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The Assassination of Federico Garcia Lorca
At dawn on the 19th of August 1936 Spaniards murdered the man who most profoundly embodied the poetic spirit of their country. Federico Garcia Lorca was the victim of the passions that arose in Spain as the Church, the military and the bourgeoisie embarked on their reckless and brutal repression of "undesirables". For Lorca was not a political man; he embraced Spain - from its struggling leftist movement to its most conservative traditions - with a love that transcended politics. His "crime" was his antipathy to pomposity, conformity and intolerance. For years the Spanish government suppressed the truth about Lorca's death.
In this recreation of the assassination, Ian Gibson redresses the wrong. Based on information only recently made available, this is an illumination not only of the death of a great poet, but of the atmosphere of Civil War Spain that allowed it to happen.
In this recreation of the assassination, Ian Gibson redresses the wrong. Based on information only recently made available, this is an illumination not only of the death of a great poet, but of the atmosphere of Civil War Spain that allowed it to happen.
288 pages, Paperback
First published May 26, 1983
17 people are currently reading
388 people want to read
About the author
Ian Gibson
242 books95 followersIan Gibson (born 21 April 1939) is an Irish author and Hispanist known for his biographies of Antonio Machado, Salvador Dalí, Henry Spencer Ashbee, and particularly his work on Federico García Lorca, for which he won several awards, including the 1989 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography. His work, La represión nacionalista de Granada en 1936 y la muerte de Federico García Lorca (The nationalistic repression of Granada in 1936 and the death of Federico García Lorca) was banned in Spain under Franco.
Born into a Methodist Dublin family, he was educated at Newtown School in Waterford and graduated from Trinity College, Dublin. He became a professor of Spanish literature at Belfast and London universities before moving to Spain. His first novel, Viento del Sur (Wind of the South, 2001), written in Spanish, examines class, religion, family life, and public schools in British society through the fictitious autobiography of a character named John Hill, an English linguist and academic. It won favourable reviews in Spain.
Gibson has also worked in television on projects centering around his scholarly work in Spanish history, having served as a historical consultant and even acting in one historical drama.
He was granted a Spanish passport in 1984.
Born into a Methodist Dublin family, he was educated at Newtown School in Waterford and graduated from Trinity College, Dublin. He became a professor of Spanish literature at Belfast and London universities before moving to Spain. His first novel, Viento del Sur (Wind of the South, 2001), written in Spanish, examines class, religion, family life, and public schools in British society through the fictitious autobiography of a character named John Hill, an English linguist and academic. It won favourable reviews in Spain.
Gibson has also worked in television on projects centering around his scholarly work in Spanish history, having served as a historical consultant and even acting in one historical drama.
He was granted a Spanish passport in 1984.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
December 10, 2018
Llevaba varios años esperando a leer una de las obras de Ian Gibson relacionadas con la vida de García Lorca, uno de mis escritores favoritos.
En primer lugar, es necesario indicar que no se trata de un libro adaptado a todos los públicos, es decir, los primeros capítulos son todos datos sobre la Guerra Civil y los años anteriores y posteriores. Por tanto, el lector que decida introducirse en esta obra, debería ser consciente y conocedor de cierta base histórica para no sentirse totalmente perdido.
Por otro lado, Ian Gibson nos muestra un análisis de la persecución que sufrió el poeta en primer lugar en Madrid y posteriormente en Granada, pasando por sus últimos días y las diferentes teorías que pudieran existir en su detención.
Aunque estas páginas resultan apasionantes e incluso angustiosas (aunque todos sepamos el trágico final que sufrió el poeta), no me parecen demasiado fiables las fuentes que usa el propio Gibson, ya que se basa en testigos como: familiares, sepultureros, militares... En entrevistas que hizo el propio Gibson en los años sesenta. En la mayoría de los casos, estos testigos son personas muy mayores que olvidan y tergiversan según les convenga y desde el punto de vista de los investigadores no resultan fuentes fiables.
Por último y concluyendo, se trata de un libro que he disfrutado muchísimo pero no es literatura, tampoco es ficción sino una tesis argumentada con diferentes fuentes periodísticas, documentos escritos, epístolas, fotografías y entrevistas, por lo tanto, no es una obra para todos los públicos sino para aquellos que les interese con mayor profundidad lo que ocurrió con el mejor poeta granadino de todos los tiempos.
