1 jul 2011

ADLB

Anyway, as I mentioned a few days ago, I have the idea to write another book on Lorca. The idea is to write something that's for the "common reader" (c.f. Virginia Woolf) but is not introductory in any way. In other words, it would assume no knowledge of Lorca, and would be stylistically accessible to all interested comers, but would be my book, reflecting my perspective and fairly original perspective. I still have the challenge of finding a title that defines what it is I want to do. Of course, I have no idea of what I am going to say yet, except for a few extensions of what I've already written, and to discuss the critical reception, the poetry, the drama, Lorca as an intellectual or thinker, and Lorca's relation to music, with an original approach to each of these topics. I'm not sure about the theater yet, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. One thing I know is that it will have little or no biography. I hate biography and that's where I'm least equipped to make a contribution.

You heard it here first.

Titles:

Another Damned Lorca Book. That's my working title, but I would never actually use that. I hope nobody finds out that that is my working title. That would be embarrassing.

Mayhew's Lorca. Too honest! Too self-centered. Sure, it's Lorca según Mayhew, but it's got to speak to others too.

Federico García Lorca: [Catchy Subtitle] . The obvious choice, maybe too obvious. I could put the catchy part in the beginning.

13 Ways of Looking at Lorca.

etc...

I have a feeling that once the title is in place, the other 89,993 words will follow quickly.

18 comentarios:

scott g.f.bailey dijo...

The Moon Wakes [Catchy subtitle]

Or some other title (I also like The Unfaithful Wife) or image from the poems, with a catchy subtitle (I like "13 Ways of...").

Jonathan dijo...

Please, no moon! No duende or anything else "Lorcaesque." Nothing about "The Unfaitthul Wife," a popular and unrepresentative poem.

Thanks for the suggestions, though. I might end up going with some variation of the 13 ways...

scott g.f.bailey dijo...

Just, you know, try to provoke instead of to describe.

Amateur Reader (Tom) dijo...

I would love to read this book. I will read this book. I will ask my library to buy a copy of this book.

Clarissa dijo...

How about: "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Lorca But Were Afraid to Ask"?

Or: "Lorca for Dummies."

Or: "Lorca on the Age of mechanical Reproduction."

This is fun. :-)

scott g.f.bailey dijo...

No Duende!
13
Other Things About Lorca

Amateur Reader (Tom) dijo...

The hot thing would be to mix memoir with criticism. Lorca's Life Lessons: How Lorca Led to Love, Luck and Something Else that Begins with an L.

More original would be a book about how Lorca (or Proust, Montaigne, Austen, etc.) is filled with terrible advice that ruined your life.

scott g.f.bailey dijo...

Comer, Orar, Lorca

Or is that too subtle?

Jonathan dijo...

Great suggestions, especially those I will never be able to use. Lorca y sus dobles could work, but I don't know about the English translation.

Jonathan dijo...

... and that's already the title of a book on Lorca by someone else.

Professor Zero dijo...

I like Amateur Reader's book idea, the terrible advice that ruined your life. If you want the book to sell widely, you might need one of those "Flaubert's Parrot" type of titles.

What about those poems though, and the use of imagery in the essays? Santa Lucia y San Lazaro, Rev. de Occidente 1927, is a weird text, saints gone surrealist I guess.

Jonathan dijo...

How Lorca Won't Change Your Life (Unless You Let Him).

Life Lessons I Didn't Learn From Lorca.

Zed dijo...

Love in the time of Lorca
Everything you wanted to know about Lorca but were afraid to ask
Notes Toward a Supreme Lorca

Professor Zero dijo...

Notes Toward a Supreme Lorca is brilliant.
Lorca's Way (Du cote de chez Lorca)
50 Ways to Leave Your Lorca

Vance Maverick dijo...

Ventrilorquism?

Jonathan dijo...

Nice one, Vance.

Professor Zero dijo...

I like the new table of contents (7 essays ... you do realize, though, that could be La realidad lorquiana: 7 ensayos de interpretacion [Mariategui] ;-)

Jonathan dijo...

The Mariátegui reference could work. 7 ensayos de interpretación lorquiana.