The University of Lleida (UdL) is set to honour the legacy of Federico García Lorca as it marks the 90th anniversary of his assassination. The commemorative events will commence next week with the launch of a book, two exhibitions, and a musical and literary recital.
On Wednesday, 18 November, the twelfth volume of the LGBTI & Company collection published by UdL will be presented. Titled ¡Amor visible!, the book features educational proposals centred around García Lorca, authored by Jorge Luis Peralta Gaitán, a professor at the University of the Balearic Islands. He will be joined by Rafael M. Mérida Jiménez, a professor of Spanish Literature at UdL and the collection's director. The volume aims to integrate diverse affective and sexual perspectives into the study of the poet and playwright from Granada, seeking to challenge heteronormative assumptions commonly found in school curricula through innovative methodologies that encourage active student participation and the development of various competencies.
On the same day, Jesús Martínez Oliva, an artist and professor at the University of Murcia, will engage with students from the Hispanic Philology degree at UdL regarding his exhibition at the Rectorate. Titled Los sonetos del amor oscuro de García Lorca: imágenes y voces para un poemario censurado, the exhibition, which will be open until 27 November, features a collage of images and poems inspired by Lorca's work that was not published until the 1980s. Martínez Oliva's eleven illustrations aim to highlight that "the desire and passionate love of homosexuality are the creative driving forces behind these sonnets."
On the afternoon of Thursday, 19 November, the Mab Consort company, featuring Pep Planas (performer), Maria Altadill (voice), and Carmen Becerra (guitar), will present Debajo de la hoja de la verbena at the Salón Víctor Siurana. This musical and literary recital delves into the imagination of Federico García Lorca through the Canciones Españolas Antiguas, which he compiled, harmonised, and recorded in 1931 with the singer La Argentina and himself at the piano. The performance will blend these thirteen songs, arranged for voice and guitar, with theatrical and poetic excerpts from Lorca's work, providing insight not only into his literary contributions but also into his popular and Andalusian roots.
Additionally, a bibliographic exhibition will be held at the Faculty of Arts Library throughout November. This exhibition is organised into five thematic areas: Lorca: a life between creation and tragedy; The poetic voice of Lorca; Lorca the playwright: passion, desire, and repression; Lorca and his cultural universe; and Reading Lorca today: interpretations and new perspectives. Among the 44 displayed items are the first edition of Primer romancero gitano (1924-1927) and the 1937 edition of El romancero gitano.
Rafael M. Mérida Jiménez emphasised the significance of these events, stating, "Poetry is a weapon loaded with the past, present, and future." He noted that the tribute also serves as a modest homage to Jaume Pont, a poet and professor at UdL who recently passed away.
