LYRICAL POLITICS IN THE SPANISH “STATE OF EXCEPTION” (1955-2009): AN ANALYSIS OF THE WORK OF VALENTE, VÁZQUEZ MONTALBÁN, PANERO, AND RIVAS By Andrew Joseph Wrobel A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Hispanic Culture Studies - Doctor of Philosophy 2015 ABSTRACT LYRICAL POLITICS IN THE SPANISH “STATE OF EXCEPTION” (1955-2009): AN ANALYSIS OF THE WORK OF VALENTE, VÁZQUEZ MONTALBÁN, PANERO, AND RIVAS By Andrew Joseph Wrobel This thesis discusses the social, political, and historical panorama of the Spanish “state of exception” as depicted by the poets José Ángel Valente, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Leopoldo María Panero, and Manuel Rivas. The poetic works that have been examined in this thesis were all published between 1955 and 2009. The works present the horrors of the Spanish Civil War and the harsh conditions during the nearly forty-year dictatorship of Francisco Franco, in addition to the failed transition to democracy that began after his death. Through an incorporation of theories on nostalgia, trauma, “docile bodies”, and “empty signifiers”, this dissertation will analyze the exceptional literary space created by the minority genre that is Spanish poetry. Due to the censura, overt political discourse could not be carried out, and thus it was poetry, whose verses could abscond covert criticisms of the Franco regime, that created the opportunity for political dissidence at a time when it would be punishable by death. The poetic texts studied here expose the existence of Spain’s “state of exception” and insist on its continuity despite the fact that Spain is now a Constitutional Monarchy. Copyright by ANDREW JOSEPH WROBEL 2015 For my father iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am the product of both a public and private education, as I attended a public grade school, a Catholic High school and University, and later finished my current degree at a public University. At each institution I have come to know the most wonderful people without whose support I would not be the person I am today. I am so very grateful for the professors at Marquette University who stirred the embers of my passion for the Spanish language and its literature. The faculty there, which includes but is not limited to, Eugenia Afinoguénova, Dinorah Cortéz-Vélez, Armando González-Pérez, and Todd Hernandez, motivated me to be the most engaged student and teacher possible. I have done my best to follow their example, and I strive to be the phenomenal scholar they have always been. I never expected to have the same good fortune when I began my studies for my doctoral degree, but I found a group of professors at Michigan State University that have fostered both my academic and professional development. From the very start, Joseba Gabilondo worked tirelessly with me to develop my ideas, cultivate new understandings, and later, employ my knowledge in practical and innovative ways. His breadth of knowledge and his creativity continue to astound me. Also, his famous “cartas” have been invaluable. Furthermore, I would be remiss not to mention another person who has given me several opportunities to collaborate with him on curricular design. Miguel Cabañas has been a wonderful mentor and friend throughout the time I have spent at MSU. Moreover, the other two members of my committee, Scott Boehm and Elvira Sánchez-Blake, have also given so generously of their time and support. v Finally, I must thank the people who are most dear to me: my friends and family. They are truly the measure of the blessings I have had in this life. My grandparents, Betty and Stas, make me laugh everyday and remind me to appreciate the wonderful life that I have. My father, who never once told me I was insane for giving my twenties to college, has always been a steadfast example for me to follow and a constant confidant without whom I would never have made it this far. My stepmother Carol is one of the most compassionate people I have ever met, and her kind words have done more for me than I can say. Also, my uncle John has always reminded me that no adversity is insurmountable. Lastly, my dearest friends have always stood by me through thick and thin. Kit, Sly, and the González clan are beacons that I continually rely upon in the best and worst of times. To say that I am grateful is not enough, but I truly am. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Poetry of Discovery and los novísimos 7 Chapter 1: J.A. Valente: The Victors and Victims of Nostalgia 113 Chapter 2: Manuel Vázquez Montalbán: Trauma-Induced Neurosis 20 Chapter 3: Leopoldo María Panero: Dark Thoughts and “Docile Bodies” 26 Chapter 4: Manuel Rivas: Poetry and “Empty signifiers” in Spain’s 29 “State of Exception” Conclusion 34 Chapter 1: J.A. Valente: The Victors and Victims of Nostalgia 35 Section I: Memory vs. (m)emory 38 Section II: The Persistence of Nostalgic Death in Valente’s Poetry 44 Section III: Death and Algia 46 Section IV: Valente’s Poetic Conversion 62 Section V: Nostalgic Conversion and a Reflective Community 69 Conclusion: 85 Chapter 2: Manuel Vázquez Montalbán: Trauma-Induced Neurosis 88 Section I: His City of Ruins: The Barcelona of MVM’s Youth 91 Section II: The Trauma of the Civil War and a “State of Exception” 98 Section III: Pop culture: Fueling the Fantasy of Consumerism 115 Conclusion: 133 Chapter 3: Leopoldo María Panero: Dark Thoughts and “Docile Bodies” 134 Section I: Hurdles of the Transition in Spain’s “State of Exception” 138 Section II: The Specter of Franco in the “Docile Body” 145 Section III: The Transition: Arriving at the Desencanto with a 167 Little Help from His Friends Conclusion: 182 Chapter 4: Manuel Rivas: Poetry and “Empty signifiers” in Spain’s “State of Exception” 184 Section I: “Transitioning” to the Future 189 Section II: Galicia and Galeguidade 195 Section III: Galeguidade and the “Empty Signifier” 204 Section IV: A Call to Action 216 Conclusion: 233 Final Conclusions: 235 WORKS CITED 241 vii Introduction 1 In the years under and after the Franco regime, the liberal voices of poetry articulated both the memories and desires felt not only by the literary intelligentsia, but also by the Spanish citizens who found themselves restricted in the arena of cultural expression. The writings of four liberal poets in particular, José Ángel Valente, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Leopoldo María Panero, and Manuel Rivas, enumerate the complexities of Spanish life while constantly rejecting the fantasies propagated by the Franco regime in what Carl Schmitt would call a “state of exception”. Through a detailed analysis of A modo de esperanza (1955) by José Ángel Valente, Una educación sentimental (1967) by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Last river together (1980) and El que no ve (1980) by Leopoldo María Panero, and La desaparición de la nieve (2009) by Manuel Rivas, a comprehensive understanding of a poetic articulation can be yielded. Furthermore, the ideas expressed in these texts established the possibility of a critical corpus that opposed the rhetoric of the Franco regime and Spain’s “state of exception”. The writings of these four poets are substantial for reasons noted by Jo Labanyi. All written and spoken words, under the Franco regime, were highly regulated by citizens themselves and the censura (censorship). Labanyi adds, “…popular romances and adventure stories were strictly controlled, as were historical and political texts in cheap editions” (211). On the other hand however, “[p]oetry became a vehicle for social protest in the 1950s because dissidence could be tolerated in a minority genre” (211). Rosalind Galt expressed concurrent thoughts as well. Galt insists “…the claim of poetic language as a privileged locus of social heresy is enabling in a situation where more direct activism or speech was impossible” (503). This is made even clearer when considering Marisol Morales Ladrón’s explanation of the censorship protocol. She states: 2 Thus, in Spain, the censorship board distributed the receipt of any material that could be published among readers, most of them priests, although there were also lay men, who filled out a questionnaire and reported on any subversive passage either asking for its excision, change into rephrasing or banning, or simply giving their consent for publication. The censors had to answer questions on the morality of the text, on religious dogma, and on whether it incurred any offence to the Regime, the Church or any of their institutions. (60) Therefore, by covertly and implicitly exposing the harsh conditions of life in a “state of exception”, the poetry of Valente, Vázquez Montalbán, and Panero largely alluded the censura and worked to establish an exceptional literary space that would allow for future poets, such as Rivas, to openly create discourse concerning politics in Spain’s “state of exception”. This “state of exception”, according to Schmitt, involves a “sovereign” who is “…associated with a borderline case and not with routine” and who will go on to “decide on the exception” (5). The power of the “sovereign” figure is made clear when discussing how he or she rules and creates laws. Schmitt continues: All law is ‘situational law.’ The sovereign produces and guarantees the situation in its totality. He has the monopoly over this last decision. Therein resides the essence of the state’s sovereignty, which must be juristically defined correctly, not as the monopoly to coerce or rule, but as the monopoly to decide. The exception reveals most clearly the essence of the state’s authority. The decision parts here from the legal norm, and (to formulate it paradoxically) authority proves that to produce laws it need not be based on law.