April 5, 2025
Estoy tan enfadada después de terminar este libro que no puedo escribir nada más. Qué pena, qué tristeza que todavía hoy solo podamos llenarlo todo con sus versos porque aún no sabemos dónde llenarle de flores.
April 14, 2021
Antes de empezar la lectura de este libro ya sabía que no me iba a dejar indiferente. Y es que, no solo trata de la investigación del asesinato y la desaparición de uno de los poetas más ilustres que ha tenido España, sino también de la de miles de ciudadanos españoles. El número de víctimas desaparecidas en fosas comunes en España durante el régimen franquista alcanza más de 115000.
El asesinato de Lorca dio que hablar inmediatamente después del mismo. Verdades, medio verdades y simples conjeturas se dijeron en las décadas siguientes. Por ello, la investigación de este y otros asesinatos ha sido harto difícil, y más teniendo en cuenta el silenciamiento de los mismos por el régimen franquista.
Durante la lectura podemos ir viendo como el autor ha seguido las investigaciones que otros autores extranjeros ya hicieron en su día. La investigación por parte de españoles era imposible y peligrosa. Además, habla con mucha gente que rodeó a García Lorca durante sus últimos días. Se trata de una investigación muy completa cuyo final queda abierto ya que aún no se han encontrado los restos del poeta español. El autor también anima al Gobierno de este país a desenterrar todas las fosas comunes que existen a lo ancho y largo del territorio español. Muchas de ellas son fácilmente reconocibles ya que todo el mundo sabe dónde se encuentran.
La edición de este libro cuenta con varias páginas de fotografías y documentos esenciales durante la investigación del asesinato de García Lorca. Tras un epílogo lleno de esperanza en poder recuperar los huesos de todas las víctimas del régimen franquista, el autor nos ofrece varios apéndices con documentos importantes citados en este libro. Después aparecen las notas de cada página numeradas y clasificadas según el capítulo en el que se encuentran, además de una amplísima bibliografía utilizada en la escritura del volumen.
Aunque el autor Ian Gibson nació en Dublín, más tarde, en 1984 se hizo ciudadano español. Y es que es un amante de nuestra cultura, arte y literatura. Ha escrito más libros sobre nuestro país y sobre otros artistas españoles además de participar en programas culturales de televisión. La lectura impactante pero muy conocida del caso de Lorca me ha resultado a ratos indignante y triste, pero me ha contagiado la esperanza del autor por terminar de zanjar el asunto de una manera justa para todos los españoles, y no solo para unos pocos.
El asesinato de Lorca dio que hablar inmediatamente después del mismo. Verdades, medio verdades y simples conjeturas se dijeron en las décadas siguientes. Por ello, la investigación de este y otros asesinatos ha sido harto difícil, y más teniendo en cuenta el silenciamiento de los mismos por el régimen franquista.
Durante la lectura podemos ir viendo como el autor ha seguido las investigaciones que otros autores extranjeros ya hicieron en su día. La investigación por parte de españoles era imposible y peligrosa. Además, habla con mucha gente que rodeó a García Lorca durante sus últimos días. Se trata de una investigación muy completa cuyo final queda abierto ya que aún no se han encontrado los restos del poeta español. El autor también anima al Gobierno de este país a desenterrar todas las fosas comunes que existen a lo ancho y largo del territorio español. Muchas de ellas son fácilmente reconocibles ya que todo el mundo sabe dónde se encuentran.
La edición de este libro cuenta con varias páginas de fotografías y documentos esenciales durante la investigación del asesinato de García Lorca. Tras un epílogo lleno de esperanza en poder recuperar los huesos de todas las víctimas del régimen franquista, el autor nos ofrece varios apéndices con documentos importantes citados en este libro. Después aparecen las notas de cada página numeradas y clasificadas según el capítulo en el que se encuentran, además de una amplísima bibliografía utilizada en la escritura del volumen.
