Customer Reviews

Yerma (Spanish Edition)

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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.

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.

"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."

yerma is a book with a lot going for it from a literary point of view, but is difficult to read as a non-native speaker.

Esa obra no es el mejor de Lorca. La Casa de Bernarda Alba es el mejor.