"To burn with desire and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring on ourselves."
Federico García Lorca
He was murdered by a fascist firing squad, but Federico García Lorca had already written: "A dead man in Spain is more alive than a dead man anywhere else in the world." His plays and poetry have brought him posthumous fame in the Theatre world, but the mystery surrounding his demise remains. Lorca was obsessed by death and had premonitions about his end.
He wrote the plays BLOOD WEDDING (1933), and THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA (1936), both considered classics today.
From 1925 to 1928, he had a confusing relationship with Salvador Dalí. It was a friendship with a strong mutual passion. Something happened between them. Their letters show that something sexual was going on. Their friendship became more intimate and moved to a physical level, but Dalí just couldn't consummate it. Considering his many weird hang-ups, it's not surprising.
Lorca was vexed by depression caused by anguish over his ‘queerness'. He felt he was trapped between the persona of a successful writer in public, and his tortured, authentic self, which he kept private. Traditional Catholicism caused Lorca to hide his gayness, yet many of his poems speak of secret desires.
He was noted for his generosity and generosity of spirit, and for his defense of the marginalized, especially women, Blacks, and queer folks.
Francisco Franco's fascist dictatorship (1939-1975) made homosexuality illegal. Gay men like Lorca were sent to prison camps or were locked up in mental hospitals. Lesbian couples would double date with gay male couples, and they created a coded language where they referred to themselves in public as "libreras" (booksellers). This sort of repression lasted until Franco finally died in 1975. Thousands of political dissidents and other prisoners were pardoned a year later, but gay Spaniards were still jailed for being "social dangers" until 1979. More than 4,000 people were locked up for being gay during the Franco years. The Fascists were more than willing to erase and deny LGBTQ history.
Photo with Salvador Dalí
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