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Death of Lorca
English, Spanish (translation)
224 pages, Paperback
First published June 28, 1973
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 19, 2014
A brilliant book. I read it some time ago. The best analysis and understanding of the Spanish Civil War I've read. To read again.
August 2, 2021
A shameful episode in Spain's history. Pinpointing this particular murder among the many atrocities of the Spanish Civil War works really well as an introductory path into the overall conflict. This book does not attempt to describe the entire war as it occurred throughout the country, but focuses on one incident in Granada to comment upon the overarching politics, propaganda and violence that engulfed a nation. It also, of course, provides a succinct biographical outline of Lorca.
The tangible fear of those Gibson has interviewed for this book, 30 years after the event, speaks volumes about the sustained terror of reprisals that continued into the 60s and 70s in Spain.
The tangible fear of those Gibson has interviewed for this book, 30 years after the event, speaks volumes about the sustained terror of reprisals that continued into the 60s and 70s in Spain.
April 14, 2019
A very interesting read about a dangerous time in Spain. Lorca was in Madrid when the rebellion started. Some friends warned him not to return to Granada. Granada fell quickly to the Nationalists. He knew there was danger in returning home to Granada, but felt he would be safe there, he had family and friends there who would help him, which was true, though it wasn't enough to save his life. Lorca stood with the Republic, the poor, the working class; his views and lifestyle (he was gay) were widely known and abhorrent to many on the right who claimed he was a "red".
August 8, 2019
This comes across as a detailed examination of all the sources, living or written, in 1974 regarding the death of the Spanish poet, Lorca. It also covers the political background at the time, which is essential to an understanding of the events leading up to his death. It does not come to a definitive answer either on the question of who actually killed him, where, or when. It does rule out it a number of the wilder theories. It also underlines the brutal realities of civil war in general. Not an easy read.
June 10, 2021
A verbal minefield of conjecture with far too many players, dead end streets and reads more like an extremely well written, well researched and objective thesis than an answer to a perplexing mystery.
It is however a must for anyone that loves Lorca or Spain.
"You foreigners, you're all the same! You come here to find out about Fredrico's death, yet you don't know a damn thing about what really happened in Granada in 1936." - Gerardo Ros
Guilty as charged.
It is however a must for anyone that loves Lorca or Spain.
"You foreigners, you're all the same! You come here to find out about Fredrico's death, yet you don't know a damn thing about what really happened in Granada in 1936." - Gerardo Ros
Guilty as charged.
December 22, 2023
Very well researched and written. The book was at points a tad niche for my taste by for anyone interested in Frederico Lorca this book is a must.
August 29, 2024
Through tireless research this book helps to shine a light on events that have been tirelessly hidden.
May 24, 2019
In days when even the spokesman for the US President forgets the history of World War II in claiming that Hitler didn't kill his own countrymen with chemical weapons, what chance that anyone walking the street will cast a thought back to the Spanish Civil War, that terrible precursor to the worldwide conflagration that began six months after the final Republican surrender?
And yet the history of that war keeps coming back to haunt us. Recently Spain has been grappling with the horrors that occurred during the war, and the cover-ups and mendacities that happened after it under the long tight grip of the Franco regime.
This book, by English academic Ian Gibson, was written in the final years of Franco, and was the first disinterested attempt to find out what happened in the final days of Federico Garcia Lorca, certainly the most famous Spanish poet of the Twentieth Century. His murder was one of the early outrages to occur in the Civil War, and became a stain that the Nationalists were desperate to eradicate from their history for many years.
Gibson was in the fortunate position to be in Granada in the late 1960s, and could speak to people who were in the town at the time when the initial uprising occurred, and who were eye-witnesses to many of the horrible events of that time. He begins the book with some short chapters on Lorca, and his relationship with the Republic, and on the twists and turns of Spanish electoral history in the 1920s and 30s that led up to the attempted coup.
He describes in some detail the fall of Granada, and the brutal repression that followed, in which thousands of people were summarily executed (Gibson puts the figure somewhere between 5,000 and 25,000 people). Many old enmities were expunged in the name of the country, and countless innocents were caught in the horrible terror that ran from July 1936 well into the next year.
Lorca's heart was with the Republic and the peasants, and he was widely seen as left-wing, but was hardly a great presence on the political stage. At the outbreak of the rebellion he felt he had to leave Madrid for his hometown of Granada, not from a feeling that he would necessarily be safer there, but because he wanted to be near his family.
It was not long after the Nationalists took Granada that Lorca realised that he was going to become a target for the new regime, and so he turned to one of his good friends, Luis Rosales, who was in fact a member of the Nationalist hierarchy in Granada - a member of the Falange. Rosales sheltered him in his house for several days.
