Buildings in Granada

                                                       The Lorca House and other buildings

                                                                      In Granada

 

There’s an American children’s classic, written in the 1940s, called The Little House. It tells the story, with delightful and clever illustrations, of the eponymous dwelling, built in isolation in the countryside.

Artists' personalities: Freud, Lorca, Falla

Artists’ personalities: Thoughts on Freud, Lorca and Falla

One of the most notorious images of the 2016 US Presidential Election campaign is that of Donald Trump looming with menace over the back of Hillary Clinton in a televised debate. It projects a nasty archetype: woman as potential prey to a brutal man.

LORCA - CASA NATAL

Federico Garcia Lorca – Casa Natal

The life of Federico Garcia Lorca began only a short distance from where it ended. He was born just to the west of Granada and was killed and buried somewhere just to to the northeast of that city.

There was an ironic reason why he found himself, fatally, in the midst of one of the few successful Francoist uprisings in Andalucía in the summer of 1936. He returned to Granada from what he thought was the insecurity of Madrid on the verge of civil war, also to celebrate his and his father's name day. In Granada, he wrongly supposed, he would be safe among “his people”.

Spanish Renaissance Towns near Granada

A Little Tour round Spanish Renaissance Towns

Duende, according to the Spanish poet Garcia Lorca, is the mysterious, almost violent, force that animates the best of artistic performance, especially flamenco:

“Dark sounds….a mysterious force that everyone feels  and no philosopher has explained… the duende surges up, inside, from the soles of the feet.”