Gypsy Ballads

Federico García Lorca (1898-1936), one of the most popular of modern European poets and playwrights, wrote the Gypsy Balladsbetween 1924 and 1927. When the book was published it caused a sensation, and controversy, 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 Andalucia at all, but where hidden Andalucia trembles.’

The Romancero is a kaleidoscope of sensory images, characters and story. This translation by Jane Duran and Gloria García Lorca adheres closely Lorca’s original meanings and metaphors, avoiding interpretations, to bring to an English-speaking reader the power of Lorca’s poetry.

This newly revised bilingual edition also includes an introduction to the Romancero and the history of the Spanish ballad form by Andrés Soria Olmedo; notes on the dedications by Manuel Fernández-Montesinos García; Lorca’s own talk on his book; and an introduction by Christopher Maurer to the problems and challenges faced by translators of the Gypsy Ballads.