Aunque el autor Ian Gibson nació en Dublín, más tarde, en 1984 se hizo ciudadano español. Y es que es un amante de nuestra cultura, arte y literatura. Ha escrito más libros sobre nuestro país y sobre otros artistas españoles además de participar en programas culturales de televisión. La lectura impactante pero muy conocida del caso de Lorca me ha resultado a ratos indignante y triste, pero me ha contagiado la esperanza del autor por terminar de zanjar el asunto de una manera justa para todos los españoles, y no solo para unos pocos.
October 29, 2024
muy bien documentado y escrito con un estilo muy claro. con muchas ganas de leer la biografía de lorca escrita por el mismo autor
November 16, 2019
An in-depth investigation into the murder of Spain's greatest poet by fascist militia, as well as a wider exploration of Franco-era barbarism. As we witness the return of Spanish fascism with Vox, the message of this book is more timely than ever.
December 20, 2015
Every page of this book I shiver at least twice. More about the events that took place in Granada during the lead up to fascist rule than about the poet, it is sickening to read of the catholic fervour and nationalist barbarity that lead to so many civilians being slaughtered. The poet calls himself revolutionary and not political, his words about the land in which he was born, the only comfort.
June 19, 2016
Having just visited Granada for the first time, I found this book fascinating. It was written in the 1970s, the author having spoken to many witnesses of the horrific events of the Spanish civil war, in Granada. I realised again the peculiar barbarity of a civil war, where legitimised by the conflict, people can settle old grievances with a vicious brutality.
February 28, 2024
Sometimes the simple act of remembering is political. History is, unfortunately, replete with crimes that one government or another would prefer to remain hidden. And, certainly, forgetting is probably easier for everyone involved—less traumatic, more convenient—even, perhaps, for those who have suffered a loss. Thus, whenever some busybody like Ian Gibson begins stirring up old trouble, the accusation of “opening up old wounds” is inevitably trotted out (ironically, by the ones who did the wounding in the first place).
And yet, even if it is not entirely logical—even if what is done is done, and nothing can change that—some sense of moral duty, of obligation to victims who are beyond all human help, seems to compel us nevertheless to reach back into the past and seek justice. This book is imbued with that sense—perhaps a quixotic sense—of ethical duty, as Gibson attempts to nudge the moral balance of the universe back in the right direction.
He first establishes that Lorca was anything but the apolitical flower child that he is sometimes portrayed as. It is true that Lorca was perhaps somewhat naïve and, in general, was averse to party politics (he repeatedly refused to join the communist party). But he was politically active and unambiguously allied with the left, as was evident by several public declarations. Indeed, the idea that Lorca was, in his final days, converting to the fascist cause—an openly homosexual poet who dramatized the evils of conservative Catholicism!—was never anything but laughable.
Gibson then does his best to establish the events that lead to Lorca’s death in Granada, using interviews with witnesses (admittedly many years after the fact) to pin down as many details as he can. In the process, he gives the reader a sense of the climate of terror and repression that engulfed Granada in the opening days of the military uprising—jails packed to bursting, mass graves filled by firing squads, a knock on the door at midnight to go “take a walk.” In the process, he also lays to rest another myth of Lorca’s murder, that he was somehow killed by uncontrollable elements of the falangist party—a random act of violence, in other words. On the contrary, Lorca’s death was the product of an intentional campaign of “purification,” approved of and organized by the authorities.
This book might not have had such an impact on me had I not visited Granada as I was on the final pages. Though I had read many of Lorca’s works before the visit, he was still just a historical personage for me—one of Spain’s many dead poets. But visiting his former houses (there are several, as his family was very wealthy) transformed him into somebody startlingly real and close. I saw the piano that he liked to noodle on, the writing desk on which he wrote his most famous plays, and even hand-drawn theater backdrops to be used in a puppet show for his baby sister.
This trip culminated in a visit to the Barranco de Víznar, the place of his execution. We arrived on a foggy Sunday morning and followed the path into the woods. Soon, we came upon several white tents, which covered the excavations sites of mass graves. The trees around the site were covered with laminated posters bearing the names and faces of those executed there—professors, politicians, farmers, pharmacists, music teachers... In the center was a simple memorial covered in flowers, with the inscription “They were all Lorca.”
