The author of ‘La salamandra’, who died at the age of 89, was also awarded the National and Critics' awards
José Jiménez Lozano, who died in Valladolid at the age of 89 due to a heart attack, was so far ahead of the 21st century that he was considered more conservative than he was. Too traditional for avant-garde observance and too free-thinking for Catholic orthodoxy, he lived in a village – Alcazarén, only 30 kilometers from Valladolid, the city where he died. In addition, he began publishing his diaries when the fashion of the genre seemed like a chimera. To make matters worse, he premiered as an essayist with less than 30 years and as a poet with more than 60. The world upside down. To top it off, he was awarded the Cervantes Prize in 2002, amid protests against the Iraq war and after José María Aznar said he had it among his favorite writers. In fact, he was one of the authors summoned by the then Prime Minister to put lyrics to the national anthem.