However, as Gibson's detective work shows, there were other forces at work. One of those forces took shape in the figure of Ramon Ruiz Alonso, a failed right-wing politico with a grudge against Rosales. He organised a raid on the house while Rosales was at the front, and took Lorca to the Civil Government Building and handed the poet over to Valdes, the governor. It seems clear that Lorca was kept in this building for several days: Valdes was unsure what to do with his famous "prisoner", until his superior, the infamous Quiepo de Llano, instructed that Lorca was to be shot. Gibson was probably the first to find out the exact chronology and location surrounding his murder - he was taken a short distance out of Granada, shot in the back of the neck and buried.
The Nationalist forces soon realised that the murder was a great mistake, and if the truth got out it would be a propaganda coup for the Republicans. And so a campaign of obscufation began, which surrounded the facts with a farrago of half-truths, outright lies and conspiracy theories. Gibson devotes some time to each of theses, shooting them down when he can, and pointing out holes in others. It doesn't help when people with an intimate role in Lorca's final days swear to conflicting stories about what happened.
As can be the case, this book about a single life throws the appalling massacre that occurred in Spain in sharp relief - as Gibson writes in the final paragraph of this book "Had Federico not died that morning in Viznar, the thousands of other innocent, but less well known, granadinos liquidated by the rebels might have been forgotten. As it is they will be remembered long after those responsible for the repression have passed into oblivion."
An interesting and educative read.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
And yet the history of that war keeps coming back to haunt us. Recently Spain has been grappling with the horrors that occurred during the war, and the cover-ups and mendacities that happened after it under the long tight grip of the Franco regime.
This book, by English academic Ian Gibson, was written in the final years of Franco, and was the first disinterested attempt to find out what happened in the final days of Federico Garcia Lorca, certainly the most famous Spanish poet of the Twentieth Century. His murder was one of the early outrages to occur in the Civil War, and became a stain that the Nationalists were desperate to eradicate from their history for many years.
Gibson was in the fortunate position to be in Granada in the late 1960s, and could speak to people who were in the town at the time when the initial uprising occurred, and who were eye-witnesses to many of the horrible events of that time. He begins the book with some short chapters on Lorca, and his relationship with the Republic, and on the twists and turns of Spanish electoral history in the 1920s and 30s that led up to the attempted coup.
He describes in some detail the fall of Granada, and the brutal repression that followed, in which thousands of people were summarily executed (Gibson puts the figure somewhere between 5,000 and 25,000 people). Many old enmities were expunged in the name of the country, and countless innocents were caught in the horrible terror that ran from July 1936 well into the next year.
Lorca's heart was with the Republic and the peasants, and he was widely seen as left-wing, but was hardly a great presence on the political stage. At the outbreak of the rebellion he felt he had to leave Madrid for his hometown of Granada, not from a feeling that he would necessarily be safer there, but because he wanted to be near his family.
It was not long after the Nationalists took Granada that Lorca realised that he was going to become a target for the new regime, and so he turned to one of his good friends, Luis Rosales, who was in fact a member of the Nationalist hierarchy in Granada - a member of the Falange. Rosales sheltered him in his house for several days.
However, as Gibson's detective work shows, there were other forces at work. One of those forces took shape in the figure of Ramon Ruiz Alonso, a failed right-wing politico with a grudge against Rosales. He organised a raid on the house while Rosales was at the front, and took Lorca to the Civil Government Building and handed the poet over to Valdes, the governor. It seems clear that Lorca was kept in this building for several days: Valdes was unsure what to do with his famous "prisoner", until his superior, the infamous Quiepo de Llano, instructed that Lorca was to be shot. Gibson was probably the first to find out the exact chronology and location surrounding his murder - he was taken a short distance out of Granada, shot in the back of the neck and buried.
The Nationalist forces soon realised that the murder was a great mistake, and if the truth got out it would be a propaganda coup for the Republicans. And so a campaign of obscufation began, which surrounded the facts with a farrago of half-truths, outright lies and conspiracy theories. Gibson devotes some time to each of theses, shooting them down when he can, and pointing out holes in others. It doesn't help when people with an intimate role in Lorca's final days swear to conflicting stories about what happened.
As can be the case, this book about a single life throws the appalling massacre that occurred in Spain in sharp relief - as Gibson writes in the final paragraph of this book "Had Federico not died that morning in Viznar, the thousands of other innocent, but less well known, granadinos liquidated by the rebels might have been forgotten. As it is they will be remembered long after those responsible for the repression have passed into oblivion."
An interesting and educative read.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
October 14, 2015
Good perspective on the Spanish Civil war and human politics but written as a research paper and it read as if it was a chore for the author to report all the facts. I had expected something more compelling and lyrical and was disappointed.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews