Federico García Lorca: short biography

One of the most important authors of 20th century literature is Federico García Lorca, poet, novelist and playwright who lived in Spain in the period before the Civil War, that is, during the splendor of the Republic and the vanguards to later be shot by the Francoist military who carried out the coup in 1936. Lorca is currently one of the most widely read authors in the Spanish language and the author of poetic pieces such as "Poet in New York" or works well-known theater such as "Yerma" or "La casa de Bernarda Alba" where he spoke about the situation of women in Spain at the beginning of the twentieth century.

A member of the Generation of 27 and a friend of personalities such as Dalí or Buñuel, Lorca is one of the intellectuals who have most marked the history of literature, therefore, in a PROFESSOR we will discover one short biography of Federico García Lorca so you can easily study and get closer to the life and work of this author.

Index

1. Federico García Lorca: summary biography to study
2. The most important works of Federico García Lorca
3. Importance of Federico García Lorca in literature

We start with this summary of the biography of Federico García Lorca indicating some of the main data of his history:

• Name: Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca
• Date and place of birth: 6/5/1898 in Fuente Vaqueros, Granada
• Death Date: 8/18/1936

García Lorca was the son of Vicenta Lorca, a teacher who instilled in him her pleasure in reading and literature. During his childhood he lived in his town of Granada in a rural and quiet environment. His higher studies were carried out at the University of Granada, in the capital, where he studied philosophy and letters, in addition to obtaining a degree in law. It was here that he met Manuel de Falla, thanks to which he developed his taste and admiration for everything folkloric and popular in his land.

García Lorca's early days: early years

In 1917 he wrote the first article about him talking about José Zorrilla and, a year later, he published his first book entitled "Impressions and landscapes" that was published thanks to the economic investment made by his dad.

During this early period he was in contact with other poets and students of his same generation like, for example, Jorge Guillén, Rafael Alberti, Dámaso Alonso and artists of the stature of Dalí or Buñuel; in fact, he wrote a poem to Dalí entitled "Ode to Salvador Dalí". From this first stage, the publication of his most important work also stands out: "First gypsy ballads" that appeared in 1928.

The second era of García Lorca: trip to New York and change of aesthetics

We continue with this short biography of Federico García Lorca to place us in the second stage of his life. In 1929 the author went to New York, a city where he lived until 1932 and which strongly marked the poet's style and conception of the world. Upon his return, he founded "La Barraca", a theater company whose objective was to bring the dramatic art of the Golden Age (16th) to the small towns of Castile.

It is at this stage that García Lorca begins to have a strong interest in theater.. Why? Because he begins to have desires that society, the collective, educate itself and, therefore, there may be the change or social evolution that he longs for. During the last years of his life, Lorca was much more focused on theatrical creation than on the poetic and participated, not only in the creation of the plot, but also in the montage or in the props of each part.

In 1936 he returned to Granada, his hometown, where he was detained by the Franco regime and shot for his liberal and revolutionary ideas. Today, Federico García Lorca is the most widely read Spanish poet of all time, not only by Spanish readers but from around the world.

We continue with this short biography of Federico García Lorca to get closer to this Spanish genius and learn more about his work and his influence on our culture. Now let's talk about most important works of García Lorca Well, as we have already seen, this writer wrote and published a large number of poems and plays but, Among all his production, literary criticism has highlighted some of his works as the most important and essential.

The author began influenced by Modernism that came from Latin America with Rubén Darío at the most exponent, for this reason, he wrote very aesthetic poems with a careful lexical and a very debugged. But, as time went by, Lorca became deeply interested in the social reality of his country and, for this reason, he began to cultivate one of the most social literary genres there are: theater. It is for this reason that in the last years of his life we ​​find theatrical pieces of great literary importance.

