“I would tell Abascal to have a saliva test done, because he looks Moorish”

He reveals that he suffered an attempted sexual assault in childhood, the “serious tension” with Lorca’s family and his encounter with a “trembling” Dalí

the biographer Ian Gibsonwho publishes his memoirs ‘A Carmen in Granada’ (Tusquets), has criticized the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, for speaking of a Spain “that can become a multicultural dunghill” and recommends “taking a saliva test, because he looks Moorish.”

“I don’t know him in person and I would love to talk to him. How can you say that about the multicultural dunghill? I would suggest taking the test, because he looks very Moorish, which seems great to me: if Spanish has all this multiculturalism inside”, he pointed out in a meeting with the media.

In fact, Gibson –who does not consider himself a Hispanic because he already has dual nationality– believes that “there is still a lot to be done” in relation to studies on Spain. “It is the most complex country in the West because there are many identity problems“, added the Spanish-Irish author.

“I think there is a denial regarding heritage such as the Jewish or the Muslim. It is crazy not to accept that in Spain there is miscegenation and blood of genes. whatWhere is the problem, if we are all children of the same God?“, he questioned humorously.

In ‘Un carmen en Granada’ Gibson reviews the years of apprenticeship and training in his native Dublin upon his arrival in Spain and the influence that his connection to the work of García Lorca had in his day. One of the ‘darkest’ episodes in this book is an attempted sexual assault that the author himself experienced when he was barely 10 years old.

“It was one day that I was looking at the movie posters to choose a movie and a man appeared with the classic Dublin raincoat, asking me if I wanted to go to the movies with him. I didn’t have the courage to say no, and two minutes into the movie his hand started to go up and I pushed down several times. Finally I went and he gave me a coin, which I threw away as soon as I left the place of shame that I had, “she has related.

In another passage from his memoirs, Gibson recounts the “serious tension” that arose with Lorca’s family as a result of the book in which he spoke of homosexuality from the author of ‘Blood Wedding’ and a subsequent interview with Dalí. “That was never overcome and the remains of Lorca have also been a cause of friction,” he added.

THREAT OF LAWSUIT

The biographer has recalled the interview with Dalí that led to the call from Isabel García Lorca assuring that she was going to sue him. “I told him: ‘don’t do it, we are in another era and if Dalí comes to testify in court, it will be gigantic publicity for all this’“, has explained.

“They had offered me to speak with Dalí one day when I had to travel from Madrid to Figueres without thinking about it. When I arrived, I found a Dalí sitting on a throne, with a barretina all in white and tubed and trembling. It was a tremendous interview, because he barely understood him and he mixed French and Catalan”, he pointed out.

Gibson has reiterated that the Catalan painter wanted to “clarify his version” regarding his relationship with García Lorca, once the first part of the Hispanist’s book was published. “He told me strong things, that Lorca was in love with him and that he wanted to sleep with him: he had to get that interview out,” she concluded.