a world of expatriate writers, among them Gerald Brenan, who invites him to settle into his library and read the first edition of James Joyce's Ulysses. In this bohemian, international milieu, rich in culture and intellectual exchange, Healey's life takes an unexpected turn.
Unlike many English-speaking admirers of Spain who remain insulated from Spanish life, Healey learns the language as he goes, soon becoming proficient enough to enroll in medical school in Granada. But literature and cinema prove a stronger calling, and he has devoted more than five decades to both. From the moment he arrives in Málaga, Spain becomes the defining center of his life. Through his friendship with filmmaker Víctor Erice, he enters the world of cinema, working on the production of El Sur. He also directs his first film in Spain, a documentary on Federico García Lorca for Spanish Television (RTVE), completed in time to include interviews with family members who are no longer alive.
John J. Healey shares for the first time his most personal recollections of the many different Spains he has encountered over the years, many of which have since disappeared. With warmth, wit, and a remarkable gift for observation, he offers readers intimate portraits of people, places, and experiences that now live on only in his memory.
Request more informationOriginal Language
SPANISH | Editorial Renacimiento