So far, the remains of dozens of individuals have been recovered there by a team of investigators, though none have yet been identified by DNA tests. That this excavation had to wait nearly 100 years to take place is a measure of the silence—imposed, in an attempt to forget—that followed the Spanish Civil War. But relatives of the victims have kept their memories alive, and now they are perhaps receiving some modicum of justice. Even today, memorializing these victims takes courage. Just last week, a hiker was assaulted at that very place by a man screaming “There aren’t many buried here!” The hiker was hospitalized. But the work continues.
_______________________
You can follow the instagram of those who are excavating at the Barranco de Víznar here:
https://www.instagram.com/universidad...
And yet, even if it is not entirely logical—even if what is done is done, and nothing can change that—some sense of moral duty, of obligation to victims who are beyond all human help, seems to compel us nevertheless to reach back into the past and seek justice. This book is imbued with that sense—perhaps a quixotic sense—of ethical duty, as Gibson attempts to nudge the moral balance of the universe back in the right direction.
He first establishes that Lorca was anything but the apolitical flower child that he is sometimes portrayed as. It is true that Lorca was perhaps somewhat naïve and, in general, was averse to party politics (he repeatedly refused to join the communist party). But he was politically active and unambiguously allied with the left, as was evident by several public declarations. Indeed, the idea that Lorca was, in his final days, converting to the fascist cause—an openly homosexual poet who dramatized the evils of conservative Catholicism!—was never anything but laughable.
Gibson then does his best to establish the events that lead to Lorca’s death in Granada, using interviews with witnesses (admittedly many years after the fact) to pin down as many details as he can. In the process, he gives the reader a sense of the climate of terror and repression that engulfed Granada in the opening days of the military uprising—jails packed to bursting, mass graves filled by firing squads, a knock on the door at midnight to go “take a walk.” In the process, he also lays to rest another myth of Lorca’s murder, that he was somehow killed by uncontrollable elements of the falangist party—a random act of violence, in other words. On the contrary, Lorca’s death was the product of an intentional campaign of “purification,” approved of and organized by the authorities.
This book might not have had such an impact on me had I not visited Granada as I was on the final pages. Though I had read many of Lorca’s works before the visit, he was still just a historical personage for me—one of Spain’s many dead poets. But visiting his former houses (there are several, as his family was very wealthy) transformed him into somebody startlingly real and close. I saw the piano that he liked to noodle on, the writing desk on which he wrote his most famous plays, and even hand-drawn theater backdrops to be used in a puppet show for his baby sister.
This trip culminated in a visit to the Barranco de Víznar, the place of his execution. We arrived on a foggy Sunday morning and followed the path into the woods. Soon, we came upon several white tents, which covered the excavations sites of mass graves. The trees around the site were covered with laminated posters bearing the names and faces of those executed there—professors, politicians, farmers, pharmacists, music teachers... In the center was a simple memorial covered in flowers, with the inscription “They were all Lorca.”
So far, the remains of dozens of individuals have been recovered there by a team of investigators, though none have yet been identified by DNA tests. That this excavation had to wait nearly 100 years to take place is a measure of the silence—imposed, in an attempt to forget—that followed the Spanish Civil War. But relatives of the victims have kept their memories alive, and now they are perhaps receiving some modicum of justice. Even today, memorializing these victims takes courage. Just last week, a hiker was assaulted at that very place by a man screaming “There aren’t many buried here!” The hiker was hospitalized. But the work continues.
_______________________
You can follow the instagram of those who are excavating at the Barranco de Víznar here:
https://www.instagram.com/universidad...
July 17, 2020
While, in my view, the book could be improved structurally by placing the last Chapter at the beginning to provide some historiographical context, this is a tremendous work of historical deduction about a tragic death aming a litany of tragic deaths at this time. The Chapter detailing Lorca's days in captivity just before his death is a particularly astute piece of work and Gibson offers compelling and rational reasons to support the perspectives he takes on his sources and the overall conclusions he draws regarding the reasons for Lorca's death. He handily dismantles Schonberg's 'homosexual jealousy' thesis in one of several useful appendices and details the harm that such a thesis has had on the overall examination on the poet's murder. Not only is the subject matter of this book enough to maintain one's interest for its entire run but it is written with a clarity and a rhythmn that belie the deep historical legwork that forms its foundation. It is a shame that the English version of this worknis not yet available in electronic form as this work deserves to be introduced to a new audience.
