Montage on a letter from Federico García Lorca to his father. The current whereabouts of the manuscript are unknown. Copy in the Ian Gibson archive.Lorca Foundation Archive
Few characters in Spanish history have been as studied, quoted, dissected, but also misunderstood and used, as Federico García Lorca (Fuente Vaqueros, 1898-Granada, 1936), undoubtedly the most renowned and remembered writer of the Silver Age. Although it is paradoxical that the great power of his literary genius and his tragic and symbolic death have made him a victim of simplistic clichés and misunderstandings that have carved in marble the humanity and carnality of the most influential and popular poet of Spanish literature in the 20th century.
Separating the man from the myth has been the focus of intense work by cultural journalist Víctor Fernández, author for years of volumes such as De viva voz. Conferences and Speeches (DeBolsillo), which gathers all the public interventions and talks by Lorca, Dear Salvador, Dear Lorquito (Elba) which collects his epistolary relationship with Dalí, or Word of Lorca (Malpaso), where he compiles the 133 interviews, a third of them unpublished, that the poet gave to different media. Now he takes a step further in this endeavor through the correspondence Don't Forget to Write. The Lorca Family in their Letters (Akal), a correspondence full of unpublished letters that portrays the intimate and loving relationship between the poet and his parents and siblings and contains several keys to the life and work of Federico.
"Reading these letters is like entering the home of the García Lorca family and listening to them talk. Like looking through the keyhole and witnessing, as passive spectators, a relationship full of affection and closeness, but also of reproaches, anger, and frustrations, like in any family," explains Fernández. "Before our most intimate ones, there is no mask or pretense that matters, that's why here is the most human Federico, the man behind the myth, who before being a brilliant writer was a son and a brother," emphasizes the researcher who has been collecting materials from various family and private archives for years, such as those of the Hispanists Ian Gibson and Christopher Maurer.
The first letters, starting in the 1910s, are relatively brief, simple, and direct, filled with family references and everyday details. In them, among affectionate displays of teenage affection, Lorca informs his parents and siblings about the study trips undertaken with the professor Martín Domínguez Berrueta to the cities of Castilla, León, and Galicia. These wanderings, from which his first book, Impressions and Landscapes (1918), emerged, were fundamental in the poet's life as they inclined him towards literature over music, his first vocation, and included encounters with key figures such as Antonio Machado and Miguel de Unamuno, whom Lorca exalts giving himself importance.
A vital and epistolary turning point is his arrival in Madrid in 1919 under the pretext of continuing his studies, but with the firm purpose of pursuing a literary career that his mother Vicenta was the great promoter and confidante of. "A cultured and highly sensitive teacher, the mother was the first reader of the young Lorca, who discovers the numerous manuscripts and sheets he leaves at home and the first one to worry about where and how he will publish," points out Fernández. In this regard, some of the most revealing unpublished letters are a couple sent in 1921 by Vicenta to the editor Gabriel García Maroto, printer of the Book of Poems by Lorca arranging payments and the distribution of this book financed by the family.
Another revealing letter from 1926 in which, faced with Lorca's frustration over the unfulfilled promises of the "shameless fox Martínez Sierra" who kept stalling to stage The Shoemaker's Prodigious Wife or Mariana Pineda, she tells him to contact Margarita Xirgú, passing through Granada, in a letter where she also writes to her son: "I suppose you won't neglect the publication of your books, which is already a bit overdue and you are harming yourself [...] that is a foolishness that bothers you; because without realizing it, you get tired of your things and end up not liking anything and that's where your apathy and neglect come from."
There are many references from parents about the poet's indolence, both in studies and in his literary work. In this regard, the roles of his parents are naturally divided. Federico García Rodríguez is a well-to-do farmer and more stern who wants his son to pursue a career, focus on finishing Law, and forget his artistic aspirations. The mother, on the other hand, acts as a mediator between their temperaments and desires. One of the fundamental documents in the volume is an unpublished letter from Federico to his father dated April 10, 1920 in which the writer unfolds all his eloquence to convince his father not to force him to return to the family home.
