Comments on: Queers and gypsies

By: Trevor ap Simon

Trevor ap Simon — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 07:55:28 +0000

Gate/Puerto and Jerez are probably sexual here. See eg Sombra del viento: “I caught myself remembering with maplike precision every contour of her body, blah blah blah, that line of fine hair blah blah blah that ran down her belly and that my friend Fermín blah blah blah liked to call ‘the little road to Jerez’.” Zafón’s research is ostentatiously thorough; it’s rather like being stuck in a tourbus with a hyperactively smartarse guide. God alone knows why the Catalans are paying Woodie Allen millions to make a film in Barcelona when Zafón will to it far better and for free.

By: trevor

trevor — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 12:57:47 +0000

@Javier: It’s extraordinary how Lorca is still considered an authority on such things. A friend told me recently that if you do oposiciones in the Ancient Nation of Andalucía you’re expected to be able to quote with a straight face his absurd theories on the origins of flamenco, which I don’t think have ever been taken seriously by anthropologists.

@everyone: Someone accused me last night of presenting an un-nuanced view of gypsies. If I get time I’ll translate a bit of La horda, which is BI’s most thoroughly realist novel and, for all its many faults, contains the best turn-of-the-century account of Madrid gypsies I’ve read.

By: Javier

Javier — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 09:53:16 +0000

I think that Lorca’s gypsies play the same role as Garcilaso’s shepherds; mere literary devices. But Lorca’s creation have influenced popular culture, and probably even perception of the gypsies in Spanish society.

Some curiosity: While Miguel de Molina could have sung “Mi jaca”, being composed in 193x, the Molina readily associated with this song is Antonio Molina, much younger, acceded to fame in the 50s, and I think not related to Miguel. Miguel de Molina was openly gay and his trademark song was “La bien pagá”. And none of them were gypsies.

By: Trevor ap Simon

Trevor ap Simon — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 14:13:20 +0000

Aah! Ooh! Thankyou!

Javier, can we do a deal: next weekend I’ll get someone to break into the DRAE database and I’ll buy you dinner if you update the bloody thing before the functionaries get in on Monday.

By: Javier

Javier — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 11:00:06 +0000

“Cortar el viento” is to glide, to move effortlessly. There was a time when every schoolchildren could recite:
Con diez cañones por banda,
Viento en popa a toda vela,
No corta el mar sino vuela
Un velero bergantín.
…
It was the Canción del Pirata, by José de Espronceda

I cannot resist noting ( my pedantry really knows no bounds) that “el puerto” should be “El Puerto”, El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, which is quite close to Jerez de la Frontera.

A good read here:
http://www.antonioburgos.com/enlaces/varios/perello.html