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.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alcalde, M. C. (2011). Masculinities in motion: Latino men and violence in Kentucky. Men and Masculinities, 14(4), 450–469.
Andújar, M. (1978). El exilio y Madrid en la poesía de Juan José Domenchina. Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, 331, 5–18.
Bellver, C. G. (1975). Juan José Domenchina, poet of exile. MLN, 90, 252–264.
Bellver, C. G. (1979). El mundo poético de Juan José Domenchina. Madrid: Editora Nacional.
Beneke, T. (1997). Proving manhood: Reflections on men and sexism. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Bravo Moreno, A. (2006). Migration, gender and national identity: Spanish migrant women in London. Oxford: Peter Lang.
Domenchina, J. J. (Ed.). (1947). Antología de la poesía española contemporánea (1900–1936). 3ª edición. México: Unión Tipográfica Editorial Hispano-Americana.
Domenchina, J. J. (1995). Obra poética. Ed. Amelia de Paz. Vol. 2. Madrid: Castalia.
Donato, K. M., et al. (2006). A glass half full? Gender in migration studies. International Migration Review, 40(1), 3–26.
Espín, O. M. (1999). Women crossing boundaries: A psychology of immigration and transformations of sexuality. New York: Routledge.
Gilmore, D. D. (1990). Manhood in the making: Cultural concepts of masculinity. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Guasch Andreu, O. (2003). Ancianos, guerreros, efebos y afeminados: tipos ideales de masculinidad. En J. M. Valcuende del Río y J. Blanco López (Eds.), Hombres: la construcción cultural de las masculinidades (pp. 113–24). Madrid: Talasa.
Hibbins, R., & Pease, B. (2009). Men and masculinities on the move. In M. Donaldson, R. Hibbins, R. Howson, & B. Pease (Eds.), Migrant men: Critical studies of masculinities and the migration experience (pp. 1–19). New York: Routledge.
Jaji, R. (2009). Masculinity on unstable ground: Young refugee men in Nairobi, Kenya. Journal of Refugee Studies, 22(2), 177–194.
Kimmel, M. S. (1994). Masculinity as homophobia: Fear, shame, and silence in the construction of gender identity. In H. Brod, & M. Kaufman (Ed.), Theorizing masculinities (pp. 119–141). London: Sage.
Ladeira, A. (2005). “Pouca Sorte com Barbeiros”: Masculinity and exile in José Rodrigues Miguéis. Hispania, 88(4), 739–749.
Luis, L. de. (1959). En la muerte de Juan José Domenchina. Poesía Española, 84, 14–15.
Manalansan, M. (2006). Queer intersections: Sexuality and gender in migration studies. International Migration Review, 40(1), 224–249.
Martínez, M. C. (2009). “Her body was my country”: Gender and Cuban-American exile-community nationalist identity in the work of Gustavo Pérez Firmat. Latino Studies, 7(3), 295–316.
Parrado, E. A., & Flippen, C. A. (2005). Migration and gender among Mexican women. American Sociological Review, 70, 606–632.
Paz, Amelia de (1995). Introducción. In J. J. Domenchina, Obra poética (Vol. 1, pp.␣15–67). Madrid: Castalia.
Smith, R. (2006). Mexican New York: Transnational lives of new immigrants. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Ugarte, M. (1989). Shifting ground: Spanish civil war exile literature. Durham: Duke University Press.
Warner, R. (1982). The non-life style of an exile: The poetics of Juan José Domenchina. Hispanófila, 26(76), 53–63.
Zardoya, C. (1950). Juan José Domenchina, poeta de la sombra. Revista Hispánica Moderna, 16, 123–129.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
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
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-014-9383-7