“nearly one thousand … air and sunshine”:
OC, III, 150.
“literary accent … pedantry”:
Diario de la Marina (Havana), March 10, 1930, 12. Decades later, FGL’s sister Isabel would recall that her brother disliked, above all, “Pedantic and stupid people; he couldn’t stand pedantry.” (“Next Spring Federico García Lorca’s Unpublished Works Will Come Out. Isabel García Lorca Talks About Her Brother the Writer,”
España
90, November, 1990, 16.)
FGL’s popularity in Madrid:
Belamich, 27; Pedro Salinas, “Federico García Lorca”; Alberti,
Arboleda
, 219; Martínez Nadal, introduction to FGL,
Poems
, xii-xiii; Angel del Río, “Federico García Lorca, Artista y poeta realmente prodigioso,”
La Prensa
(New York), October 13, 1937, 4.
“strength and weakness”:
Río, “Federico García Lorca,” 199.
FGL plays piano at Residencia:
Ontañón, “Semblanza”; “Memorias del doctor Carlos Martínez. I. La Residencia de Estudiantes,”
El Comercio
(Gijón) October 29, 1990; Juan
Chabás, “Federico García Lorca,” in
Literatura española contemporánea
1898–1950 (Havana: Cultural, 1952), 435; Alberti, “Imagen primera,” 115–16; Aub,
Conversaciones
, 99; Alberto Jiménez Fraud, “Lorca y otros poetas,”
El Nacional
(Caracas), September 19, 1957; Moreno Villa,
Vida en claro
, 108–10.
“electric”:
Modesto Laza Palacios, “Recuerdo de cuatro amigos,”
Sur
(Malaga) April 14, 1971, 7.
“gave the impression … secret”:
Moreno Villa,
Vida en claro
, 110.
“Play Schumann”:
Aub,
Conversaciones
, 99.
“farmboy sings”:
OC, III, 137.
Luis Buñuel:
Aub,
Conversaciones
, 50, 267; Buñuel,
Mi último suspiro;
Moreno Villa,
Vida en claro
, 112–13; Modesto Laza Palacios, “Recuerdo de cuatro amigos,”
Sur
(Malaga), April 14, 1971, 7.
“uncouth, provincial athlete”:
Buñuel,
Mi último suspiro
, 65, 155.
“dark, shining gaze”:
Buñuel,
Mi último suspiro
, 64.
“made me know”:
Buñuel,
Mi último suspiro
, 65.
FGL and Buñuel roam Madrid:
Buñuel,
Mi último suspiro
, 220; Aub,
Conversaciones
, 103; José de la Colina y Tomás Pérez Turrent, “Aragón, Madrid, ParisEntrevista con Luis Buñuel,”
Contracampo
16 (Madrid, October-November, 1980), 26–39.
“My one great joy”:
Prados, 29–30.
Emilio Prados:
Prados was in the midst of a three-year struggle to come to grips with his homosexuality (Patricio Hernández, “Presentación del epistolario de Emilio Prados a Federico García Lorca,”
BFFGL
, 21–22 (December 1997), 11–12).
“with whom I can discuss … all the more”:
Prados, 29–30.
Prados contracts tuberculosis:
José María Amado, “[Conversación con Darío Carmona],”
Litoral
29–30 (June-August 1972), n.p.
“my farewell to you … will I be left alone”:
Emilio Prados to FGL (
c
. March 20, 1921), AFFGL, in Roger Tinnell, “Epistolario de Emilio Prados a Federico García Lorca,”
BFFGL
21–22 (December 1997), 31–33.
“ridding ourselves”:
Emilio Prados to FGL (1922), AFFGL, in Roger Tinnell, “Epistolario de Emilio Prados a Federico García Lorca,”
BFFGL
21–22 (December 1997), 40.
“a poor, impassioned”:
EC
, 47. It is difficult to know if FGL is making a veiled allusion to Verlaine’s homosexuality, and thus hinting at his own sexual ambiguity, or merely stating his kinship with the bohemian poet. ThatFGL felt an enduring bond with Verlaine is clear from references to the French writer in
Impressions and Landscapes, Songs
, and the lecture on Luis de Góngora, among other FGL works.
