Yerma

By Federico García Lorca

Book Overview

The second of Lorca's trilogy of rural dramas, Yerma, is a blend of contrasting moods through which Lorca charts the increasingly destructive obsession of a childless young country wife, and probes the darker zones of human fears and desires. The play's rich mode of expression - a combination of verbal, visual and auditory images and rhythms - is also geared to celebrating sexual attraction and fertility, creation and procreation.

Through his characterization of the play's central figure, Lorca raises the question of women's social status - a controversial question both then and now, and one to which Robin Warner pays particular attention in his critical introduction to the play. He also examines the links between the dramatic structure of Yerma and the importance of cultural politics during the course of the Second Spanish Republic. The Spanish text is supported by an introduction and notes in English, as well as by an extensive vocabulary and section of discussion questions.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0719041317
• ISBN13: 9780719041310
• Release Date: October 1994
• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.1" x 7.7"

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.