Lima Rooftops

Jane Radcliffe was part of a group of North American and South American writers living in Lima, Peru, who put out the literary journal Haravec; while it lasted, it was published in English, Spanish, and Quechua, and distributed on both continents. After her return to California, Solo Press and the National Endowment for the Arts became interested in putting out a collection of the work Jane had done during her two years living in Lima and teaching linguistics at San Marcos University there. Alita Kelley, longtime Cuzco resident, did the Spanish version, and Peruvians Lola and Renan del Barco gave it a final reading. At the time, reviewers found this approach to language remarkable. Jack Rosenbaum said: "Everything is multilingual these days: Jane Radcliffe is out with a book published with a grand from the National Endowment for the Arts. Lima Rooftops is printed in both English and Spanish under one cover." The local journal Sipapu said more: "Lima Rooftops has the advantage of a bilingual work of a new character: the translations are not simply Hispanicization of the English, they are meant to stand on their own as poems in Spanish. As the Introduction says, 'This book represents collaboration rather than a translation: the Spanish version is meant for native speakers of Spanish and the English version for native speakers of English.' The difference may be best seen in Parable in which the Spanish breaks free of the English. This is an experiment we would like to see repeated."