Monday, October 10, 2016

Entrevista a Federico García Lorca

1 comment:

  1. It's an imaginary interview with Federico Garcia Lorca, one of the best Spanish poets of the XX century, a member of the so-called Generation of 27, the second generation of major writers, artists, and intellectuals that came out of Spain after the debacle of the Spanish-American War, when a whole generation (the generation of 98)of the most talented and learned young men (and women) searched deeply for the reasons for the decline of the Spanish nation. The result was the greatest renaissance in the arts, literature, and philosophy since the Golden Age of Spanish Civilization. Lorca fell victim to a firing squad during the Spanish Civil War. One of thousands of crimes committed by both sides during the horrible war that costed almost one million lives (in a nation of 30 million). It was believed that his murder was a political crime, but now there's speculation that it may have been as much because of his condition (as he called it) of being a homosexual. He was actually personal friends with members of both sides, and would regularly dine with one of the philosophical leaders of the "Falange." Civil wars are notorious for the extreme levels of cruelty, and hate, and the Spanish Civil War was among the worst in history. In his book "One Million Dead" Jose Maria Gironella tells of the case where one small town had changed hands so many times that there was no one left to execute (all males who were not participating in the struggle had already been killed). One side retook the town, and found no one left to execute, so they dug up corpses previously murdered and shot them again. On another occasion members of the Republican (left aligned with Russia) played soccer with the skull of a priest whom they had previously murdered. The destruction of churches and rape of nuns happened on more than one occasion. In this atmosphere of intense hate and violence committed by both sides the poet Lorca was taken from his home by a group of nationalist sympathizers one night and shot by a firing squad. His body has never been found. It is now thought that it may have been a crime of homophobia as much as that of political fanaticism. Gabe Meruelo.

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