Federico Garcia Lorca : from Art to Political Assassination in Spain
Federico Garcia Lorca had a very long original name; it was Federico del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus Garcia Lorca. He was known as a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. His worldwide fame was achieved when he became the member of the Generation of 27. This was a group of artists; mostly poets who came with the tenets of European movements like symbolism, surrealism, and futurism into Spanish art and literature. Sadly, his death was also iconic as he was executed by the Nationalist Forces and his body was never been found.
Early Life
Garcia Lorca was born on June 5, 1898 in Fuente Vaqueros. This was a small town near Granada, Southern Spain. His parents were a wealthy landlord and a teacher. When he was 11, his family moved into Granada where he had a chance to attend the University of Granada after graduating from secondary school in 1915. He spent his teenage time by learning music, literature, and even law. However, he was more interested in music at the beginning as he learnt piano for six years. Meanwhile, he was also inspired by Chopin, Beethoven, and Debussy in term of musical artistry.
Literature Career
Garcia Lorca made friends with some fellow artists where later became the most influential artists in Spain. Those friends are including Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali. Meanwhile, he was also in a good relationship with poet Juan Ramon Jiminez and Gregoria Martinez Sierra, a director. He found an opportunity to write and stage his first play entitled The Butterfly’s Evil Spell that told the audience about a love story between a cockroach and butterfly. Next, he published his first book in 1921with particular themes like the faith and nature. Other notable works are poetry collections including Canciones, Romancero Gitano, Mariana Pineda, The Shoemaker’s Prodigious Wife, and some others. After the success of his plays, poems, and books, Garcia Lorca travelled to US in June 1929 with his friend, Fernando de os Rios and stayed in New York City. He enrolled English major Columbia University School of General Studies.
Back to Spain
He was back to Spain in 1930 for politic issues including the fall of Primo de Rivera, a dictator ruler and the establishment of the second Spanish Republic. In 1931, he was the director of student theatre company, Teatro Universitario La Baracca. La Baracca founded some tours in which he spared his time during the tour to write some other best-known plays; the Rural Trilogy of Blood Wedding, Yerma, and The House of Bernarda Alba. Those plays were against the norms of Bourgeois Spanish society.
The Assassination
The political and social tension leads the assassination of several spokesmen including Garcia Lorca. He was arrested in August 18, 1936 and it was estimated that he was shot a day later by Nationalist Militia. It was reported in 1965 that Garcia Lorca was a socialist who did several abnormal practices like homosexual. Until now, the details of his assassination were known yet. Aside from that, his body also has never been found. There was a place near Alfacar where it was thought that his body was there. However, there were no human remains found.
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