“although it never amounted”:
Aub,
Conversaciones
, 104–5.
Dr. Marañón lectures at Residencia:
[Residencia de Estudiantes], 84, 115.
“freed us forever”:
Author interview with Arturo Saenz de la Calzada.
“strange and modern”:
FGL, “El poema de mi cuarto” (April 8, 1920), AFFGL.
Café life in Madrid,
c
. 1920:
Josep Pla, Madrid, 1921.
Undietario
(Madrid: Alianza, 1986), 73–74; Buñuel,
Mi último suspiro
, 62; Torre, “Federico García Lorca,” 58–59; Guardia, 106; Ernesto Giménez Caballero, “Literatura española, 1918–30,” in
Los vanguardistas españoles
(1925–35), 48; Moreno Villa,
Vida en claro
, 141; FM, 192–93; Maurer, introduction to FGL,
Collected Poems
, lii-liii; Javier Pérez Bazo,
La poesía en el siglo XX: hasta
1939 (Madrid: Playor, 1984), 20–24; Río, “Federico García Lorca,” 198; Andrew A. Anderson, “The Cultural Perspective” (unpublished Ph.D. diss, chapter), 7–9; author interview with Arturo Saenz de la Calzada.
FGL frequents Madrid
tertulias:
FM
, 146; Mora Guarnido, 117–118; Ontañón and Moreiro,
Unos pocos
, 149–150; Cano, 40; José Mora Guarnido, “El primer libro de Federico García Lorca,”
El Noticiero Granadino
, July 3, 1921, 1; author interview with Santiago Ontañón.
FGL works infrequently in Madrid:
Sánchez Vidal, 52; Auclair, 78; author interview with José Antonio Rubio Sacristán.
FGL loses manuscripts:
Auclair, 78.
“According to Martínez Sierra’s”:
EC
, 68.
FGL takes part in rehearsals:
Mora Guarnido, 124; Fernández Almagro, “Primer estreno.”
“the greatest success”:
EC
, 67.
“I have to do theater”:
Author interview with José Antonio Rubio Sacristán.
Hugo’s fondness for small animals and plants:
Martín,
Federico García Lorca, heterodoxo
, 131–32, 143.
“poisoned”:
The poem, dated October 23, 1917, reads in part: “That devil Shakespeare! / What poison he’s poured into my soul! / Love is a terrible accident! / We sleep, and on waking / A fairy makes us adore / The first thing we see. / Such a deep tragedy! And what does God think?” (OC, IV, 217–19; see also María Clementa Millán, introduction to FGL,
El público
, 39–42n). FGL returned to
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
in both
The Audience
and
The Dream of Life (G, II, 111
; Anderson, “Some Shakespearean Reminiscences,” 189).
The Butterfly’s Evil Spell:
The Butterfly’s Evil Spell
are taken from OC, IV, 167–211.
Maeterlinck’s preoccupation with death:
In his 1891 play
The Intruder
, Maeterlinck personifies death in much the same way FGL does in
The Butterfly’s Evil Spell
(Maurice Maeterlinck,
The Intruder
, in Haskell M. Block and Robert G. Shedd, ed.,
Masters of
Modern Drama
[New York: Random House, 1962]). For Maeterlinck’s influence on
The Butterfly’s Evil Spell
, see Fernández Cifuentes, 35.
FGL struggles to find title for play:
Mora Guarnido, 125;
FM
, 262; Francisco García Lorca, prologue to FGL,
Three Tragedies
, 12.
Difficulties with set designs:
Mora Guarnido, 124;
FM
, 263; Carlos Reyero Hermosilla,
Gregorio Martínez Sierra y el Teatro de Arte
(Madrid: Fundación Juan March, 1980), 10.
Martínez Sierra’s impatience:
According to Mora Guarnido, Martínez Sierra worked with a “strange impatience” on this production (124).
