LorcaÊs death and writing in the Spanish Civil War
George Stanbury
Federico García Lorca is widely regarded as one of SpainÊs best authors, producing some of the finest poetry and plays written in the Spanish language. While his life was vastly influential upon the world of literature, his savage murder by Fascists shocked Spanish society. The sense of grief and anger felt towards Franco and the Falange was, perhaps, at its most palpable amongst SpainÊs literary community, for whom the death of Lorca was a tragedy and an attack on their artistic freedoms. Although many writers remained distinctly apolitical during the war, others portrayed LorcaÊs death as the ultimate symbol of a country suffering from Nationalist brutality as well as demonstrating anguish at the death of a great contemporary and friend. The brutal circumstances of LorcaÊs death allowed him to become an anti-Fascist martyr, through his portrayal as both exalted and victimized. Lorca was executed without trial on the 19 th of August 1936 by GranadaÊs Escuadra Negra in the village of Viznar, reportedly with three other men. The reasons for his murder are uncertain, although it is most likely that his homosexuality and his left-wing beliefs caused his savage slaughter. He was buried in a mass grave, and, to this day, his remains have never been found. Pablo Neruda, one of LorcaÊs closest friends at the time of his death, wrote in his autobiography, Confieso Que He Vivido, that ÂLorca no fue fusilado; fue asesinado. ... De todo los poetas de España era el más amado.Ê This praise elevates Lorca amongst the literary elite, while the use of superlative gives him an almost legendary status. In Antonio MachadoÊs ÂEl Crimen fue en GranadaÊ, Lorca Âse le vio, caminando... por una calle largaÊ, evoking parallels with JesusÊ crucifixion, as he is marched out of Jerusalem, while the use of the passive 1 accentuates LorcaÊs isolation and vulnerability. These parallels continue when Lorca is told that Âni Dios te salvaÊ, much in the same way Jesus was derided by Roman soldiers shortly before his death. This is a thought echoed in Luis Hurtado ˘lvarezÊs article ÂA la España imperial le han asesinado su mejor poetaÊ, a protest piece published in the Falangist journal Unidad , in which he wrote: In NerudaÊs ÂExplico Algunas CosasÊ, Lorca is remembered with Âla luz de junio ahogaba flores en [su] bocaÊ. The flowers in his mouth show his symbiotic relationship with the earth, symbolically through his rural upbringing, and literally through his death and subsequent burial. Furthermore, this deeply visual, yet surreal image of light blurring NerudaÊs visions further places Lorca on a pedestal as he almost transcends mortality, perhaps to eternal remembrance through his own literature and the memories of others. While this deification of Lorca accentuates his purity and innocence, the cowardice behind the brutality of the Nationalists is further explored to reinforce the contrast between the two, as well as to rally against the Nationalist cause. In ÂA un Poeta Muerto (F.G.L)Ê, Luis Cernuda observes that Âsombras son estos hombresÊ. The subordination of Âestos hombresÊ shows the bitter contempt with which LorcaÊs killers are held, which when combined with their likening to shadows creates the image of a group of people, who resort to brutality as they are unable to assert Sin embargo no puedo resignarme a creer que has muerto; tú no puedes morir. La Falange te espera; y su bienvenida es bíblica.
1 Although Machado has avoided the passive voice in Spanish, this construction is equivalent to the passive voice in English.
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