POETIC JUSTICE

There are always those strange cases of hoarding or gross neglect that leave the literary world polishing its glasses in a state of composed scholarly what-the-fuck. Ted Hughes “kept safe”—and hidden—a good chunk of Sylvia Plath’s later works, and an entire suitcase of Hemingway papers was once stolen from a train. It was the same deal with Federico García Lorca’s Poet In New York. The Spanish great wrote this collection while studying at Columbia University from 1929 to 1930. Murdered several years later by supporters of Francisco Franco, he would not live to see his book published in 1940. As for the original manuscript, it was lost for decades. This summer the recovered work and related artifacts will be on display at the New York Public Library, with a bevy of readings to celebrate. Tonight, some of Lorca’s successors on the local poetry scene—including Tracy K. Smith, Patti Smith, and Paul Muldoon—will perform selections from his body of work.

Tue., June 4, 7 p.m., 2013