.
When on Whitsunday 23 May 1627 a sixty-five year old Luis de Góngora died at Córdoba, it appeared that his extensive oeuvre of mainly poetry was to die with him. Having left a significant school of poets behind - one of the most prominent the Granadine poet Pedro Soto de Rojas - don Luis was to be tragically remembered and honoured by Lope de Vega as the "única luz que no dejó segunda". In "A la muerte de don Luis de Góngora" Lope for once revels in the use of "palabras cultas", often used as clichés.
Despierta, O Betis, la dormida plata
y, coronado de ciprés, inunda
la docta patria, en Sénecas fecunda,
todo el cristal en lágrimas desata;
repite soledades, y dilata
por campos de dolor vena profunda,
única luz, que no dejó segunda;
al polifemo ingenio Atropos mata.
Góñgora ya la parte restituye
mortal al tiempo, ya la culta lira
en cláusula final la voz incluye.
Ya muere y vive: que esta sacra pira
tan inmortal honor le constituye
que nace fénix donde cisne expira.
The poem is larded with Gongoresque imagery, often ridiculed by Lope as the Guadalquivir which floods Andalucía, and the "fénix" (Lope) which is born out of the death of "el cisne" (don Luis). What
prima facie appears to be an elegy (1) is in reality an attack on all those who had tried and failed to imitate the Cordovan master, imitation itself being an accepted practice though in the 17th century, even a sign of literacy. With "four-thousand poets on every street corner of Madrid" (according to Francisco de Quevedo) every text surely was to become the continuation of another one. The same Quevedo was to ridicule the Cordovan in his well known "La Culta Latiniparla" (1628), in which he suggests that the use of "palabras cultas" derives from homosexuality. (Quién quiere ser culto en sólo un día etc.") After that spain entered a period during which the Cordovan's poetry was only to collect dust.
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| Don Luis, near the spot where he died in on 23 May 1627, Plaza de la Trinidad. |
In the late nineteenth century, well before the Tercentenary of Góngora's death in 1927, the Cordovan's works were to be rediscovered. Spanish literature again blossemed after a long decay. Alfonso Reyes, for instance, studied Góngora's oeuvre seriously around the turn to the twentieth century, as did many (now) unknown members of
tertulias: groups of artistic persons from all sorts of backgrounds who met up in cafés and private homes. However, not everyone was to appreciate Góngora as much as the earlier mentioned, often anonymous pioneers. For instance, H. Butler Clarke states in his
Spanish Handbook (An Elementary Handbook):
[Góngora's] Panagyric of the Duke of Lerma, his Fable of Polyphemus,and his Soledades are lasting memomorials of the depth to which a really good poet can sink once his judgement has been thoroughly perverted. So intricate and obscure are they that, though received with applause by a select circle of initiated, they were found incomprehensible even by the most cultivated; learned commentators at once sat to work to explain the writings of the great master to his admiring disciples. (1893, 126)
In 1925 Lorca was to obtain access to Góngora's obscure world of rose-colored allusions with the aide of the edition of the
Obras Poéticas published in New york in 1921 by the Hispanic Society of America, far before the Tercentenary was on anyone's mind. However, even this limited access, somewhat euphemistically described by Dámaso Alonso as the "doubtful presence of gongorine influences in Lorca's oeuvre",(Lorca,
OC, Tomo V, 1978, 763)(2) was questioned by many critics for the best part of the twentieth century as will be discussed shortly. Alonso's use of the noun "influence" had not yet become the Cultism which is was to become later on that century.
.
The "Generation of 1927" (second from left Lorca, second from right Alonso, white coat Guillén).
.
The revival of Góngora's oeuvre was not solely to derive from the "Generation of 1927" (picture) or from the many
tertulias by which it was surrounded. Dámaso Alonso already studied Góngora in detail in the early 1920s, reading the old books written by Pellicer and Salcedo Coronel. One of the first mentionings of interest amongst the others of the "Generation of 1927" derives from April 1926. During a
tertulia in a café in Madrid the issue of the Tercentenary is put on the table by Gerardo Diego: "Hay que hacer algo." (
Lola, nr 1, December 1927). Lorca had discussed the same issue already in 1925 with Salinas and Guillén, predominantly because of the fact that Guillén had just received a doctorate after studying the Cordovan's works in detail.
