PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN
Miguel Gomes
Miguel Gomes makes his debut in English with the masterful Portrait of a Gentleman.
The story of Lucio Cavaliero, a Venezuelan writer and cosmopolitan libertine, is a vibrant and thrilling account of carnivalesque exile in New York. Against the backdrop of his home country’s political turmoil, Lucio drifts from room to room, bed to bed, living hand to mouth, dragging a sexual secret (literally) while on the run from Chavez’s henchman. Lust gives way to love and love to a son’s mourning as Lucio visits Italy and Spain searching for beauty and his roots.
A modern-day homage to Rabelais and Roth, Portrait of a Gentleman is a ribald and erudite meditation on poetry, music, language, and the erotic—a portrait of the artist as a middle-aged rake.
A virtuoso novel from which countless possible novels spring. One of the finest books of recent years. The story we all wish we had written—and, fortunately, one we can all read.
—Juan Carlos Méndez GuédezThis novel is, at once, an adventure story, an erudite and aesthetic game, a lucid reflection on political reality, and a tale brimming with humour. With extraordinary skill, Miguel Gomes has written this nuanced and entertaining portrait, a radically different way of telling a Latin American story.
—Alberto Barrera Tyszka