"I received a letter from you in a serious and discreet tone, and in a serious and discreet tone, I also reply," begins the letter from Federico, before adding his reasons. "I tell you and I solemnly promise you that when a man sets himself on his path, neither wolves nor dogs can make him turn back. [...] I am on my path, dad, don't make me look back! [...] What am I doing now in Granada? Listening to a lot of nonsense, many arguments, many envies and many dirty tricks (this naturally only happens to men with talent). And it's not that I care, because thank God I am far above, but it is very annoying, very annoying."
"Unfortunately, the letter that Francisco sent to his son is not preserved or has not been made public, but we can assume the terms of the ultimatum," Fernández argues. However, in that long letter, Federico continues arguing that the Residencia de Estudiantes "is not a hotel" before bringing out all the artillery. "I beg you from the bottom of my heart to leave me here until the end of the school year and then I will leave with my books published and the clear conscience of having broken swords fighting against the Philistines to defend and protect Pure Art, True Art. You can no longer change me. I was born a poet and artist like someone born lame, blind, handsome. Leave my wings in their place, and I assure you that I will fly well."
"I, dearest dad, I am a responsible man! Have I ever caused you any trouble? Haven't I always listened to you? Answer me as I have answered you, and finally, I beg you from the bottom of my heart to read the letter carefully and reflect. Also, think that I am not an object that belongs to you and that you love very much; think that I have my own life, resolution, and this back and forth is harmful and not proper. We must be bold and brave. Mediocrity and the middle ground are fatal. Do not consult these matters with lawyer friends, doctors, veterinarians, etc. - mediocre and unpleasant people - but with mom and the kids. I think I am right. You know that your son loves you from the bottom of his heart, Federico."
Shortly after, probably feeling uneasy, he writes to his mother: "Dearest mom: I have written a letter to dad giving him my valid reasons to convince him to let me stay here. You will see if I am right or not. Going to Granada to be at Café Alameda and hear (because you know this and can imagine it) a lot of nonsense is unbearable given the serious, good, and beneficial life I lead here. Don't be upset, silly, with me for saying that writing letters is a drag."
More indulgent, Vicenta sprinkles her letters with concerns about health, suspicions about her son's well-being, and well-intentioned reproaches: "We are so happy that you are well and happy, but I fear that it is an exaggeration on your part, as without bread and with worries about your work, you cannot be very happy. [...] In any case, have peace of mind, I trust that with God's help, you will successfully achieve all your desires." "We, who know the bohemian life Lorca led, can only smirk when reading constant requests for money for 'books and tuition,' promises to be 'locked in my room' and 'studying and working,' or his initially exaggerated descriptions of the interest his work generated in figures like Juan Ramón Jiménez 'who earnestly asked me to give him my poems to read to his wife,'" Fernández recounts.
"The father was always very harsh, very hurt that his son did not have a career like his brother Francisco, who was a prestigious diplomat and excelled academically. That's why Lorca had this interest in showing that what he was doing was serious literary work, not just a pastime, the four articles he wrote for the press. And obviously, he was not wrong because today we still talk about him and his work."
As we know, Lorca was able to develop his career in Madrid, which took off meteorically. Thus, among many kisses and hugs, requests for money (that "thorny issue"), clothes, and complaints about not writing enough - "you are shameless for not writing to me, especially Paquito and the girls [...] who are uncaring and don't remember me," writes Lorca; "Dad and mom are in a terrible mood with this excessive stubbornness of not even writing a few words," his brother reproaches - the poet's successes begin to filter through the letters. "Dear Federico: 'Among all the congratulations you receive for your triumph, this will be the humblest, but also one of the most sincere'; and although belated, we would have liked to have had that [illegible] which, along with our affections, would have made simultaneous the grand celebration of your spirit with our satisfaction and joy," they write in 1927, after the triumphant premiere of Mariana Pineda in Barcelona, in a letter signed by many cousins, uncles, and other relatives.
Years later, from Buenos Aires, where over a hundred performances of Blood Wedding were held, he tells them: "The success exceeded all expectations. It was an unforgettable celebration. All Spaniards were moved." These over 200 letters also reveal other myths woven around the poet's figure.
For example, Fernández emphasizes "the non-existent rupture of his relationship with Dalí, reflected in a humorous letter from the mother in 1930 scolding him for 'being so cheeky' after the painter, expelled from the family home, wrote to the García Lorca family demanding money owed to him by their son. Federico wrote to Salvador praising him for 'the scam you were going to pull on my family.' [...] I found out late, otherwise, I would have sent you the money."