As so many Spanish teenagers, Lorca had been introduced to Góngora's oeuvre in the "Instituto", a fact which came to light in his
Impresiones y paisajes (1918): "Los altos álamos de cascabeles que cantó Góngora rumorean gratamente su tiempo." (Chapter "La Montaña"). Much later, on 16 February 1926, after a year of (private) literary studies, Lorca read his paper "La imagen poética en don Luis de Góngora" in Granada. During the thirties he would again use his knowledge of Góngora's oeuvre to write new (much, more personal and well digested) "gongorine" poetry. It appears that Lorca used his knowledge of the Cordovan's works at any opportune moment (just like Alonso), not only in 1927, as will be discussed shortly.
The existence of any possibility of a relationship between Lorca and Góngora was denied as late as 1962 by Elsa Dehennin (1932-2009):
L'on ne saurait donc, en aucun cas, parler d'une influence gongorique sur Lorca, [. . .] And:
Lorca est, en effet, incapable de se nourrir de littérature. Le contact permanent avec le réel, son réel, lui est indispensable. (1962, 115 & 142). And:
Lorca n'a pas songé à soumettre Góngora a une deuxième lecture (1962, 108).
Here Dehennin refers to Lorca's speech on Góngora in which he states: "A Góngora no se puede entender de ninguna manera en la primera lectura. No hay que leerlo, hay que estudiarlo."
A decade later Joseph Velasco comes to different findings, stating that some imitative elements are present in Lorca's oeuvre, but that: "[. . .] relativement peu nombreuses [exemples] embellissent l'oeuvre poétique de Lorca." (1979, 48 & 83)
Nine years later Miguel García-Posada went a big step further: "[...] los préstamos no son escasos, aunque estén siempre muy elaborados." (1988, 43)
Clearly the possibility of an intertextual relationship was slowly but surely becoming a reality, the year 1927 not being the only pretext for such research to be performed, and certainly not the reason for this phenomenon to exist. Although Lorca was part of the "1927 Celebrations", he did not participate whole-heartedly for reasons which will be discussed in a moment.
Lorca's early start of the Tercentenary (he wrote the speech on Góngora in late 1925 and early 1926 after lengthy studies in Madrid)was the result of events which took place in 1925: Rafael Alberti and Gerardo Diego had received National Literary Prizes for their works Marinero en tierra and Versos humanos. Because of this succes of his fellow members of the "Generation", Lorca's thoughts wandered into the same direction, also because of early recognition of his talents and encouragement received by Juan Ramón Jiménez and Fernando de los Ríos. Temporarily Góngora was to become Lorca's source of inspiration, perhaps not the only one, but still a significant one.
He had written two booklets (printed with his father's money) which had not sold. His Poema de cante jondo was still unpublished because no publisher could be found, let alone an institution that was going to award him for his "Complete Works". However, for quite some time already Lorca had a wonderful, commercially-viable idea of a "Romancero gitano" on his desk, an idea from which he would distance himself few years later after having been nicknamed "the primitive, savage gypsy poet from the South" by an unknown, but growing group of followers.
In 1924 Lorca had only completed five of the eighteen romances which were to become part of the end product:
Burla de don Pedro a caballo (completed on 28 December 1921), Romance de la luna, luna (July-October 1923), Romance Sonámbulo (September 1923), Romance de la pena negra (30July 1924) and La monja gitana (20 August 1924).
After studying Góngora's oeuvre in 1925, Lorca took up his shelved Ballad Book in late 1926 and in early 1927. Gongorine peculiarities are very noticeable in most of the romances written during this period. "Preciosa y el aire", for instance, is dedicated to Dámaso Alonso because of neogongorine imagery "a la Lorca": "anfibio sendero" and "de cristales y laureles". Also "Reyerta", "Muerto de amor" and in particular "San Rafael" remind of Góngora. The last ballad abounds in "bimembración simetral", one of Góngora's strong points in his ever immaculate sonnets. Here Lorca mirrors the City of Córdoba in the Guadalquivir river: "Blanda Córdoba de juncos./Córdoba de arquitectura."
Even the horse-driven coaches, which usually stand alongside the Mezquita (in Calle de Torrijos), are mirrored in the same river through the peculiarly-shaped pillars of the Roman bridge: "Coches que el Guadalquivir/tiende en su cristal maduro."
