Probable Lives
The writing of Felipe Benítez Reyes, a significant contributor to the Spanish Postmodern esthetic, speaks to issues of voice, persona, and the possibilities of fiction. Probable Lives won the 1996 National Book Award in Spain, the 1996 National Critics’ Award in Spain, and the City of Melilla International Prize. A book of heteronyms, the character-poets in Probable Lives read as forgotten or unknown twentieth-century authors, all “rediscovered” and compiled by an anthologist who is also the creation of Reyes. Probable Lives tweaks the notion of identity in ways that are both engaging and downright funny.
Felipe Benítez Reyes is a primary figure of the Spanish movement, The Poetry of Experience. Probable Lives won the 1996 National Book Award in Spain, 1996 National Critics' Award in Spain, and the City of Melilla International Prize. Other awards include the Ateneo de Sevilla Prize, the Ojo Crítico Award from Radio Nacional, the Luis Cernuda Prize, and Fundación Loewe Prize. Aaron Zaritzky holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of Arizona (2004). He has worked as a language instructor for the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Arizona since 2002. He received a Tinker Grant to research Benítez's use of literary allusion in the Spanish National Library.
