An Interview with Laura García Lorca
When I was in Granada, I had the privilege of interviewing Laura García Lorca, Federico’s niece. Born in 1953 in New York while her family was in exile from Franco’s fascist regime in Spain, Laura has worked as an actress, a writer, and now she is the Director of the Centro Federico García Lorca, which houses an extensive archive of his papers and manuscripts and puts on various cultural events. Below is a translated transcript of our conversation! (Translation performed in collaboration between online software and me, conversation edited for clarity.)
So my first question, I know you grew up in New York, until when? Until you were a teenager?
Until I was 13 years old. The summer of ’67 we moved back. My father retired from Columbia. After a lot of hesitation they decided to return to Spain, even though Franco was still living. My parents did not see themselves growing old in New York, so they decided to return, which was a very difficult decision and in some ways, perhaps not entirely the right one. I am the youngest of the three sisters. So, well, I was 13 years old and of course, I came with them. My mother was a Barnard professor and she already headed the Spanish literature department as well. And she continued working in Madrid in the Junior Year Abroad program, which several universities had in Miguel Angel Ocho. And well, my grandmother, who had also been a professor at Teachers College, had already been retired for many years, so we went back to Madrid.
How did you like New York? What was your experience there?
I did like it. Well, it is my city, it is my home, more than any other.
More than Granada?
Granada isn’t my home at all, no. In a way, I came to Granada a little forced, in quotation marks. And well, the project of opening La Huerta de San Vicente to the public [the Lorca family’s summer home in Granada] was something that, in principle, was not at all in my plans. That is to say, I never thought of devoting myself to working on my uncle’s life and work. It was something that my aunt Isabel García Lorca, the youngest of the four, asked me to do, and I felt a bit obliged to say yes. And already running the program of La Huerta, I realized that it didn’t make much sense that in Granada there was nothing else dedicated to Lorca than this small summer house where only small projects could be made, even by big names, but with a very, very limited space. And that’s where the idea of building this center came up, looking for a place to bring the archive that was in La Residencia de Estudiantes [in Madrid] until 1919.
So you never had the intention of dedicating your life to Lorca’s work.
It wasn’t something that I planned, no. But well, in the end it has given me a lot of satisfaction and displeasure.
What did you do before this job?
I didn’t finish my degree. I studied in Cambridge, England, but those were difficult years and I couldn’t finish my degree. I dedicated myself to theater for years. I worked as an assistant director, as a scriptwriter, as a…well, now it’s called continuity, I think. And as an actress I did theater in New York. I came back between ’80 and ’85 and I studied there with John Strasberg. And there I did off off off Broadway. And when I came to Spain I did some professional theater. I produced and acted in the first Sam Shepard play that was done in Spain. But I realized that I wasn’t good enough and I wasn’t looking forward to a future waiting for roles. Anyway, it was clear to me not to go on that way.
And well, of course, I had to work. So, I didn’t know where to start and then Condé Nast came to open Vogue España and through a friend they interviewed me and without having any experience in that field, they hired me, and I worked six or seven years starting at issue number zero until I decided to quit, because I didn’t see myself working in fashion all my life. And there I began to organize the papers of my grandfather Fernando de los Ríos; almost all the documents generated in the embassy and in exile, after the war, were at home, in boxes, and then I organized the archive that we deposited in La Residencia de Estudiantes. And I was working on a publishing project, a collection of literature for young people, when my aunt asked me to come to Granada to take care of La Huerta de San Vicente.
In Spain in general, but especially in Granada, has it been difficult to carry the name García Lorca?
Yes, it has been, especially in Granada. A bit incomprehensibly complicated. But, well the rewards when, despite the difficulties, one manages to take steps forward, such as the construction of this building, the project to bring the archives to Granada, well, that has its rewards, but everything has been absolutely difficult.
And in New York too, did the name García Lorca have the same effect?
Yes, always, everywhere it has been famous, but nowhere have I felt it as much of a burden or a weight as here. In other places it’s more joyful.
