Wow… I just read the saddest article in this week’s New Yorker about the exhumation of the mass grave in Spain where Federico García-Lorca was killed. I never knew very much about Lorca before this article… For those that are unacquainted: he is considered the greatest Spanish poet, was a prolific playwright, as well, and was one of a very few people at that time to live openly as a gay man. I guess I had no idea how brutal the fascists were in Spain, but along with the hundreds of thousands of people they outright murdered, there were as many, if not more, people put into concentration camps – not to mention the dark fact that many of those who escaped to France were by and large picked up by the gestapo and put into German concentration camps. The site where Lorca was murdered by the fascists, and where his body lies still, remains, at this point, completely unmarked, and though there have been several plaques put out, each has been removed or destroyed.
Lorca was such a beautiful person, here’s a quote and a poem for you to remember him by:
“The artist, and particularly the poet, is always an anarchist in the best sense of the word. He must heed only the call that arises within him from three strong voices: the voice of death, with all its foreboding, the voice of love and the voice of art.”
Sonnet of the Sweet Complaint
Never let me lose the marvel
of your statue-like eyes, or the accent
the solitary rose of your breath
places on my cheek at night.
I am afraid of being, on this shore,
a branchless trunk, and what I most regret
is having no flower, pulp, or clay
for the worm of my despair.
If you are my hidden treasure,
if you are my cross, my dampened pain,
if I am a dog, and you alone my master,
never let me lose what I have gained,
and adorn the branches of your river
with leaves of my estranged Autumn.
I just watched the motion picture “The Little Ashes” tonight. The film is about the love affair between Federico Garcia-Lorca, and never quite abandoned by Salvador Dali. So, I’m now on a journey to reacquaint myself with Garcia-Lorca, and in the process, I came across your journal. I wish I could have known Federico, though I’m happy to have found your fascinating journal.
Federico Garcia Lorca was not only arguably the greatest writer in Spain since Cervantes, he was, according to those who knew him, an utterly kind and loving soul, and an icon in the gay community. His execution was, at least in part, due to his homosexuality. I also just saw LITTLE ASHES and thought it brilliant. I hadn’t read Lorca since college and I am now seeking his work out. His death is a horrible part of Spanish history, and emblematic of the evils of repression and extremism. I am reminded of the execution of the great chemist Lavoisier during the Terror after the French Revolution. When pleas to spare him because he was a genius were made, the judges said “The revolution has no need of savants,” and Lavoisier was beheaded.
Lorca was said to be apolitical in the sense that he never rejected people on either end of the spectrum merely because of their positions, if they were good people generally– he had liberal and conservative friends, and he seems to have been able to react to the person rather than any “ism” they might adhere to. He seems to have practiced agape: just more reasons to honor him memory.
I just finished watching LITTLE ASHES. Words can not describe how I feel at this moment. I am so greatful to have become educated on who Fernandp Garcia was and yet saddened at the fact that I never met him personally. I attended a Spanish Catholic School and we were required to learn several of his writings and interpret them. However, I never really new his beliefs and the reasons for his brutal passing. I
feel so connected with this movie and I’m quite emotional right now. A movie has not had this affect on me since Sophie’s Choice several years ago. Wow ! I’m overwhelmed !
George
I’m currently translating Lorca’s lesser known plays and poems into English. He was heavily censored during and after his life. “Little Ashes” got a lot wrong, but the poetry was lovely. Lorca never rejected Dali in any way, although “Un Chien Andalou” hurt his feelings. The plays are astonishingly beautiful, full of poetry. Thanks for posting about my hero!
Federico and fashion: as a young man Federico was known for his snappy suits and colorful sweaters. When he formed his traveling theater troupe, La Barraca, everyone involved wore a blue mechanic’s coverall with the tragedy-comedy mask logo. Lorca wore his all the time. People mistook him for a common laborer. It was unheard of in that time and place for an upper class or middle class person to dress that way, worse than when hippies started wearing blue jeans. It was a wonderful way of showing solidarity with the working people.