June 22, 2025
“I will always be on the side of those who have nothing, of those to whom even the peace of nothingness is denied.”
In practice, institutional religion, when in power, is overwhelmingly authoritarian. As such, organized religion and fascism — while somewhat openly disliking each other — are nonetheless the outward embodiment of an attitude of mind that varies only in its degree of intensity and in the lengths to which they are prepared to go in pursuit of their aims.
They are different masks worn by the same authoritarian impulse - different in language, but united in purpose: submission, obedience, and hierarchy in service of a singular way of life. A narrow, imposed vision of what is and what should be - enforced conformity and suppressed plurality.
In short: really boring - not just stultifying, but literally lacking imagination.
Good stuff, wish I read it earlier…
In practice, institutional religion, when in power, is overwhelmingly authoritarian. As such, organized religion and fascism — while somewhat openly disliking each other — are nonetheless the outward embodiment of an attitude of mind that varies only in its degree of intensity and in the lengths to which they are prepared to go in pursuit of their aims.
They are different masks worn by the same authoritarian impulse - different in language, but united in purpose: submission, obedience, and hierarchy in service of a singular way of life. A narrow, imposed vision of what is and what should be - enforced conformity and suppressed plurality.
In short: really boring - not just stultifying, but literally lacking imagination.
Good stuff, wish I read it earlier…
May 9, 2023
Libro apasionante que narra, además de la reconstrucción del asesinato de Lorca, las condiciones que se dieron para que esto sucediera, así como una descripción muy detallada sobre los personajes que participaron en el hecho. Lo recomiendo encarecidamente de cara a la comprensión total de la historia vital del poeta y para desmentir muchas de las leyendas que se tienen en torno al suceso. Desde luego, muy buen trabajo de investigación por parte de uno de los mejores hispanistas actuales: Ian Gibson.
August 14, 2023
Libro de obligada lectura para los amantes de Lorca y la guerra civil española.
El autor nos cuenta (extraordinariamente documentado) todo lo que se supone que ocurrió los días antes y después de la muerte del poeta universal granadino.
Mucha documentación , entrevistas , apéndices, nombres propios.
Es el trabajo de toda una vida por lo que os lo recomiendo si queréis saber algo más sobre los motivos de la muerte de Lorca y donde se creen que siguen sus restos.
No hay mucho más que decir salvo que os recomiendo muchísimo su lectura.
El autor nos cuenta (extraordinariamente documentado) todo lo que se supone que ocurrió los días antes y después de la muerte del poeta universal granadino.
Mucha documentación , entrevistas , apéndices, nombres propios.
Es el trabajo de toda una vida por lo que os lo recomiendo si queréis saber algo más sobre los motivos de la muerte de Lorca y donde se creen que siguen sus restos.
No hay mucho más que decir salvo que os recomiendo muchísimo su lectura.
December 31, 2024
El libro narra los últimos días y horas de la vida de Federico García Lorca, el odio, la sed de venganza, las mentiras y las incoherencias de todo el proceso.
Una pena, porque perdimos una de las grandes veces de la generación del 27
Una pena, porque perdimos una de las grandes veces de la generación del 27
September 12, 2025
«Quiero dormir un rato,
un rato, un minuto, un siglo;
pero que todos sepan que no he muerto;
que hay un establo de oro en mis labios;
que soy el pequeño amigo del viento Oeste;
que soy la sombra inmensa de mis lágrimas.»
'Gacela de la muerte oscura', Federico García Lorca.
un rato, un minuto, un siglo;
pero que todos sepan que no he muerto;
que hay un establo de oro en mis labios;
que soy el pequeño amigo del viento Oeste;
que soy la sombra inmensa de mis lágrimas.»
'Gacela de la muerte oscura', Federico García Lorca.
April 20, 2024
Interesante, pero demasiadas opiniones personales y excesiva información complementaria que no aporta mucho. Sin embargo, parece un buen libro para citar en ensayos y trabajos de investigación.
