About the Author

Federico Garcia Lorca—(1898-1936) was a
Spanish poet and dramatist, also remembered as a
painter, pianist, and composer. A member of the
“Generacion del ‘27” (Generation of ‘27), he was killed
by rightist partisans at the beginning of the Spanish Civil
War (1936-39). Born into a family of minor, but wealthy,
landowners in Granada, his reputation as a poet was
secured in the 1920s with the publication of Libro de
Poemas (Book of Poems, 1921) and Primer Romancero
Gitano (Gypsy Ballads, 1928). Towards the end of the
1920s, Lorca fell victim to depression due to his anguish
over his true sexuality. He was deeply affected by the
success of his Gypsy Ballads, which made him a
celebrity—maintaining the persona of a straight author in
public while really being gay inside, which he could only
acknowledge in private. Growing estrangement between
Lorca and his closest friends reached its climax when
Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dali collaborated with him on the 1929 film Un Chien Andalou
(An Andalusian Dog), which Lorca later interpreted as a vicious attack on him. The film ended
Lorca’s affair with Dali, with Dali meeting his future wife. At the same time, his intensely
passionate but fatally one-sided affair with the sculptor Emilio Aladren was collapsing as the latter
became involved with his future wife. Aware of these problems, Lorca’s family arranged for him to
take a lengthy visit to the United States in the 1930s. While in the U.S., he gained even more
recognition for his plays, especially what has been called his “earth/rural trilogy”: Bodas de
Sangre (Blood Wedding, 1933), Yerma (Barren, 1934), and Le Casa de Bernarda Alba (The
House of Bernarda Alba, 1936). Shortly after he finished the last of the trilogy he returned to
Spain as the civil war broke out. He was arrested by fascist Nationalists in Granada who
supported General Francisco Franco and was executed without a trial. Although his work was not
overtly political, Lorca had incurred the wrath of the militarist “Escuadra Negra” (Black Squadron)
because of his leftist leanings and, apparently, for his being a homosexual. Lorca was buried in a
mass grave and his works remained officially banned in Spain until 1971. Today, Lorca is honored
by a statue prominently located in a Madrid plaza. Political philosopher David Crocker reports that
“the statue is still an emblem of the contested past: each day, the Left puts a red handkerchief on
the neck of the statue, and someone from the Right comes later to take it off”.