Patricia A. Billingsley is the author of the new book Lorca in Vermont: The Spanish Poet and His American Lover. She lives in Delaware and in Massachusetts.
Q: What inspired you to write Lorca in Vermont?
A: It all began almost 20 years ago, when I picked up Ian Gibson's seminal biography of Federico García Lorca (1898-1936), a Spanish poet whom I knew almost nothing about.
Fortunately, Gibson’s comprehensive account of Lorca’s eventful life and tragic death included a short description of his unlikely friendship with a young Vermont poet named Philip Cummings in the late 1920s.
As Gibson explained, the two first met in Spain in 1928, then spent 10 days together in Vermont the following August during Lorca’s summer break from his studies at Columbia University in New York City.
Gibson’s version of the story seemed straightforward, but it left me with a host of unanswered questions I couldn’t get out of my head: Who exactly was Philip Cummings and where did he come from in Vermont? What drew him to Spain in 1928 and how did he get there? Most importantly, how did he meet Lorca and how did they become friends?
I started searching for answers to these questions very casually at first, but as I began to learn more about both men, I became intrigued by the mismatch between the prevailing view of their relationship and the information I was finding.
Many Lorca scholars seemed to treat Cummings as nothing more than an avid fan of the poet, and the Vermont episode as a completely inconsequential time in Lorca’s life, but it became increasingly clear to me that there must be more to the story.
I began to suspect that Cummings and Vermont had played a far more significant role in Lorca’s life and work than was commonly assumed, and I resolved to follow every clue and connection I could find that might help me better understand what had happened between them.
Q: How would you describe the relationship between Lorca and Philip Cummings?
A: Lorca and Cummings were two young, gay men with much in common when they first met, but they were at very different points in their lives when they reunited in Vermont in August 1929.
Lorca was 31 years old and already well-established as one of Spain’s most important young poets. But even after several painful, unrequited attempts to find a man who shared his desire for a sustained romantic attachment, he still held out hope that such a relationship was possible.
Cummings, however, was only 22; he had just finished college and was eagerly anticipating his move to a new city and the start of his teaching career. While he treasured his friendship with Lorca and enjoyed their sexual encounters, he had no interest in long-term commitment or in challenging social conventions as part of a same-sex couple.
As Lorca gradually came to terms with their fundamental differences, he expressed his deep sense of loss and disappointment in the only safe way he knew, through his poetry.
Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?
A: I started my research by reading every book and article I could find about Lorca and Cummings, but soon realized I’d have to dig deeper.
I began searching for relevant original source documents in archival collections across the United States and Spain, and was able to visit many of those archives in person.
I talked with Lorca scholars and biographers who had known Cummings personally, several of whom gave me unpublished materials they had never shared with anyone else.
And I spent as much time as I could in the places where Lorca and Cummings had been together, especially northern Vermont.
The most surprising thing I learned was the importance of Lorca’s time in the Catskill Mountains of New York State to the story. I knew that Lorca had traveled to the Catskills to visit friends immediately after he left Vermont, and wrote multiple poems during his stay there.
But it was only when I started examining how the mood and content of those poems reflected Lorca’s experiences in the Catskills that I began to see how they also revealed the longer-term impact of his time with Cummings.
Q: How would you describe Lorca’s legacy today?
A: Lorca was only 38 years old when he was executed by Nationalist forces in Spain in August 1936, but even now, 90 years after his death, he remains an iconic literary and cultural figure in Spain.
In addition, his poems, plays, and essays continue to attract readers and inspire writers, musicians, and social activists outside the Spanish-speaking world. For example, Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen credited his teenage discovery of Lorca's poetry for his own decision to become a poet, and to name his daughter Lorca.
In 2009, Lorca was one of the first 20 people awarded a permanent plaque on San Francisco's Rainbow Honor Walk, a city landmark that honors men and women whose lives have inspired greater tolerance and social change.
In 2016 and 2017, Simon Stone’s award-winning adaptation of Lorca’s play Yerma enjoyed wildly successful runs in London and New York. And in 2020, the New York Public Library included Lorca's Poet in New York on its list of the 125 books that best embody the city and its people.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m working on a series of short essays on topics related to the book. Some are about various people and places mentioned in the book that I want to explore in greater detail. Others are about the many unexpected connections, coincidences, and discoveries that happened over the course of my research, a series of events that inspired me to continue even when I had no idea what might result.
For more news about current and upcoming book-related publications and events, please see my website: www.lorcainvermont.com.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I began this project knowing almost nothing about my subjects, only that I wanted to understand more about their lives and their relationship. I simply followed the story wherever it led, with no preconceptions about what I might find.
I encourage others to do the same, to pay attention when something about a historical account seems illogical or incomplete, and see where your curiosity takes you!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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