Unpublished Letter by Lezama Lima Released in Madrid

HAVANA TIMES — A letter by the prominent Cuban writer Jose Lezama Lima, in addition to a poem dedicated to his mother and five photographs, has been published by the Modern Art Centre in Madrid.

According to EFE, in the letter to his sister Rose, the author of Paradiso confesses his emptiness and loneliness, a feeling that was exacerbated by the absence of his family in exile in Miami.

The facsimile letter of the original manuscript will now see light for the first time, along with the poem “La Madre” (typed and with a handwritten signature and dedication), in addition to five original photographs. All of these were originally collected in a unique handmade edition under the title of La Madre, with a circulation of 100 copies.

Specialist Ivette Fuentes de la Paz said this edition is being released at a very important moment because: “We are now celebrating 50 years since the Latin America ‘boom,’ and very little has been said about Lezama. It’s only just to put him in his place. We will be marking 50 years since the publication of Rayuela, by Julio Cortazar, but also 50 years since Paradiso.