Abstract
This article analyzes the representation of masculinity in Juan José Domenchina’s poetry of exile. The article argues that, during his last 20 years of life in exile (1939–1959), Domenchina shows in his poetry a contradictory masculinity. On the one hand, he reaffirms normative masculinity by rejecting pompous demonstrations of suffering, describing himself as stoic, tough, strong-willed and independent, and praising nostalgically Castilian men’s hypermasculine behavior. On the other hand, Domenchina’s poetry also testifies to his feelings of emasculation, since he calls himself an “ex-man”, shows his masculine fragmentation with the figures of the doppelganger or shadow, identifies himself with a child, and uses images of broken wings and falls to express his powerlessness. Furthermore, the poet confesses his lack of sexual prowess through the symbol of the sunset and compares his current impotence with his past full of sexual adventures. Domenchina’s poetry displays the typical contradictions of masculinity: the ideal model of assertive masculinity versus the reality of a weak masculinity in exile.
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González-Allende, I. El ex-hombre: masculinidad y exilio en la poesía de Juan José Domenchina. Neophilologus 98, 433–448 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-014-9383-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-014-9383-7