Federico Garcia Lorca - Andalucian Poet + Playwright

 FGL

My personal musings on Federico Garcia Lorca

1898 – 1936

As demonstrated by Simon Harris's comment I actually get asked frequently by friends whether Freddie Garcia Lorca came from the city of Lorca.. He doesnt. This is one of the simple facts about FGL which is undisputed. He is actually one of the famous sons of Granada - born in the pueblo of Fuente Vaqueros. See Simon Andrewes: http://granadainfo.com/lorca

He was poet, playwright, avant-garde artist, musician and “politically active” or at least he used his writings as political weapons. Certainly he was clearly a thorn in the regime's side and could be an apparent reason to get him assassinated but is there any coherent explanation to help us understand why he was assassinated and his body thrown into a barranco in the sierra Nevada? Why was he killed, on whose orders? It's still being argued about over 70 years after the event.

He studied in Granada and Madrid and was friend to Manuel de Falla (Three Cornered Hat), Luis Bunuel famous film director and Salvador Dali. Much of the combined influences of these important friendships is fully discussed in 20th century writings about Spain and I leave the reader to choose to follow his life story through these friendships elsewhere. Following his life story however it seems one is walking into a Spanish cultural and political minefield. The more I read the more I find he is a powerful emblem in modern Spain. I am finding myself being led into a maze of different influences and views about the man and some of the historical issues of Spain which still have resonance today. I just begin to glimpse the complexity of the Spanish psyche.

He claimed Jewish descent, he was gay, he felt a strong affinity for all minorities perhaps not surprisingly. He was politically left wing. (Even making these statements I suspect someone would take issue with them}. People remember him for his artistic and sexual association with Dali. Do a little googling and it soon becomes clear that no one source has the key to FGL.

With regard to his possible Jewishness and any connection to the town of Lorca I had to go back 500 years or so where there is a connection with the Jewish population of the old town:

Ben Vives al-Lorqui (of Lorca)Spanish physician, anti-Semitic writer, and propagandist. As a Jew his name was Joshua ha-Lorki (from the name of his birthplace, Lorca, near Murcia), although it is hardly correct to identify him with the author of the same name who wrote an anti-Christian letter to Solomon ha-Levi (Paul de Burgos). The only proof offered for such an identification is a note appended to the manuscript of the letter to the effect that "the author afterward became a Christian."

There was a synagogue and ghetto within the walls of the Fortressa del Sol - Lorca Castillo. This is being excavated at present rather contentiously as it is on the site where they are building the new parador. Little care was taken by the bulldozers. I have noticed the Star of David on external doors in the old part of the city but have found little reference to the population of Jews in present day Lorca. It may be out there but I am of course limited by not being able to read the source documents as my Spanish is not good enough.

He seems to have had a very strong affinity for Catalonia and Catalonia for him - Barcelona in particular where his artwork was shown in one of its galleries.

I forget where now but in one of his letters to his friends he declares himself to be an ardent Catalan.

One of the most interesting articles I came across was printed in the Sunday Times in 1998 around the centenary of his birth which concentrates on him as playwright and makes a very strong argument about the obfuscation of FGL the artist because of the sexual and political overtones dominating much that is written about him. It also makes an interesting discussion of the 'Catalan Lorca'

However my first exposure to his world and I am just bowled over by the lyricism of the words...

To his mother:

I miss you in an intense way, and I imagine the Huerta de San Vicente with that divine light and that sweet tranquility of paradise

Written when he was at his home

It's a splendid day. A fresh rumor of corn fields and water fills my room

Part of the English translation of

"Mañana", dated 7 August 1918 in Fuente Vaqueros, from Libro de Poemas:

But the song of water

is an eternal thing.

It is light turned into song

of romantic illusions.

It is firm and soft,

mild and full of heaven.

It is mist and it is rose

of the eternal morning.

Honey of the moon which flows

from buried stars.

What is the holy baptism

but God turned into water

to anoint our foreheads

with the blood of his mercy?

For some good reason Jesus

was confirmed in water. 

For some good reason the stars

repose upon its waves.

For some good reason Venus

in its breast was engendered

Here I dare to quote a little in the original language because it feels so accessible

Eres el espejo de una Andalucía

que sufre pasiones gigantes y calla,

pasiones mecidas por los abanicos

y por las mantillas sobre las gargantuas

que tienen temblores de sangre, de nieve,

y arañazos rojos hechos por miradas

Lorca talking about the theatre

“Theatre is poetry that lifts itself

from the book and becomes human.

And in becoming human, it speaks

and shouts, cries and despairs. The

theatrical characters need to appear

on stage wearing a poetic coat but

their bones and blood need to shine

through it..“

His art:

His Art

In conclusion then -

This is a totally personal view based on my curiosity and desire to understand more fully the country in which I am now a resident. I have found interesting and some bizarre sites during my journey.

The search has put me in a different place to where I was say a week ago.

References:

WAIShttp://wais.stanford.edu/Spain/spain_DeathOfGarciaLorca(102503).html

http://www.memoriahistorica.org

http://granadainfo.com/lorca

http://users.fulladsl.be/spb1667/cultural/fglorca.html#sitios

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/incomingFeeds/article777591.ece?token=null&offset=0