“mute anguish”:
Morales, 188.
FGL attempts to withdraw play:
Mora Guarnido, 126; Morales, 188;
FM
, 265.
FGL declines to contribute self-critique:
G, I
, 261, citing correspondence from
La Tribuna
to FGL, AFFGL.
“call it anything”:
Mora Guarnido, 125.
Confusion surrounds premiere:
Heraldo de Madrid
, March 11, 12, 13 and 16, 1920;
El Sol
(Madrid), March 11, 16 and 17, 1920.
“Any comedy … at home”:
Joaquín Belda,
En el país del bluff; veinte días en Nueva York
(Madrid: Biblioteca Hispania, 1925), 75.
“The public today”:
R. Martínez de la Riva, “Vida nacional. El teatro de Martínez Sierra,”
Blanco y Negro
, November 20, 1921.
FGL’s friends attend opening night:
Fernández Almagro, “Primer estreno”;
Guardia
, 274–75; “Memorias del doctor Carlos Martínez. I. La Residencia de Estudiantes,”
El Comercio
(Gijón), October 29, 1990;
FM
, 263. According to Isabel García Lorca, María Luisa Egea had left Granada sometime in the late teens or early 1920s; she later married a German businessman (
G, I
, 192).
FGL waits backstage:
Rodrigo,
García Lorca
, 60.
Madrid critics attend opening:
Fernández Almagro, “Primer estreno.”
“Ladies and Gentlemen”:
OC, IV, 168.
“little horns”:
Mora Guarnido, 128.
“This is for Atheneumites!”:
Angel del Río, “El
‘Romancero Gitano’
fue la consagración de García Lorca,”
La Prensa
(New York), October 14, 1937, 4.
“We can’t hear”:
Guardia, 274.
Description of opening night:
Fernández Almagro, “Primer estreno”; Guardia, 274–75; Rodrigo,
Memoria
, 203;
FM
, 263; Angel del Río, “El ‘Romancero Gitano,’” 4;
G, I
, 262.
“I’m visibly moved … about that audience”:
Fernández Almagro, “Primer estreno.”
“stomping on my head”:
Rodrigo,
García Lorca
, 60.
“awful time”:
Rodrigo,
Memoria
, 203.
FGL credits La Argentinita:
Moría Lynch, 29.
FGL prevented from going onstage and Rodríguez Espinosa awaits news:
Fernández Almagro, “Primer estreno.”
“The work was not a success”:
FM
,
266
.
“In order to create”:
F. Aznar Navarro,
La Correspondencia
(Madrid), March 23, 1920, 4. For an overview of critical reactions to the play see Fernández Cifuentes, 44, and Doughtery and Vilches,
La escena madrileña
, 131.
“Señor García Lorca”:
Manuel Machado,
La Libertad
(Madrid), March 23, 1920.
“conventional” and night at the zoo:
Don Pablos, “Teatro Eslava: Dos estrenos,”
Heraldo de Madrid
, March 23, 1920, 6.
“highly esteemed”:
F. Aznar Navarro,
La Correspondencia
(Madrid), March 23, 1920, 4.
“extremely noble”:
J. A.,
El Sol
(Madrid), March 23, 1920, 11.
FGL’s response to
The Butterfly’s Evil Spell
debacle:
G, I
, 265; Alberti, “Imagen,” 128; Ontañón, “Semblanza”; “El poeta español García Lorca, en el Avenida,”
El Diario Español
(Buenos Aires), October 25, 1933, 3.
“the classic debut”:
Moria Lynch, 29.
“received one consecutive”:
Eduardo Blanco-Amor, “Federico, otra vez; la misma vez,”
El País
(Madrid), October 1, 1978, VI.
6. Portrait of Youth: 1920–21
FGL sends angry letter to father:
EC
, 72–75. That FGL remained in Madrid well into April 1920 is clear from Manuel Fernández-Montesinos, “Federico García Lorca en la Residencia de Estudiantes,” 6; and José María Barrera López, “Amistad y evocaciones: Pedro Garfias y Federico García Lorca,”
BFFGL
9 (June 1991), 169.
