The possibility of objectifying his most intimate inner contradictions out into the wider culture, finding support in names and traditions of unquestionable renown, represented a way out for Lorca. His change of vocation, from music to literature, perhaps owed itself (aside from the death of his teacher Antonio Segura Mesa) to the fact that the world of letters gave him not only an outlet to express his feelings, but also a means to elaborate and debate an extremely troubling intimate reality—with all the necessary nuances. Writing as an inquiry into identity itself, the struggle within himself and with society sets the tone of his earliest prose works Místicas (de la Carne y el Cuerpo) and Estados Sentimentales y Otras Meditaciones. The identity of García Lorca, just like that of any human being, is too complex and far-reaching for us to try to find some static snapshot, some reason that gives meaning to everything and can be used like a recipe, to explain away all the symbols, experiences, and conflicts. What is more, individual situations go beyond the limits of the person, responding to a particular historical context and a cultural tradition. But if we hope to understand the lyrical world of Federico García Lorca—how it is formed, its yearnings—it is essential to remember, with the help of Alberto Mira (2002), that “homosexual culture is created on the basis of a homosexual experience of culture” (page 25). I share the view of this scholar of homosexual thought and literature:
“Lorca’s poetic practice can be interpreted as an attempt to overcome the silence and triviality of those who surrounded him, on matters of great concern to him. It would be simplistic to unambiguously equate his homosexuality with his obsessions, his difference; but that very difference, unquestionably, cannot be understood remote from the articulation of a discourse around the homosexuality of his time” (page 323).
Either way, it was of tremendous help to find figures such as Plato and Sappho in the literary tradition. In El Poema de la Carne. Nostalgia olorosa y ensoñadora, dated 12 March 1917, the young Lorca imagines a dialogue between the two. Plato exclaims:
" Sappho! Sappho! You are my sister in spirit, you are in your sex as I am in mine.” (IV, page 693).
From the very beginning of Lorca’s trajectory as a writer, culture—and, within it, poetry—provides him with a legacy and an essential resource with which to understand himself, explain himself, or hide himself, depending on the circumstances.
a práctica poética lorquiana puede leerse así como un intento de superar el silencio y la trivialidad de quienes le rodeaban acerca de las cuestiones que le preocupaban. Sería simplista equiparar unívocamente la homosexualidad con sus obsesiones, con su diferencia, pero sin duda esta última no puede entenderse sin tener en cuenta la articulación de un discurso en torno a la homosexualidad de su tiempo.
La práctica poética lorquiana puede leerse así como un intento de superar el silencio y la trivialidad de quienes le rodeaban acerca de las cuestiones que le preocupaban. Sería simplista equiparar unívocamente la homosexualidad con sus obsesiones, con su diferencia, pero sin duda esta última no puede entenderse sin tener en cuenta la articulación de un discurso en torno a la homosexualidad de su tiempo. (323).
Yo soy el sabio que aprendió lo que el gran Sócrates proclamaba. Yo soy el que adora y ama a los efebos... Sus pechos serán rectos, pero tienen un olor genial... Sus cabelleras serán cortas, pero tienen luz y aroma de naranja en sus bocas... ¡Safo! ¡Safo! Tú eres mi hermana del espíritu, tú eres en tu sexo lo que yo en el mío. (1996,IV: 693).