University Press Copublishing Division / Bucknell University Press
Pages: 204
•
Trim: 6⅜ x 9½
978-1-61148-376-5 • Hardback • December 2011 • $105.00 • (£81.00)
978-1-61148-552-3 • Paperback • October 2013 • $56.99 • (£44.00)
Cecelia J. Cavanaugh, SSJ, is associate professor of Spanish and dean of the School of Undergraduate Studies at Chestnut Hill College.
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Reading Lorca through the Microscope
1. Literature, Art, and Science in the Edad de plata
2. Microscopic and Macroscopic Imagery: “A la ciencia no van más que los artistas”
3. Scientists and Artists: Finding an “Ecstatic Rhythm”
4. Cells and Cells: “estructuras y conexiones”
5. Saints, Science, and Suffering
6. “The eternal and congenial site of true poetry”: Saint Sebastian and the Witness to Aesthetic Emotion
By Way of . . . Conclusion
Bibliography
Studies
This is a beautifully written, tightly argued exploration of the role of science in the work of Federico García Lorca, his poetry, prose, and drawings. Building on the work of Xon de Ros, Paul Julian Smith, Dennis Perri, and Candelas Gala, Cavanaugh (Chestnut Hill College) situates García Lorca within the historical and scientific context of his time—looking at his exposure to study of the human anatomy and physiology and his application of the ideas of Santiago Ramón y Cajal and Pío del Río-Hortega. In these the author discovered new ways to think about literary and pictorial art, and to develop a range of metaphors often described as surreal and naïve. In side-by-side comparison of García Lorca's drawings and theoretical writings with those of Ram^d'on y Cajal and Río-Hortega, Cavanaugh "extract[s] a common poetics," transforming understanding of how, in García Lorca's words (as translated by Cavanaugh) "the inexpressible begins to be expressed." Cavanaugh demonstrates that García Lorca's grasp of fractals expresses his understanding of "this essential relationship between the microscopic and the macroscopic," and transforms his arguments about representational art. This important book adds to understanding not only of García Lorca but also of the intellectual fabric of Madrid in the early decades of the twentieth century. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.
— Choice Reviews