granada la bella
where anything is possible
THE (POSTHUMOUS) LIFE, TIMES AND WORKS
OF FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA: PART 1
(18 AUGUST 1936 - 20 NOVEMBER 1975)
With his death, the voice of the poet was silenced – in Spain at least. In the rest of the world his fame grew and he had become a modern classic of world literature by the 1950s for works like The Gypsy Ballad Book, Poet in New York, Blood Wedding, Yerma, and The House of Bernarda Alba.
LORCA - a modern classic of world literature, while just beginning to emerge out of an imposed obscurity in Spain
1930s & 1940s
October 1936
H.G.Wells, in the name of the International PEN Club London, sends a telegram to the Franco regime, asking for confirmation of thewell-being and whereabouts of the poet
In the same months, Antonio Machado, publishes his poem El crimen fue en Granada
July 1937
Homage at the Second International Congress of Writers in Valencia
April 1939
Defeat of the Republic; end of Civil War.
27 May 1939
in a Times Literary Supplement review of Poems translated by Stephen Spender and J.L. Gili: “Everyone probably now agrees that he was one of the greatest poets of this century”.
June 1940
Poeta en Nueva York published in Mexico
July – October
Divan del Tamarit published in New York
August
Family arrive in New York, where his father, Federico García Rodríguez will die, on 30 September 1946.
1942
His brother Paco marries Laura de los Ríos, daughter of Fernando de los Ríos († 31 May 1949 in New York).
1945
The first performance of La casa de Bernarda Alba put on by Margarita Xirgú (picture right) in Buenos Aires
1948
French Lorca scholar Claude Couffon begins his investigations; the hostile reaction to an article he writes for Figaro, published 18.8.51, prompts him to publish a follow-up two years later.
Spain excluded from Marshall Aid
1949
British writer Gerald Brennan undertakes an unsuccessful search for Lorca's grave
1950s
1950:
La casa de Bernarda Alba: the first of his plays to be produced in post-Republic Spain.
August 1951
family return to Spain to their flat in Madrid
Septemper 1953
Madrid Pact: American military bases in exchange for economic and military aid
Berlanga & Bardem’s film Bienvenido Mr Marshall (see image opposite)
1955-6
Agustín Penón spends time in Granada, researching the death of the poet.
December 1955
Spain allowed to join UNO.
April 1956
Manuel Fernández-Montesinos (Lorca's nephew) is charged with spreading illegal propaganda, a leaflet expressing solidarity with a group of students arrested after a confrontation with a group of armed Falangists in Feb 56. In January 1957 he is released from prison and later that year (Oct) packed off to Germany to continue his studies (and keep him out of trouble).
9 April 1958
His mother Vicenta Lorca dies
December 1959
Eisenhower meets Franco in Madrid
1960s & 1970s
1962
Recopilation of Claude Couffon articles published; in Spanish, 1964. (Picture right: Couffon and wife in Víznar.)
Spain applies to European Economic Community (EEC) to start negotiations for association.
10 October
José Tamayo directs the first performance of Bodas de Sangre in Spain after the poet’s death. Decorations by José Caballero.
1965
Ian Gibson starts research for a thesis on Lorca’s poetry and is sidetracked by the question of his death.
1967
Marie Laffranque. Les idées esthétiques de FGL, published in Paris.
13-16 May 1968
Homage to Lorca at the University of Granada: featuring Juan de Loxa; Rafael Guillén, Elena Martín Vivaldi
1970
EEC offers preferential status to Spain.
1971
Ian Gibson. La represión nacionalista de Granada en 1936 y la muerte de FGL, published in Paris.
1972:
UNESCO homage to Lorca in Paris
1975
The Huerta de San Vicente is threatened with demolition by a city plan that plans a road through it. Francisco García Lorca sends telegram of protest to the Mayor of Granada. There is already talk of converting it into a museum.
1 May
Paco (Francisco) dies in Madrid.
The Planeta publishing house awards the prize “espejo de España” to José Luis Vila-San-Juan for his book García Lorca asesinado: todo la verdad. (Brenan, Couffon, Lafranque and Gibson remain banned)
March - April
The local newspaper Ideal publishes interviews with Brennan, Angelina Cordobilla, Vila-San-Juan and Antonia Rodrigo under the title “conversations around the death of García Lorca”
7 October
La Peña de Realejo decide to pay tribute to FGL.
20 November
Franco dies
For four decades or so, his name was virtually taboo in Franco’s Spain. But little by little, from the 1960s, his place in the country’s literature and history was re-asserted. Facts that had been hidden were revealed, previously unpublished works were made known, and unperformed plays were put on.
