Remenbering Gustavo Adolfo

Iberian Dialogue from Bécquer to Andrade

Abstract

Eugénio de Andrade’s connection to Spanish literature is well known. In Rosto precário the author confirms it but prefers to call it “relations with Spanish culture.” Of this knowledge, the idolatry of Federico García Lorca’s poetry stands out, which Andrade considers one of the “great encounters (…) of youth”. In the same work, where there is a short reference to Bécquer’s poetry, Andrade refutes the influence of Lorca’s poetry, using as an example the investigation of an Italian teacher, Emanuela Frighi, who concludes that the “analogies found prove to be insufficient, since they belong to the category of commonplaces in the history of poetry”. Whether Lorca’s influence was proven or not, Bécquer’s influence would be even less likely. However, that is precisely the aim of this article: to inquire and try to prove the analogy between the two poetics in terms of content, with regard to the themes of the sea, natural elements, music and love in loss, as well as formal similarities with regard to strophic elements, vocabulary occurrences and phrases. Influence or not, chance or coincidence, the article concludes that there is much in common other than commonplace between the poetics of Andrade and Bécquer.