SPAN 366 - Federico García Lorca: Theater and Poetry

When Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) was assassinated by Nationalist forces at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, he was already, at age 38, an internationally recognized author, highly admired within Spain and abroad. This course examines Lorca’s creative output, focusing mainly on his theater and poetry but also considering his visual art and work as director of La Barraca, a traveling theater company whose mission was to bring theater to rural areas. In our study of the author’s work, from Andalusian “folklore” poetry and early dramatic farces, to avant-garde works influenced by surrealism and cubism, to his trilogy of tragedies focusing on existential problems confronting women in rural Spain, we will examine how Lorca engages with artists like Salvador Dalí, film director Luis Buñuel, composer Manuel de Falla, and the critical debates of the early twentieth century. We will also consider theories of artistic practice like “duende” (in this context, artistic emotion) or the “cante jondo” (Andalusian “deep song” that is incorporated into flamenco music) that Lorca presents in published lectures and essays. Readings may include selected poems from the Romancero gitano, Poeta en Nueva York, and Diván del Tamarit, and the dramas Mariana Pineda, La zapatera prodigiosa, Bodas de sangre, Yerma, La casa de Bernarda Alba, and El público.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): SPAN 321
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Not offered: 2024-25
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).