Albert,
I think Garcia Lorca's duende is akin to Keats' negative capability, but somewhat more darkly nuanced. From the Dicionario de la Lengua Espanola, from the Real Academia Española:
Duende: de duen de casa, dueño de la casa). m. Espíritu fantástico del que se dice que habita en algunas casas y que travesa, causando en ellas trastorno y estruendo. Aparece con figura de viejo o de niño en las narraciones tradicionales. 2 restaño. 3. pl. (And.) Cardos secos y espinosos que se ponen en las albardillas de las tapias para dificultar el escalo. 4. (And.) Encanto misterioso e inefable. Los duendes del cante flamenco. andar alguien como un ~, o parecer un ~. frs. coloqs. Aparecer en los lugares donde no se le esparaba. tener alguien ~. fr. coloq. Traer en la imaginación algo que le inquieta. 2. Tener encanto, atractivo, etc. (855)
In English, as best as I can: 1. Fantastic spirit which is said to live in some houses and that misbehaves, causing disturbance and commotion. (In other words, a trickster/orisha.) It appears in the figure of an old man or of a little boy in traditonal narratives (folk tales?).
I'm having trouble translating 2. restaño, but get the sense it means a particular type of spirit or ghost.
3. Dry, spiny thistles that are placed on the top of a wall to discourage burglars. (In New Orleans and Havana, and many other Eurpoean cities, I'm sure, the jagged points of broken bottles are cemented atop walls for the same purpose.)
4. Mysterious spell too great to describe.
It's the zone, the flow, the It, the thing itself, the undertow that sucks the reader into the poem, then spits him or her out, gasping for air, forever changed by the experience.
It's what makes a poem a poem as opposed to words arranged on a page according to a pattern (or not). My work is sadly lacking in duende of late. Perhaps I need to offer some libations to the orishas.
Robin
[This message has been edited by Robin-Kemp (edited May 01, 2005).]
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