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The House of Bernarda Alba and Other Plays

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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The House of Bernarda Alba and Other Plays by Federico García Lorca explores themes of repression, morality, and societal expectations within a small Spanish village. The titular play focuses on Bernarda Alba's tyrannical rule over her five daughters following the death of her husband. The collection delves into the struggles of these women under oppressive circumstances and Lorca's other plays continue to explore similar themes of human emotion and conflict within the constraints of social norms.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're intrigued by intense family dramas set in Spain, offering a blend of passion, tradition, and rebellion. The plays explore themes of oppression, freedom, and the social limitations faced by women, with rich symbolism and lyrical language that provide a deep emotional experience. If you appreciate stories that challenge societal norms with powerful female characters, this could be an engaging read for you.

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Includes the plays "The House of Bernarda Alba", "Yerma", and "Blood Wedding". These plays appeal for freedom and sexual and social equality.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

In The House of Bernarda Alba, a tyrannical matriarch rules over her house and five daughters, cruelly crushing their hopes and needs. The other plays here also portray female characters whose desires are tragically and violently frustrated—a woman's longing for a child in Yerma, and a bride's yearning for her lover in Blood Wedding.

All appeal for freedom and sexual and social equality, and are also passionate defences of the imagination—in Christopher Maurer's words, 'poetic drama unsurpassed by any writer of our time'.

Series: Penguin Modern Classics

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780141185750

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 26 April 2001

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Classics

Contributors:

  • Introduction by Christopher Maurer
  • Translated by Carmen Zapata
  • Translated by Michael Dewell

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 12.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 159g

Pages: 208

About the Author

Federico Garcia Lorca was born into an educated family of small landowners in Fuente Vaqueros in 1898. In 1928 his Gipsy-Ballad Book (Romancero gitano) received much public acclaim. In 1929 he went to New York with Fernando de los Rios and his volume of poems Poet in New York (Poeta en Nueva York) was published posthumously in 1940. On his return to republican Spain, he devoted himself to the theatre, as co-director of La Barraca, a government-sponsored student theatrical company that toured the country. He now wrote fewer poems, but these include his masterpiece Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias (Llanto por la muerte de Ignacio Sanchez Mejias, 1935), a lament for a dead bullfighter. He wrote classical plays, pantomimic interludes, puppet plays, La zapatera prodigiosa (1930) and three tragedies- Blood Wedding (Bodas de sangre, 1933), Yerma (1934) and The House of Bernarda Alba (La casa de Bernarda Alba, 1936). Just after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 he was murdered at Granada by Nationalist partisans, in mysterious circumstances.

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