Yerma (Spanish Edition) [Paperback]

Federico Garcia Lorca (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 8423918807 | ISBN-13: 978-8423918805 | Publication Date: January 1997 | Edition: 1st.

The second of Lorca's great trilogy of rural dramas, Yerma is a concentrated 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 powerful 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 turbulent 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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Como repetidamente declaro Federico Garcia Lorca, Yerma&, es una tragedia con un solo tema (la mujer esteril) y un caracter en progresivo desarrollo. A traves del largo tiempo dramatico, Yerma lucha desesperadamente con su verdad, que cada vez se vuelve mas conflictiva y no ceja en ello hasta consumarla. La resolucion final la muerte del marido es la ultima defensa de su sueno imposible y una afirmacion rotunda de su destino tragico ante la ciega fatalidad. --Los editores --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: Spanish, English --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Continental Book Company; 1st. edition (January 1997)
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN-10: 8423918807
• ISBN-13: 978-8423918805
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,397,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3 and 1/2 Stars -- Improved Lorca but Not His Best, February 10, 2010

By 

Bill R. Moore (New York, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Yerma (Student Editions) (Paperback)

Yerma has a more original focus than prior Lorca plays, centering on his time and place with significant universal overtones - the tragedy that results when women are unable to have children in a culture leaving them little else. The play is unsurprisingly a feminist favorite, but anyone with empathy for people in sad situations will see much pathos. Yerma vividly dramatizes the repression of women in early twentieth-century rural Spain, throwing their trials and travails into sharp relief against the general culture. We quickly see how unjust it was, but Lorca knows better than to offer a simple solution, instead showing the tragedy that comes from this very lack. However, reducing the play to didactic status does it something of a disservice, as its empathy for women is sadly not universal. Perhaps more importantly, Yerma is a highly memorable character who earns our sympathy despite carrying her obsession to what can only be called psychosis and committing an unjustifiable act. Dramatically, Yerma sheds early plays' Greek tragedy influence for an intense focus on a single theme and character. Yerma is onstage nearly the whole time and always the focus. Her part is one of modern theater's most difficult; only a tremendous actor could do it convincingly. We can see a definite growth in Lorca's art, with him pushing modern theater's boundaries in more than one way, though this is still not his best play.

3 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yerma, November 30, 2004

By 

Ellison Canary "Ellison" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yerma (Spanish Edition) (Paperback)

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.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A woman's pain, May 28, 2004

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Yerma (Absolute Classics S.) (Paperback)

"Yerma," the play by Federico Garcia Lorca, has been adapted by Pam Gems in the version I read. Gems also wrote the introduction to the book, in which she praises Lorca as one of Spain's greatest artists of all time. A note before the beginning of the play notes that this adaptation was first presented in Manchester in 2003.

The title character of Yerma is a rural wife who is frustrated because she has not yet given birth to a child. The play follows her conflict with her husband and interactions with other characters. "Yerma" certainly raises some important issues: marriage, gender roles, motherhood, trust, and honor. And there is some wonderfully poetic language. But overall I found this play dull and uninteresting; moreover, the characters never really engaged me. For better examples of Gems' talent, I suggest the fine plays "Marlene" and "The Snow Palace."