FGL’s father apparently relents:
Although the guitarist Regino Sáinz de la Maza recalled meeting FGL in Granada in late May 1920 (Paloma Sáinz de la Maza,
Regino Sáinz de la Maza. Semblanza de mi padre
[Burgos: Excmo. Ayuntamiento, 1982], 141), evidence from FGL’s letters home suggests he remained in Madrid until late June 1920, and probably mailed his review of Sáinz’s appearance to Granada’s
Gaceta del Sur
(Andrew A. Anderson, “¿Entre prodigio y protegido? El joven Lorca en Madrid [1919–20],”
BFFGL
17 [June 1995], 97).
“I can have the pleasure”:
EC
, 77.
FGL writes play about Jehovah:
According to the manuscript of the work, FGL began this untitled play on May 6, 1920 (AFFGL).
“You must force”:
Agustí,
Ganas de hablar
, 293.
“like all of us”:
FGL, “Notas de arte: Sáinz de la Maza,”
Gaceta del Sur
(Granada), May 27, 1920, 1, in OC, III, 277.
“If you’d pass”:
All quotations in this passage are taken from FGL to Antonio Gallego Burín (
EC
, 77–80).
“little by little,” “It pains my father” and “Must I, Antonio”:
EC, 77–78. For background material on Antonio Gallego Burín
see Gallego Morell,
Antonio Gallego Burín
, 13–37.
1920: Hernández, introduction to FGL,
Libro de poemas
.
“there would be hell”:
José-Fernandez Montesinos went along with FGL’s scheme mostly “in order to get a laugh, because we’ve all been laughing about that confounded Faculty of Letters” (Rodrigo,
Memoria
, 137–38).
FGL passes exams:
University of Granada Archive, School of Philosophy and Letters records, 201–20.
“memorable place”:
Mora Guarnido, 82.
“I am utterly engrossed”:
G, I
, 287, citing a letter in a private archive.
“everything I do”:
EC
, 81.
“My father is extraordinary”:
Aub,
Conversaciones
, 99.
“mi niña Isabelita”:
EC
, 118.
“great news”:
EC
, 85.
“my child”:
EC
, 100. On FGL’s gift of bonbons, see
EC
, 107n.
“is more important”:
Vicenta Lorca to FGL (October 28, 1920), AFFGL, excerpted in
EC
, 84n.
Vicenta Lorca correspondence to FGL:
AFFGL.
Don Federico waits for mail:
Correspondence from Vicenta Lorca to FGL (March 29,1921; April 26, 1921).
“forgetting that it could kill me”:
Vicenta Lorca to FGL (spring 1921), AFFGL.
FGL friendship with Emilia Llanos:
Higuera, 76–88; Gallego Morell,
Sobre García Lorca
, 75.
“as one should remember … telltale sign stays forever!”:
EC
, 92.
Birth and baptism of Isabel Clara Angeles Ortiz:
Rodrigo,
Memoria
, 204–6. Shortly after Isabel Clara’s birth, FGL wrote a poem in which he expressed his desire that her parents’ home be a “meadow of flowers” of unparalleled beauty, and that the “nightingale” of their love continue to flourish (AFFGL).
“look at pretty things”:
Rodrigo,
Memoria
, 202.
“and I love them”:
Higuera, 104.
“He is so timid”:
Jiménez,
Selección de cartas
, 141.
“true”:
EC, 184n.
Marquina and Martínez Sierra express interest in FGL’s work:
EC
, 63.
“You mustn’t content yourself”:
Vicenta Lorca to FGL (spring 1921), AFFGL,
“the precarious publicity”:
José Mora Guarnido, “Dos poetas andaluces: Federico García Lorca y Rafael Alberti,”
Pluma
IV (Montevideo, 1928), 51–57.
“Irresponsibility and impetuosity”:
EC
, 117.
“To defend them”:
Guillén, “Federico en persona.”
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