Romancero gitano
Federico Garcia Lorca
(Guest Reviewer - Chris Kober)
1996 Penguin
ISBN: 0140255834

A collection of poetry from Spain's literary master.

Federico García Lorca, was born in 1898 at Fuente Vaqueros, a village on the banks of the River Genil, a few miles from Granada. His father was a prosperous farmer & his mother had been a schoolteacher. As one of Spain's most talented poets & dramatists of the 20th century, he was a member of the ‘Generation of 1927’.

García Lorca was shot by Falangist soldiers in the opening days of the Spanish Civil war. In both his drama & poetry he balanced between the traditional & the modern, mythology & contemporary culture.

Guest Reviewer Chris Kober writes:

A la mitad del camino
Cortó limones redondos,
Y los fue tirando al agua
Hasta que la puso de oro.

This spectacular image of sunset is possibly my favourite from the collection Romancero Gitano taken from Prendimento de Antoñito el Camborio en el Camino de Sevilla.

Romancero gitano deals vividly with the lives of gypsies looking particularly, but not exclusively, at conflict, deceit, rape & death, & the internal pressures within gypsy society.

The Romancero gitano is a wonderful read. One of the best aspects is the depth to which you find yourself engaging with the text. Often the images demand your attention & time, which is not always simple, but that is part of the joy of reading such a collection of poetry, since it is always evolving in front of you as you notice new ideas • images within the poems.

It is available in translation, but what I would recommend for anyone who is not confident with the Spanish is to read it in parallel text, since it is the beauty of the language as well as the images & ideas that is wonderful.

From Federico García Lorca:
Blood Wedding adapted by Tanya Ronder
The House of Bernardo Alba / La Casa de Bernado Alba
Poet in New York

Chris Kober, a native & passionate Spanish speaker, graduated from the University of Oxford & moved back to Spain in order to teach languages. You can find him at www.Spanish-Word-A-Day.com: your window to Spain!
(05/07/06)

Guest Reviewer - Chris Kober
2006©Chris Kober