Pittsburgh, Pa.,
4642 Baum Boulevard,

4/24/40.

Dear Cleanth Brooks,

Sometime ago you held for consideration several
of my translations of the ballads of F. Garcia Lorca. You finally
rejected them, one of the determining reasons being that you would
have to hold them for many months before you could publish them.
These translations were from Lorca's GYPSY BALLADS.

However, recently I have translated the great
LAMENT FOR THE DEATH OF IGNACIO SANCHEZ MEJIAS by Lorca, and I am so
certain you will be impressed with it that I am taking the liberty
of bothering you again.

This LAMENT is considered by many of the Spanish
critics to be the most lyrical poem in that language.

I am sending it to you because I am trying my best
to bring Garcia Lorca to the American literary public. Thus far I have
had translations of Lorca accepted by such magazines as TWICE A YEAR,
which will carry a large section of Lorca and Alberti, translated by
me, THE PRAIRIE SCHOONER, FANTASY, COMPASS. Also, NEW DIRECTIONS PRESS
is very seriously considering bringing out my translation of the
GYPSY BALLADS in book form.

I am not really trying to sell you anything; I
just mention the above to show that I am seriously trying to spread
Lorca's reputation in this country.

And forgive me if I seem presumptious, but I would
appreciate it endlessly if you could give me a report on the enclosed
Mss. within a reasonable length of time. I know you are very busy and
I feel guilty asking such a favor--I also know it is very unethical--
but, if at all possible, you would have my extreme gratitude if you
would not hold up the LAMENT. (Please excuse the awkward phrasing.
I am batting this letter out in a terrible hurry with no time to
correct it.)

Again, thank you, and again, forgive me.

Pittsburgh, Pa.,

4642 Baum Boulevard,

October 4, 1940.

Dear Robert Penn Warren/Cleanth Brooks,

I want to thank you both
very much for your prompt response to my letter, and for your
interest in the Lorca poem. You will find the Spanish version
enclosed, as you requested.

As has been my usual method
with magazines, I shall assume all responsibility for translation
rights of the poem in this country. (Translations of mine of
Garcia Lorca have appeared and are scheduled to appear in ESQUIRE,
TWICE A YEAR, NEW MEXICO QUARTERLY, PRAIRIE SCHOONER, FANTASY, etc.
A pamphlet, A BRIEF ANTHOLOGY OF F. GARCIA LORCA, will be
forthcoming soon from The Press of James A. Decker. I mention
these merely for corroboration.) You see, due to the late Spanish
"Civil" War, a strange situation has developed, and there are
actually no extant owners to the English translation rights for
the poetry of Garcia Lorca. Lorca, as you know, was murdered without
reason by the fascist Civil Guard, outside Granada, in September,
1936. Since then, the Republican Government of Spain has fallen,
and with it vanished the publishing house, Editorial Nuestro Pueblo,
a State project, and the last publisher of Lorca. I have been two
years or more in trying to find any owner for the English language
rights to this poet's work, but without success. Last summer, when
I was in New York City, I visited Federico de Onis, the poet's

ROBERT PENN WARREN/CLEANTH BROOKS.

#2.

godfather, and even he did not know of the existance of an owner
to such rights. I have checked with Dr. David Rubio, of the
Hispanic Department of the Library of Congress, and he too does
not know. Philip Vaudrin, editor of Oxford Press, which brought
out some Lorca translations in England, is not aware of the owners.
(Mr. Vaudrin, with the permission of S. de Madariaga, gave me the
sole right in this country to translate Salvador de la Madariaga's
ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA, but he could not help
me one whit on the rights to Lorca. Apparently, the Oxford Press
in England brought out Lorca without owning the rights for that
country.) James Laughlin, of NEW DIRECTIONS PRESS, wrote to me
and told me he'd been also searching for the American owners to
the rights of Garcia Lorca, but had been able to uncover nothing.
He brought out Gilbert Neiman's version of Lorca's peasant tragedy,
BODAS DE SANGRE, finally, deciding that if an owner to the rights
turned up, he would settle with him then. Jose Weisberger, who
several years before had translated the same play for the Theatre
Guild, protested to Laughlin, but abortively, since he, too, did
not own these rights. I could go on and on with further proof that
these rights do not exist, and that the work of Garcia Lorca is,
in the English language, stuff of the common domain. There is,
however, a further incident which may prove interesting to you.
When La Argentinita, famed Spanish folk dancer, was in the United
States on tour with her troupe, I arranged to meet her. She was
a close friend of Lorca's and his collaborator. The two of them,
along with Manuel de Falla and Zuloaga, created the first Spanish

#3.

ballet in the entire history of Spain, in Madrid in 1933. But when I questioned her about Lorca's background she had practically nothing to say. She was extremely cautious and seemed to regard me as some sort of a spy. She referred me to others of Lorca's friends for information. It seems she still lives in Madrid, and in the Spain of Generalissimo Franco, Garcia Lorca's name and work are banned. The books of Lorca's poetry and plays were burned in the public squares of Granada, shortly after Franco's troops entered that city. So, apparently, the English rights to the work of F. Garcia Lorca died before the rifles of the fascist Guardia Civil, sometime in September, in the year 1936.

