Federico Garcia Lorca wrote the Gypsy Ballads between 1924 and 1927.
When the book was published it caused a sensation in the literary world.
Drawing on the traditional Spanish ballad form, Lorca described his
Romancero Gitano as the poem of Andalucia...A book that hardly expresses
visible Andalusia at all, but where hidden Andalucia trembles . Seeking
to relate the nature of his proud and troubled region of Spain, he drew
on a traditional gypsy form; yet the homely, unpretentious style of
these poems barely disguises the undercurrents of conflicted identity
never far from Lorca s work. This bilingual edition, translated by Jane
Duran and Glora Garcia Lorca, is illuminated by photos and illustrations
of and by Lorca, his own reflections on the poems and introductory notes
by leading Lorca scholars: insights into the Romancero and the history
of the Spanish ballad form by Andres Soria Olmedo; notes on the
dedications by Manuel Fernandez-Montesinos; Lorca's 1935 lecture; and an
introduction by Professor Christopher Maurer to the problems and
challenges faced by translators of Lorca. True to the spirit of Lorca s
remarkable artistry, the book has been designed by John Morgan, one the
UK s most imaginative typographic designers, with a gradated green cloth
cover embossed on the front and back with Lorca s own playful line
drawings."
