Barcelona, España, 1977
Jorge Benítez holds a degree in humanities and comparative literature from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He has written for various magazines and in 2016 he participated in the volume of short stories Uno más ocho (Reservoir Books). El casco de Sargón is his first novel.
Bibliography
A priceless relic puts an old friendship to the test.
Ventura, an ambitious university professor, spots his chance for academic glory when a Sumerian helmet from the 23rd century BC comes into his hands. He is asked to look after it by an old school friend and former combatant in Iraq, Javi, who hopes to sell the artefact to the highest bidder.
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Novel
A priceless relic puts an old friendship to the test.
Ventura, an ambitious university professor, spots his chance for academic glory when a Sumerian helmet from the 23rd century BC comes into his hands. He is asked to look after it by an old school friend and former combatant in Iraq, Javi, who hopes to sell the artefact to the highest bidder.
From those times in the suburbs, when they played table football together, shared joints and even fell in love with the same woman, there now remains the awkward politeness of two adults who barely know each other anymore. The arrival of the Sumerian helmet, which reflects the dreams of both of them in its weathered metal, offers them a last chance to completely change their lives.
A masterful combination of psychological intrigue and adventure story, El casco de Sargón is a incisive, ironic reflection on the transcendental value given to historical symbols in order to construct a past, whether genuine or invented, that shapes what we have agreed to call identity.