Lorca, Jews, and African-Americans: From Romance to Racism or Simple Misunderstanding?

Lorca's A Poet in New York is filled with difficult and at times laudatory, at times offensive references to New York's Black and Jewish communities.  Many scholars have shied away from these references, believing that they tarnish Lorca's reputation as a freedom-fighter; others have attempted to interpret them in a favorable and even romantic light.  This talk will focus on the problematics of Lorca's (evolving) attitude toward two ethnic communities which he was fascinated by but did not always understand, and contrast this with some of his earlier images of Muslims in his earlier collaboration with Manuel de Falla, in order to contextualize some of the most uncomfortable aspects of the poet's work.