Romani People in Spain - in Literature

In Literature

The Gitanos in Spanish society have inspired several authors:

• Federico García Lorca, a great Spanish poet of the 20th century, wrote Romancero Gitano ("Gypsy Ballad Book")

The Roma is the most basic, most profound, the most aristocratic of my country, as representative of their way and whoever keeps the flame, blood, and the alphabet of the universal Andalusian truth. —Federico García Lorca

• Candela, the female protagonist of the story El Amor Brujo, by Manuel de Falla is Romani.

• Prosper Mérimée's Carmen (1845) features the protagonist as a femme fatale, ready to lie, or attack and degrade men's lives. His work was adapted for Georges Bizet's opera of the same name.

• The beauty of a dark-haired Gitana has inspired artists such as Julio Romero de Torres.