Nowadays in Spain the political situation is more stable and freer than when you first arrived. So I imagine that there is not as much risk of political censorship of Lorca’s work as there was then. But in the present day, do you have any lingering fears regarding Lorca’s work? Do you continue to worry about the way people read it or how people react to it?
I don’t think there is any danger of political censorship. I find it very difficult to imagine a situation where there would be censorship. I don’t think that could happen. Personal readings are personal. I mean that Lorca is so accessible, all his work is so available, his history, the documents accumulated throughout his life, which my family has collected since 1936 until today and which is growing, his fame, his recognition is only growing. And within his readers, his public, there is everything, of course. And it doesn’t worry me at all. I don’t think Lorca needs any kind of defense. In fact, he always speaks interesting, new, revealing, insightful things, and there will always be clumsy, biased, curses, manhandled readings, there will always be everything. Because yes, Lorca also has that wonder and that reality, which is a little bit that everybody thinks that he is very present and that his opinion counts. And yes, it does count. And really, I think that the work of making the work available to the public is then anyone’s responsibility, wherever they take it.
Is there any representation of his life and work as in a movie or TV series that you like?
No, not really. I think there is still a lot to do in that area. Interesting things have been done, but I think that in terms of movies, series, there is still a lot to do.
I’ve seen an episode of El Ministerio del Tiempo [Spanish TV series] that focuses on Lorca’s poem “Fábula y rueda de los tres amigos” as a premonition of his death. And I found that idea very interesting. And I think a lot about the representations of his death and his status as a martyr. And I don’t know if you have any thoughts about that idea of Lorca as a martyr, like the way we think about his death.
I am not sure about the idea of the premonition his death. I believe that all the great authors speak of death and it is something that is very present. So, we cannot know if a person has a premonition, no, it is simply that human nature and fragility are present.
And as for Lorca as a martyr, it is clear that he represents that place in many minds. And of course, as a victim of the war, a victim of the brutal mass murder that Francoism brought about, well, of course, he is the luminous figure that stands out above all, who like all the others must have died, but hurt people especially. But it does not cease to represent the deaths of all the others. Then there is the tendency of mythification. But it is difficult not to do that, isn’t it? He is the great poet who represents all the victims. The luminous being, the loved one, who has contributed so much to so many people and who was in the prime of his life. So, yes, it is natural that he occupies such a luminous place.
And do you think the fact that we don’t know exactly where his body is has contributed to the mythology of his death?
I don’t think so. I think it just underscores the fact that he represents all victims. In that sense, we can’t single him out. For us, why we don’t think it’s important to recover his remains, is because as long as he’s mixed in with everybody else, he will represent everybody else. As long as he is there, he will be a reminder of all the victims and he’s just one more victim. He is recognized in the whole world every day. But it’s a guarantee that that place is maintained as a place of memory for everyone.
And we also want to spare ourselves from the spectacle, from the morbidity, of finding his bones.
I went to the concert in Fuente Vaqueros last week [see blog post here]. I know you were there too. And I found the President of the Diputación’s speech very interesting, the one he gave before presenting the award to the artists. In his speech he said that what happened to Lorca makes us think about what else we can do now. That we need to use Lorca’s legacy to create a more just world. In what sense do you think we can do something like that, use Lorca’s legacy to create a better world?
Well, he always spoke of discrimination, of the importance of respecting the other, the marginalized, whether by poverty, race, sexual identity, gender. In short, in all areas, he defended the respect and freedom of others. And undoubtedly, there is still a long way to go, a long way.
Do you think he was primarily a political artist?
Primarily? I don’t think so. I think he was primarily an artist who, like all artists, has a part that can be read politically. And undoubtedly his art has that part, especially in the sense of denouncing injustice, inequality, discrimination. And that is throughout his work. But there are many other things, too.
And his political position was very clear. That is to say, he did not want to join any party, but he clearly identified with the left, with a progressive discourse, which was the one represented by the Republic and, in short, he was part of the progressive project. I think his tendencies were very clear.
Do you have a work by Lorca that you like more than the others?
A favorite? Well, I really like El diván del Tamarit, as poetry. I also love Doña Rosita la soltera.
