The Poetics of Apocalypse Federico García Lorca's Poet in New York

In June of 1929, Federico Garcia Lorca left his native Spain on a journey that would become a vision-quest through New York City, the Vermont countryside, and Cuba. While he failed miserably at learning English during his brief sojourn at Columbia University, he nonetheless created a powerful new poetic idiom to voice his perceptions of social injustice and apocalyptic retribution. Guided by the duende, liminal principle of creativity and death, Lorca represents New York as dystopia cum Armageddon, ultimately redeemed by the Blacks of Harlem and the telluric forces unleashed to retake the decadent, soulless civilization of North America.