CHRISTOPHER (ED) MAURER

Any time one can present new, previously unpublished poetry by Federico Garcia Lorca, one of the great masters of twentieth century poetry, it's a literary event. And that is just what A Season in Granada is -- something truly special for poetry lovers. Edited and translated by the distinguished Lorca scholar, Christopher Maurer, this book contains twenty poems which have only recently come to light, and which are now published in English and in their entirety for the first time. Included as well are previously uncollected poems, essays, and letters. The writings form a poignant and dazzling celebration of the magical city of Granada, near where Lorca grew up, where he studied, and to which he returned frequently in his life and in his imagination. And where he would die, too, at the hands of Nationalist Partisans on the eve of the Spanish Civil War. "Every day", Lorca wrote in a letter to a friend, "I am more convinced of how marvelous this country is. If you were here with me, you'd be spinning like a top to see all four points of the compass at once". In Christopher Maurer's words, the twenty poems in the two previously unpublished Suites -- "Fairs" and "Summer Hours" -- draw on the "structural ideas and whimsical tone of one of Lorca's favorite composers, Claude Debussy The idea was to capture some phenomenon -- the moon, the hours of evening, the ocean, wheatfields, flamenco -- in a series of stylized estampas (prints) or 'moments".' They are remarkable for their freshness and vitality and represent an important addition to the Lorca canon. Also worth noting is Lorca's essay, "Granada: Paradise Closed to Many" published here in English for the first time.