One of the last romances written, "Muerto de amor", was a contribution to the Litoral magazine dedicated to Góngora in October 1927, an edition which was to contain a collection of poetry written by several poets, even a musical fragment by Manuel de Falla. Lorca was forced to contribute, because he had not attended the celebrations in Madrid on 23 May 1927, nor had he contributed text to the Gaceta literaria of 1 June of that year, dedicated to the Cordovan. Instead Diego had put a somewhat pathetic "Romance apócrifo de D. Luis a caballo" on the front page, signed with the name Lorca, who took the joke well.
¿Quiénes son los tres serranos?
--Son tres flamencos de Flandes
que instalaron un semáforo
para dar órdenes falsas
a los vientos y a los barcos. (3)
Loss of interest regarding the doctrines of the "terrible teacher of poetry" as some called Góngora, as well as a failed attempt (as so many before) to imitate his "Soledades" through a personal "Soledad insegura" à la Lorca, were the reasons not to participate in anything. In 1927 he deliberately distanced himself from the "Grupo Góngora". In a letter to Guillén (picture), written in May 1927, he states:
Comprendo que estoy muy ligado con otros poetas y sería terrible mi voz. ¡Pero qué voz tan pura y poética! ¡Ay!, querido Jorge, vamos por dos caminos falsos: uno que va al romantícismo y otro que va a la piel de culebra y la cigarra vacia. ¡Ay! ¡Cuánta trampa! Es triste, pero tengo que callar. Hablar sería un escándalo. (OC, 1957, LV)
.
It appears that Lorca's pilgrimage, which commenced and finished early, was a rather private one, undertaken solely for opportunistic reasons (used in a positive sense) mentioned earlier. Alberti, who had written an excellent "Third Solitude", had again produced good, finished text at an earlier stage than Lorca. His "Solitude" (larded with hyperbaton) was printed on the opening pages of the special edition of Litoral:
Celosas ninfas, dulces ya, -- los brazos,
pórtico y diadema retorcidos --
bailadores guirnaldas
--que a los infantes lazos
de sus finas guedejas esmeraldas
penden el son y vuelo
de sus libres limones atrevidos,
el campo esmerilado o combo cielo
de las lisas espaldas,
la pierna, que viajara,
dispara la cadera
y bebe de los pies el raudo yelo--,
al caminante--las agrestes voces
su círculo estrechando--
aprisionan, unisonas, girando,
fieles al coro, lentas o veloces. (Part X, 8-9)
Lorca, being well aware of Alberti's progress, made the right decision to forget his own "Soledad insegura" and contribute "Muerto de amor" instead. This romance is situated near the "Abadía del Sacromonte" alongside the Darro river east of Granada. Although today only six crosses adorn the Calle Siete Cuestas leading up to the "Abadía" (the seventh cross may have been carried by Christ) they do remind of the number seven used by Lorca in this romance:
Siete gritos, siete sangres,
siete adormideras dobles,
quebraron opacas lunas,
en los oscuros salones.
[...] Y el cielo daba portazos
al brusco rumor del bosque,
mientras clamaban las luces
en los altos corredores. (final lines)
The "altos corredores" clearly imagine the trails which cover the Sacromonte, while an earlier fragment (which described the Alhambra) has been depicted by several critics as to have been inspired on Góngora's "De la toma de Larache".
Lorca:
Ajo de agónica plata
la luna menguante, pone
cabelleras amarillas
a las amarillas torres
Góngora:
La fuerza que infestando las ajenas
Argentó luna de menguante plata
Lorca's enthousiasm, regarding Góngora's oeuvre mainly appears in writing during late 1925 and the whole year 1926, to be revived much later, for totally different reasons, in the thirties, when he wrote his
Sonetos del amor oscuro and
LLanto por Ignacio Sánchez Mejías. Although Lorca would distance himself completely from the Tercentenary in the year in which his "Romancero gitano" was published, 1928 (and even distanced himself from the gypsies), the early interest in Góngora's oeuvre aided him in completing this very successful book, which was to (temporarily) overshadow the ones written by his poet friends.