Next we are going to detail the most important works of Lorca so that you know them and understand their importance within our literary history:

Poet in New York (written between 1929 and 1930)

Among the poetic works of García Lorca, the one that stands out the most is "Poet in New York", a compilation of texts that the author wrote due to his experience when he lived in this city American. It is the most important poetic piece by the author, according to the opinion of experienced critics. Thanks to this trip, Lorca abandoned his affiliation with popular poetry to get closer to the new currents promoted by the avant-garde, which meant a great change in the style of the poet.

Blood Wedding (1933)

This is one of Lorca's last publications and also one of the most important works in his bibliography. It is a drama that is based on real events and that tells us about the situation of two families that are in conflict but that, between some members, a love story is unleashed. It is a work highly influenced by Greek tragedy and, in fact, mythological beings such as Eros or Tanathos appear.

Yerma (1934)

It is another of the most important works by García Lorca andIn it, he portrays the drama of a woman who, no matter how hard she tries, never gets pregnant. Being a mother was the main vocation of the protagonist who is immersed in a maelstrom of despair and tragedy that will take her to the utmost madness. It is a piece that reflects the role of women in society, relegated to being a mother and honored, ideas that women themselves had deeply ingrained.

Bernarda Alba's house (1945)

He appeared after the death of García Lorca (who, remember, was shot at the beginning of the Civil War, in 1936). It is a work that is inspired by real events and that introduces us to Bernarda Alba, a woman who remains a widow and who decides to seclude himself in her house to fulfill the mourning, a decision that also involves his seven daughters. It is a piece that faithfully reflects the situation of women in Spain at the time where appearances counted more than any other emotion. In a Professor we analyze the Characteristics of the characters in La casa de Bernarda Alba

While doing a short biography of Federico García Lorca We have only mentioned these literary works, however, the author also signed many other pieces such as, for example, his compilation of poems "Romancero gitano" or his innovative play "El public".

After this summary of the biography of Federico García Lorca now we are going to focus on analyzing the importance of the author in literature. In any manual of literature, whether Spanish or universal, Lorca's name will appear obligatorily since he was one of the authors who managed to achieve great splendor with works such as those already mentioned above but, in addition, he was one of the members of the Generation of 27.

Let us remember that, at the end of the 19th century, we met the Generation of '98 that brought together a group of intellectuals who They had Modernism as their underlying motto and among which stood out personalities such as Miguel de Unamuno or Antonio Machado. In the following century, another group of Spanish intellectuals coincided with a strong will for change and improvement and that they baptized as Generación del 27, to which Lorca belonged along with other prominent artists such as Alberti, Jorge Guillén, Buñuel or Dalí.

The Spanish Civil War slowed the development of this group of intellectuals who began to experiment with art and literature inserting themselves into the avant-garde movements such as, for example, surrealism. Within the characteristics of the most important Generation of 27 On a literary and artistic level, we highlight the following:

• Aesthetic renovation: they want to abandon the aestheticism promoted by the modernists and bet on a new way of creating literature where the most classical limits and conditions are broken; the influence of surrealism
• Opening to the world: these authors drank from European and American sources to, thus, also find their own essence by valuing their classic authors. This is a complete revolution in the history of Spanish literature since, for the first time, there is no reject previous traditions but rather accept, inspire, and pretend to get better.
• Humanized theme: the authors of the generation of 27 talk about issues related to the human being, love, death, loneliness, and so on. In this way, they break with the modernist principle of "Art for art's sake" to bring lyrical expression closer to the personal and individual universe.

In general, the authors who belonged to this generation, as well as the work of García Lorca, lead a movement of affirmation of the Spanish tradition but, at the same time, of renewal of the same. Inspired by the own achievements made throughout history, it is possible to improve and evolve literature into new fields never before inspected.

In the work of García Lorca We can see how the man of letters placed us in traditional and traditional settings or motifs but contributed new literary and expressive forms that came from the avant-garde movements. In this way, we observe how in many of his works romanceros or traditional songs appear. while, in reality, the author is sending us a message of liberation of women or of the rupture of rules.

If you want to read more articles similar to Federico García Lorca: short biography, we recommend that you enter our category of History of Literature.