Lorca: Yerma

By Federico García Lorca

Book Overview

One of Lorca's best known plays tells the story of a young peasant wife in rural Spain whose sole conscious desire is to embody what she regards as the natural, moral and social laws governing her life as a woman in motherhood. The tragedy of Yerma, which literally means 'barren', in this powerful and emotive drama, is that she remains childless and so is denied the dignity and the emotional fulfilment which traditionally only the role of mother could bring. The frustration of Yerma's maternal instinct, the only acceptable channel for her sexuality in her repressive society, leads her through humiliation and despair to an erosion of her whole personality which culminates at the end of the play in violence and death.
It is not only the strong feminist theme that accounts for the play's great popular appeal today. With the highly charged emotion are blended poetic imagery and lyricism which haunt the imagination of modern audiences as much as those of fifty years ago when Lorca was murdered. Spanish text with facing-page translation, introduction and notes.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0856683388
• ISBN13: 9780856683381
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• Length: 138 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.8" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Yerma

When reading Lorca's plays you have to remember that they are in fact Plays and are not meant to be read but to be preformed. They weren't created to specifically entertain but were supposed to be a photographic representation of life in rural spain during the 1930's. Yerma is a story about a woman pressured by societal expectations to have children. When she finds out that she can not conceive (Yerma in spanish literally means desert, she is barren) it drives her into depression. Its a story about the unrealistic pressures and expectations of society on women during her time. The beauty in Lorca's work is in his use of symbolism and repetition. Its not a play to read for pleasure but rather education.

Asi Asi

Esa obra no es el mejor de Lorca. La Casa de Bernarda Alba es el mejor.