FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA: A Life

by Ian Gibson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 16, 1989

From Irish-born critic Gibson (The Assassination of Federico Garcia Lorca), who has lived in Spain for many years: a long-awaited major life of the Spanish poet and dramatist, bound to remain the definitive biography for quite some time. Gibson had the cooperation of Garc¡'a Lorca's surviving family and friends--a vast network of sources--but he acknowledges the difficulty of researching the life of a Spanish-speaking homosexual artist. Garci'a Lorca's sexuality is treated in the straightforward manner befitting a writer whose major works deal with themes of sex and thwarted passion: Blood Wedding and Yerma, among others. The fact that Garc¡a Lorca is the most-translated Spanish author, and one of the world's best-loved poets, stands in stark contrast to the large gaps of information about his private life. Gibson resolves this problem as much as possible, including the most authoritative accounts yet on Garc¡a Lorca's travels to New York, Cuba, Buenos Aires, and a little-known sojourn in Vermont. The author evokes a passionate if somewhat tragic figure of a multitalented artist: Garc¡a Lorca was very much the performing poet as well as an accomplished guitarist and pianist. Art and film buffs will be interested in the professional and personal jealousies of the intense triangle of Garc¡a Lorca, Salvador Dal¡, and Luis Bunuel. Gibson gives a thorough airing to the controversies surrounding the early surrealist film Un Chien andalou, and to the poet's passionate relationship with Dale Garc¡a Lorca lived during the most turbulent times of modern Spain, and, as Gibson demonstrates, was a victim of those times. The poet was arrested and executed by the Fascists, who had just taken Granada, in August 1936: Garc¡a Lorca was 38. A rich, well-crafted biography of a fascinating artist.

Pub Date: Oct. 16, 1989

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Pantheon

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1989

Categories: NONFICTION