"Impresiones y paisajes" by Federico García Lorca

“Impresiones y paisajes” (1918) was the very first book that Federico García Lorca published. I am not

going to introduce this author for obvious reasons. He is a very well known member of the Generation of ’27… and probably one of the most popular nowadays. Surprisingly this book is neither poetry nor a play. This time Lorca wrote something closer to a diary, in which he expressed his thoughts on many short trips around the Spanish geography. He visited very different places like Avila, Covarrubias, Baeza, Galicia, Granada, etc.

The lack of a storyline makes it hard to read, because this is not the kind of book that we read to easily distract our minds.  It is all the opposite. “Impresiones y paisajes” is a complex text that helps us to understand a little better Lorca’s mind. He literally painted us his perception of Spain. Colors are very important in the esthetic of this book, in which a very bright and warm palette is used. Equally important is music, which is not a surprise if we remember that Lorca was very drawn to music.   

I have enjoyed this book because it opens a door to a better understanding of Lorca’s posterior writing. He let us see Spain through his eyes in a very poetic way. In the book, the cities of Castilla are trapped in the past, and far from becoming the new future of Spain. It is in other places of the Iberian Peninsula, like in the south, where modernity is happening. But Lorca neither looks down the tradition, nor overvalues modernity. He is attracted to both in a very balanced way. He sees the beauty in the majestic ancient Castilla, and understands that modernity cannot be stopped. But he neither approves ignorance in the rural Spain, nor the attack on Nature and tradition of the modern urban life.