Federico García Lorca
Federico García Lorca (1898–1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theater director. A leading member of the avant-garde Generation of ’27, Lorca was one of the most influential voices of 20th-century literature. His plays often centered on women constrained by tradition and authority, while his poetry gave expression to both longing and despair. His works blended lyricism, surrealism, and folkloric elements with sharp social critique. Sympathetic to the Spanish Republic and gay in a repressive society, Lorca was executed by Nationalist forces at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, becoming a lasting symbol of artistic freedom and resistance.
Famous works include:
Romancero gitano (Gypsy Ballads, 1928) - a collection of poems about Andalusian folklore and gypsy culture described through modernist imagery. The poems cover themes of love, death, and freedom.
Rural tragedies:
Bodas de sangre (Blood Wedding, 1933) - a tragedy following a bride who abandons her husband on their wedding day to run away with her former lover, ending in inevitable bloodshed. The tragedy explores themes of fate, passion, honor, and power of desire.
Yerma (1934) - a tragedy following a woman trapped in a loveless marriage, tormented by her inability to have children. The tragedy explores themes of repression, unfulfilled desire, and the suffocating weight of social expectations in rural Spain.
La casa de Bernarda Alba (The House of Bernarda Alba, 1936) - a tragedy telling the story of a widow who forces her five daughters to mourn their father for eight years trapped in her house. The tragedy explores themes of authoritarian control, repression, female desire, and consequences of silenced freedom
Awards:
Although he did not receive major literary awards in his short lifespan, Lorca’s works have been translated into multiple languages and some have been adapted into films. He continues to inspire writers and artists around the world with his works. El Premio Internacional de Poesía Ciudad de Granada Federico García Lorca is an international poetry prize created in 2004.