October 31, 2024
A deep and humanising investigation.
June 16, 2019
On my second reading of this book right now. I got this as a Christmas gift from my Spanish girlfriend in December 2017 following a summer holiday to Granada that year. To be honest, i hadn’t heard of Federico Garcia Lorca at that point (poetry isn’t really my thing, but history and Spain are). Unfortunately for her it inspired another trip to Granada the following summer to look more closely at the locations mentioned in this harrowing story (Fuente Vaqueros, Huerta de San Vicente, the Rosales house, etc).
Ian Gibson’s writing is, I find, incredibly accessible. Historically informative with barely a hint of the dryness that could so easily have ruined another book. This is not just Lorca’s story, it’s a story of Granada. It’s a story of a city often caught up at the centre of Spain’s violent and artistic history. Without Granada there would be no Lorca, and without Lorca Granada’s beauty would have certainly had a lesser impact on many who read about her.
This is a fascinating read but also a sad one. We learn about the years and months preceding the nationalist revolution and the incredibly dark consequences of its aftermath. It’s clearly no spoiler to say that Lorca was murdered during the first weeks of the war, but the way we get there, through Gibson, is one in which I’m sure will intrigue you enough to visit Granada yourselves. It’s one of my favourite cities and this is one of its darkest, most interesting stories.
Ian Gibson’s writing is, I find, incredibly accessible. Historically informative with barely a hint of the dryness that could so easily have ruined another book. This is not just Lorca’s story, it’s a story of Granada. It’s a story of a city often caught up at the centre of Spain’s violent and artistic history. Without Granada there would be no Lorca, and without Lorca Granada’s beauty would have certainly had a lesser impact on many who read about her.
This is a fascinating read but also a sad one. We learn about the years and months preceding the nationalist revolution and the incredibly dark consequences of its aftermath. It’s clearly no spoiler to say that Lorca was murdered during the first weeks of the war, but the way we get there, through Gibson, is one in which I’m sure will intrigue you enough to visit Granada yourselves. It’s one of my favourite cities and this is one of its darkest, most interesting stories.
May 16, 2019
Lorca es, sin duda, la mejor persona que ha dado este país en toda su historia.
Read
October 26, 2014A pesar del largo periodo de tiempo transcurrido, recuerdo este libro ademas por su contenido, que es harto conocido, porque en esa epoca, lo leí en 1.982 hace 32 años, el autor estaba bastante de moda y aparecía un día si y otro también en las televisiones.
El autor es de izquierdas y en ese año los socialistas ganaron las elecciones, con lo cual parece que intentaron justificar lo malos que eran los de un bando y lo bueno que eran los otros, o sea ellos, durante la lamentable guerra civil.
Tengo la idea que el planteamiento era un tanto sectario y que no me gusto en exceso.
El autor es de izquierdas y en ese año los socialistas ganaron las elecciones, con lo cual parece que intentaron justificar lo malos que eran los de un bando y lo bueno que eran los otros, o sea ellos, durante la lamentable guerra civil.
Tengo la idea que el planteamiento era un tanto sectario y que no me gusto en exceso.
August 29, 2018
Excelente ejercicio de investigación con información actualizada sobre las circunstancias durante los primeras semanas de la Guerra Civil, como afectó este clima de guerra a la vida de Federico García Lorca, su ejecución, y la posterior manipulación del régimen sobre este asesinato. Muy bien explicado y excelentemente documentado (para mi ha sido lo mejor del libro toda la documentación que provee sobre la información que comenta en el libro. Se deja leer muy rápido a pesar de su grosor.
August 27, 2018
Me ha gustado mucho la manera de afrontar este asunto del autor, con una documentación bastante trabajada. Sobran algunas opiniones personales, y he encontrado algunos fallos en datos, fechas y lugares. Asimismo, la tipografía de ciertos testimonios debería haber sido más diferenciada de la del texto normal.
March 19, 2016
VERY detailed account
August 21, 2024
Siempre agradecida con la existencia de Gibson y la cantidad de datos inéditos que nos dota de la vida del hombre de mi vida.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews