THE DREAM OF VENICE (EL SUEÑO DE VENECIA)

In the mid-17th century, a freed slave paints a portrait of the dona Gracia de Mendoza, a famous concubine of the time, and a boy, her protégé who later became her lover and finally her husband, Pablo de la Corredera. Since then, the portrait went through a myriad adventures, changed hands many times, travelled to exotic places, suffered, was mutilated, painted over and seen by many people and in many ways, in many eras. In our time, someone discovers it and through the process of restoring it, the real history of the people depicted in it is revealed – or not? In El Sueño de Venecia, the Spanish author skillfully weaves, according to Henry James’ suggestions, an elaborate tapestry, the folds and designs of which are revealed and illuminated in succession in the five chapters-episodes of the book, all the while retaining, even after the last knot in its weaving, its enigmatic charm, multiplied by the reader’s sense of having wandered into a labyrinth, the magic of which they do not want to leave behind.