| Popis: |
The birth of Jane’s most unique book—her only novel, Veronica—can be traced to the social circle that gathered at the bar and grille of the Hotel Majestic in Quito, Ecuador. After returning from the Amazon at the end of 1956, she and Ken made the acquaintance of several Spanish matadors, among them Mario Carrion of Sevilla. Carrion remembers, “At our first meeting I found Jane to be a beautiful woman, very attractive and pleasant,” and in what he quickly recognized was “a May–December marriage.”1 The couple struck Carrion as quite inexperienced with bullfighting: “Jane spoke no Spanish whatsoever, and I spoke no English. Ken spoke only very limited Spanish and there always seemed to be someone around who could interpret our conversations for us. Neither one of them had ever seen a bullfight, and it was Ken who asked all the questions, which were very superficial and none of them in-depth, while Jane merely observed and had no input.” Jane and Ken did have some rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, but certainly were not fluent enough to discuss bullfighting with a Spaniard. Being somewhat reticent in that situation, Jane simply observed and let Ken do the talking. |
