Lorca, Buñuel, Dalí: Art and Theory ed. by Manuel Delgado Morales, Alice J. Poust (review)

Abstract

23 o Reviews on controversial topics such as the Civil War, Opus Dei, or the Tejerazo. Ryan Prout's treatment of topics like corruption and surrealism are, by contrast, refreshingly free from this kind of blandness. In a publication ofthis kind, a high premium has to be set on accuracy, and although the volume achieves a commendably high standard in this regard, with a reliable system ofcross-referencing, there are a few lapses. There are two references to Banesto (pp. 55 and 57), but no entry on this bank, so the name remains unexplained. The Girona newspaper El Punt appears as El Puut (p. 19). The entry on Els Comediants (p. 52) could usefully have been cross-referenced to Elsjoglars and La Fura dels Baus. It is unfortunately the fate of any reference work to be out of date almost as soon as it is published, and it is not the fault of the editor or contributors that they were unable to take account of events such as the death of Eduardo Chillida in August 2002. But in future editions more attention could profitably be paid to chronological precision, rather than using phrases like 'recently', 'currently', or 'up to the present'. Overall, this is a worthwhile addition to the already extensive bibliography on contemporary Spanish culture. University of Strathclyde Eamonn Rodgers Lorca, Bunuel, Dali: Art and Theory. Ed. by Manuel Delgado Morales and Alice J. Poust. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press; London and Toronto: Associated University Presses. 2001. 206 pp. ?16.79. ISBN 0-8383-5508-9. Lorca, Bunuel, Dali indulges in a bit of false advertising when it lists three figures in its title, for of the twelve articles, a full eight are dedicated to Lorca, two to Bunuel, and one to Dali, with one essay divided among the three. This imbalance might have been addressed by a title change and a content-driven grouping ofthe articles, rather than one based on alphabetical order ofthe author's last name. With this in mind, the following reads the contributions out of order, approachingthem instead thematically. C. Christopher Soufas, Miriam Balboa Echevarria, and Robert Lima treat Lorca's theatre. Soufas rehabilitates Lorca as an innovator of modernist drama, suggesting that his commercial theatre represented the practice to Artaud's theory ofthe theatre of cruelty. By manipulating audience involvement in ways that were more subtle, but just as effectiveas Artaud's aggressive?but ultimately unstageable?techniques, Lorca's plays demolished the comfortable distance typically assumed by spectators. Balboa Echevarria, whose essay might have benefited from a firmereditorial hand, discusses the figure of the maid through three centuries of theatre and painting; her analysis of La casa de Bernarda Alba, though, could fruitfullyhave been expanded. Lima traces the gradual elimination ofmale characters in Lorca's drama, culminating in Bernarda Alba. Manuel Delgado Morales's essay on embroiderers provides a transition from Lorca's theatre to his poetry, while maintaining the issue of gender. He surveys the 'revolutionary implications' (p. 37) of needlework, generally regarded as emblematic of tediumand female repression, in texts likeMarianaPineda, 'Lamonja gitana', and Yerma. Alice J.Poust, Luis Fernandez Cifuentes, Michael Iarocci, and Candelas Gala deal with Lorca's poetry. Poust uses Lorca's verse but mainly his lectures to illustrate how the presentation of Andalusia corresponds to theories by Oswald Spengler and Waldo Frank positing orientalist values?as evident in magic, mystery,and symbols such as the arabesque?against and superior to those of northern Europe. Fernandez Cifuentes points to 1918 and Impresiones y paisajes as the site of rupture between the Generation of '98 writers, interested in the collective importance of history, and MLR, 99.1, 2004 231 Lorca's cohort which placed greater emphasis on personal response. Iarocci's tightly argued essay reads 'Los encuentros de un caracol aventurero' from Libro de poemas thematically and structurally as an allegory of maturation and secularization, while drawing together the personal, poetic, and political dimensions of Spanish modernity. Gala returns to gender when she shows how the 'Eros con baston' section of Can? ciones presents female stereotypes?the prude, the femme fatale, the spinster, etc.?as parodies of the muse. The segue to essays on Dali and Bunuel, Antonio Monegal's...