Lorca’s Legacy

Book excerpt: In Lorca’s Legacy, Jonathan Mayhew explores multiple aspects of the creative and critical afterlife of Federico García Lorca, the most internationally recognized Spanish poet and playwright of the twentieth century. Lorca is an iconic and charismatic figure who has evoked the admiration and fascination of musicians, poets, painters, and playwrights across the world since his tragic assassination by right-wing forces in 1936, at the onset of the Spanish Civil War. This volume ranges widely, discussing his influence on American theater, his much-debated lecture on the duende, his delayed encounter with queer theory, his influence on contemporary Spanish poetry, and other relevant topics. The critical literature on Lorca is vast, and original contributions are comparatively rare, but Mayhew has found a way to shed fresh light on his legacy by looking with a critical eye at the creative transformations of his life and work, both in Spain and abroad. Lorca’s Legacy celebrates the wealth of material inspired by Lorca, bringing to bear a sophisticated, theoretically informed critical perspective. This book will be of enormous interest to anyone interested in the international projection of Spanish literature, or anyone who has felt the fascination of Lorca’s duende.