Blood Wedding and Yerma

By Federico García Lorca

Book Overview

"Mesmerizing and haunting...a lyrical translation." -BroadwayWorld.com

"Passionate, primal and poetic...beautifully translated by Langston Hughes." -NOW Toronto

" Merwin's] translation reveals this sensitivity, this sense of scale and musicality." -Melia Benussen, Introduction

One of Spain's greatest poets and dramatists, Federico Garcia Lorca wrote in many styles but achieved maturity and fame with his peasant plays, Blood Wedding and Yerma, in which impassioned language and imagery accentuate tragic narratives. These never-before published translations unite Garcia Lorca's masterpieces with two of America's most gifted poets, Langston Hughes and W.S. Merwin.

The epigrammatic style and unsentimental lyricism of W.S. Merwin heighten the urgency and fervor of Yerma, the story of a woman whose thwarted yearning for a child makes her murder her indifferent husband. Preeminent African-American poet Langston Hughes infuses his version of Blood Wedding--the story of an unwilling bride who elopes with her lover on her wedding night--with the rhythmic intensity and linguistic beauty only a fellow poet could achieve.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1559360801
• ISBN13: 9781559360807
• Release Date: May 1994
• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Lorca is misunderstood by small minds

I find it quite amazing that readers find themselves capable of disregarding a playwright's work simply because they have read what could well be a bad edition! This edition of Lorca's Yerma and Blood Wedding is definitely not among the best I have read; others do more justice to the original works. Obviously, much of the content and passion is lost upon translation. I have had the privilege of reading most of Lorca's work in Spanish and must say that he is indeed one of the most influential and talented playwrights (and poets) of our time. Lorca's work is infused with the beauty and passion of the Spanish people and culture and it is quite difficult for us considerably less emotional Americans to understand, let alone feel the intensity of such power; again, this has a lot to do with reading it in English.

He captures human nature and sexuality very passionately!

I read the review of comyking@home.net and I think that you need to develop literary skills(An education perhaps?!). Maybe then you will undrstand what literature is about. Yerma and La casa de Bernada Alba are two of the most fascinating books I have ever read. They depict the life and frustrations faced by females in an era when chastity, "social stauts and appearance" influenced a woman's life. I think these books are extremely interesting and insightful. One must have an exceptional literary background to appreciate this type of literature.

A great play in which many important themes are presented

This is one of Lorca's most interesting plays, in which a dominant and strict mother controls the lives of her daughters. Many themes are expressed in this play: social pressure, love, dominance, etc.