The Quatrocentenary of Góngora's death is now only 17 years away. It is unlikely that a new generation of poets will rise to revive the memory of don Luis. Times have changed, and writers may have become less indealistic and more materialistic. (The quatrocentenary of the creation of
Las Soledades is nearby though: 1612-2012.) Furthermore, don Luis oeuvre has been fully published and fairly well interpreted, so a revival will not be required. Imitation is also unlikely, because the sheer magnitude of don Luis' oeuvre will satisfy everyone. Maybe the discovery of a third "Solitude" will set the world on fire?
It is very likely that in a city like Córdoba an international congress will be organized, just like the one which took place in 1998 in Granada to honor the one-hundred's year since the birth of Lorca. (Granada will have to wait until 1936 to have another congress like the one mentioned earlier).
The "Foro Góngora Hoy", organized by the University of Córdoba (by Prof. Joaquín Roses Lozano), which has been held many times since 1997 in the building of the Diputación de Córdoba may well be one of the starting points of the celebrations to be held in 2027. Also the University of Michigan has shown a great interest over the years in Góngora's oeuvre. Any other initiative, like the ones initiated by the various members of Lorca's group, will be a surprise. Góngora's writings are here to stay and to enjoy. No rebirth will ever be required. The one that occurred around the turn of the nineteenth century proved to be definite.
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ABOUT "GONGORA HOY" 1997
Whilst studying towards my doctoral degree at the University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia), I (re)visited Andalucía in April 1997 to collect articles and books. I arrived at the (old) bus station of Córdoba and walked towards the centre of town, where the Ayuntamiento is. Large posters hung from all the street lights, with the head of Góngora on it, and the text "Foro Góngora Hoy".
"When is this?", I thought. "When? In three days time!" I could not believe my luck, and walked to the Cajasur bank to pay the enrolment fee. The three-day foro was organized by Professor Joaquín Roses Lozano, who had invited a good number of prominent catedráticos like José Luis Lara Garrido, Laura Dolfi and Robert Jammes. Jammes' interpretation of the Solitudes (yellow book) had just been published, with some remarkable improvements on earlier interpretations published by Alonso, Pellicer and Salcedo Coronel. One element of the Foro was a walk through the old centre of Góngora, where, inside the Mezquita I met Robert Jammes personally. "They have changed the lights", he said. While leaving the Mezquita he asked me why I was in Córdoba. "I am a doctoral student and study don Luis' works," I replied. He smiled and said goodbye, before disappearing into a souvenir shop. He probably stayed overnight in the hotel next to it, and wanted to hide his tracks. Of course he was aware of the "oldest trick in the book", played out by so many postgraduate students: bump into a prominent writer on a conference, and use their stature to get your study approved and published. This wasn't my intention at all. I had bumped into Prof. Jammes by pure coincidence and still had two years of study to go to obtain my title.
In the years which followed, while living in Granada, I visited the "Foro Góngora Hoy" several times. One afternoon I walked to the place north-east from Córdoba where the poet had written most of his poetry: in a valley with two streams and a deserted railway bridge (!). Before I reached this bridge I had almost been stopped by a sign: Stop! Danger! This did not bother me too much, because I only saw a herd of sheep and goats which seemed friendly enough. Later I realized what the farmer had ment to transmit to me: Rattle snakes, Sir!
I usually stayed in the same hotel in the Judería near Calle Góngora, and sat down on a bench close to his statue on the Plaza de la Trinidad. In the serene presence of don Luis, the Gongorist writer of the twenty-first century will always find piece and tranquility.
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Written in the Albayzín of Granada, late 2001 (rewritten in 2010)
I thank Prof. Alfredo Martínez Expósito (Head of the School of Languages, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia) for his suggestions and corrections.
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| Calle Góngora anno 2010 |
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NOTES
(1) C.C. Soufas, 1986.
(2) In:
Estudios y ensayos gongorinos, 1955, 573
(3) This reminds of "Romance sonámbulo" (1923): "Verde viento/...El barco sobre el mar."
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La Gaceta literaria, nr. 11, 1 June de 1927, p.1.
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Residencia, nr. 4, 1932, pp. 94-103.
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----- (ed.)
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----- "Existía una relación intertextual entre Lorca y Góngora?" In:
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Una poética de la oscuridad. London: Tamesis, 1994.
----- Las Soledades habitadas. Universidad de Málaga: 2007
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Soledades de D. Luis de Góngora comentados por don García de Salzedo Coronel. Madrid: Imoprenta Real, 1636.
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-----
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| Góngora. Soledades Habitadas. J. Roses |
