70
PARTISAN REVIEW
war, and no little care was taken to present that portrait as evidence of a
deliberated Fascist murder. Little time was lost in preparing the unseen
corpse of the poet for public celebration in the name of Loyalist Spain. I
quote from the preface of Mr. A.
L.
Lloyd's translation of Lorca's
Llanro
por Ignacio Sanchez Mejias:
"Surely Lorca must have remembered this scene [a scene of a
lamb being devoured by a family of black pigs] on that blazing day
in August, 1936, when he, the finest and proudest poet in Spain, was
dragged through the walled streets of Granada to face the Fascist
firing squad."
Two brief years later than the publication date of Mr. Lloyd's transla·
tion, one may find in Mr.
R.
M. Nadal's introduction to the Spender·Gili
translation of Lorca's Poems, the following paragraph:
"In the first days of strife, some Falangistas,
intimat~
friends and
admirers of his work, invited him to their house as a protection
against the possible excesses of the moment. Accounts received from
trustworthy sources coincide in stating that, taking advantage of the
temporary absence of his friends, an armed group whose political
filiations, if any, cannot at present be established entered the house,
dragged Lorca away and assassinated him brutally and cowardly
in
the outskirts of Granada."
Shall we conclude that Mr. Lloyd, like an overwrought journalist
reporting the scene of murder, fixed guilt so as to make his story consistent
with a preconceived editorial policy?- Is Mr. Nadal pro·Fascist, pro–
Anarchist or pro·Liberal in his convictions? These difficult questions can·
not, of course, be answered without further knowledge of the true facts and
their meaning, but the violence of the crime and the contradictions in the
story of its action point toward the building of a strong and persistent
legend. The true fable rising from the heat of conflict within the legend is
the fable of the poet and his politically minded critics and editors. His
first concern was a perception of reality however and wherever he may
have found it, and their concern was the political use to which his poetry
may be applied. Lorca's case recalls to mind the ancient story of the
phoenix and his survival should be taken as a warning to those writers
who expect non·political rewards for political action.
It has been generally conceded that Lorca's verse cannot be identified
with the cause of either side in the Spanish civil war. Legend says, and
here my authority is Mr. Nadal, that Lorca cut short all inquiries from
both Left and Right by replying, "I am an anarchist, communist, liber·
tarian, Catholic, traditionalist and monarchist." And legend continues,
speaking of his love for Andalusian Spain, of his revival of its pastoral
ballads, of his great confidence and delight in the Spanish language for
its own sake, a charm so complete, so compelling that during his visit to
New York in 1929, his ignorance of English was kept immobile and intact.
If
his
Oda Al Rey De Harlem
and his
Oda A Whitman
seem to create
a new perspective in our recognition of an American place and name, its
