Federico Garcia Lorca

by Ian Gibson

Book Overview

Back in print to coincide with the release of the upcoming motion picture Death in Granada on the life of Lorca, this "monumental biography" (New York Times) goes to the heart of his explosive genius. When, at the age of 38, Federico Garcia Lorca was executed by anti-republican rebels during the Spanish Civil War, he was already one of the world's most celebrated poets and playwrights. photos. (NIA)

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679731571
• ISBN13: 9780679731573
• Release Date: September 1990
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Length: 551 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.2" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

The best biography of a Spanish poet

Federico Garcia Lorca is one of the best poets in history of Spanish literature. In a country where is very difficult to find a tradition of investigations about our recently literature, Ian Gibson's book is a master piece.

Incredibly well researched.

One of the best biographies I've read. This book is a well written account based on much research that is finely pieced together.

Gibson tells you about Lorca and all that surrounded him.

Lorca's life, and fate, other than some superficial items, were for the most part hidden from public awareness for many decades. He was in many ways a victim, but mostly from politicians, because they killed him.The excesses of the Reds were countered by the excesses of the Blues (phalangists, rightists, fascists) in a dictatorship that outdid the murders of all predecessors. Politicians sometimes destroy something in order to "save" it. His threat was his speech, and 1998, the year of his centennial, the centennial of Spain's great gift to us for producing so many super-writers ("the generation of 98"), was the year in which we were reminded that the struggle against oppression never ends. Gibson tells us the story of Lorca but not only about him. If he mentions Granada, Andalucia, the Gypsies, the Moors, Falla, the Spanish Civil War, etc, he will ALSO tell you about that! In this book you will grasp the meaning of surrealism, its evolution, Lorca's surrealism, and particularly the surrealism of Dali and Buñuel. This book is a must for the literary avid, the poetry fan, the history bum, the political student, and importantly, for those of us that will benefit from learning that what happened in Spain may also happen in our own countries.

a complete view of Garcia Lorca's life

I am an architecture student at Tulane University, and I am very interested in the way Garcia Lorca percieved and described the notion of place and space. Most likely I will do my Architecture Thesis about Garcia Lorca and his sensibility and perceptions on events,and place and Iann Gibson's book, "Federico Garcia Lorca: A Life", is the first biography about Lorca that I have read, and I find it very comprehensive and acsessible. I also believe that the translation to English is done with great sensibility. In addition I would like to know if there are other books about Lorca that are more related to my topic?