For my part, I have been trying, for several years now, to do what I can to help bring the work of this great Spanish poet to the American people. At present, I am working on a biography of Lorca, and I would appreciate it tremendously if you could make some mention of this when you publish the poem. Could you run a note, in your contributor's section, asking any of your readers who might have information about the poet's life to get in touch with me?

Please forgive me for this very long letter, which I know will be a drain on your time, but I felt that all of the enclosed information was necessary.

P.S. If you require any further information, I will be glad to promptly send it to you. lm.

Pittsburgh, Pa.,
4642 Baum Boulevard,
November 9, 1940.

Dear Cleanth Brooks/ Robert Penn Warren,

I should like to make
a few minor changes in my translation of Garcia Lorca's poem,
LAMENT FOR IGNACIO SANCHEZ MEJIAS. In the 19th line of the
first section, would you please change: <u>Jars</u> of steam and arsenic
to <u>Bells</u> of steam and arsenic? Also, the fourth line from the
end of the entire poem, <u>We shall wait</u> a long time for the birth,
if birth there is--could you change this to read: <u>It will take</u> a
long time for the birth, if birth there is, ?

These, I know, are quite
incidental changes; however, for purposes of fidelity to the
original Spanish, and to the poetical tone of the original, I felt
they were necessary.

Forgive me for bothering

you, and thank you.

Pittsburgh, Pa.,
2081 Bentley Drive,
Apt. 558,
Terrace Village,
Pittsburgh, Pa.

December 18, 1940.

Dear Robert Penn Warren,

I am answering your airmail letter immediately by return airmail. In your letter you state you are enclosing a proof of my translation of Garcia Lorca's Llanto Por Ignacio Sanchez Mejias. But there was no proof enclosed. Perhaps you meant that a proof was being sent under separate cover? At any rate, I would not want to hold up the next issue of SOUTHERN REVIEW, so I thought it best to notify you promptly of this. If you have sent the proof in another envelope please ignore this note. At any rate, if you have not, I would like to tell you that the correction you have made in my translation is alright with me; thus you may keep the proof as it is.

You are entirely correct about muerte meaning death. I merely took the liberty of changing it to dead in my translation, because it appeared to me to clarify and heighten that particular line of the poem. However, now, upon your mentioning it, I am inclined to agree with your correction. You are right, too, when you say that the adjective of morir would be plural if used in the Spanish as I translated it.

It would be muertos to complement toros.

GROIN

Telegram or Cable-
gram unless its de-
ferred character is in-
dicated by a suitable
symbol above or pre-
ceding the address.

WESTERN
UNION

1201

R. B. WHITE
PRESIDENT

NEWCOMB CARLTON
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

J. C. WILLEVER
FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT

<table><thead><tr><th colspan="2">SYMBOLS</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>DL</td><td>= Day Letter</td></tr><tr><td>NL</td><td>= Night Letter</td></tr><tr><td>LC</td><td>= Deferred Cable</td></tr><tr><td>NLT</td><td>= Cable Night Letter</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2">Ship Radiogram</td></tr></tbody></table>

The filing time shown in the date line on telegrams and day letters is STANDARD TIME at point of origin. Time of receipt is STANDARD TIME at point of destination

NSN18 31 NT=PITTSBURGH PENN 20

ROBERT PENN :WARREN=

CARE SOUTHERN REVIEW UNIVERSITY LA=

1940 DEC 21 AM 1 47

HERE'S MISSING STANZA: HOPE YOU LIKE IT'S QUOTE THE GROIN
OF THE STONE DOESN'T KNOW YOU, NOR THE BLACK SATIN THAT
DESTROYED YOU. YOUR OWN DUMB MEMORY DOESN'T KNOW YOU UNQUOTE=
:LLOYD MALLAN.

GROIN

THE COMPANY WILL APPRECIATE SUGGESTIONS FROM ITS PATRONS CONCERNING ITS SERVICE