Event Title

Luis García Montero's Quedarse sin ciudad: The City as Phoenix in Post-Dictatorial Spain

Presenter Information

Alice McAdams, Oberlin College

Location

Science Center, A254

Document Type

Presentation

Start Date

4-26-2013 2:45 PM

End Date

4-26-2013 3:45 PM

Abstract

We can cross borders without moving. Luis García Montero's 1994 prose poetry collection Quedarse sin ciudad (To Be Left Without City) addresses the emotional obstacles of living in a city that undergoes rapid cultural change, forcing the poet to be "a foreigner in his own desire, in his own city." It is a loving ode to Granada, Spain, at the same time that it catalogs the jarring, painful palimpsest of memory. I explore the dichotomies expressed in Quedarse sin ciudad and their function as a narrative of the sociopolitical evolution of Spain in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, paying special attention to García Montero's feminization of the city and his use of prose poetry to illustrate the sense of duality that dominates this collection.

Notes

Session II, Panel 8: Requiems, Refusals, and Retreats: Studies in Spanish-language Literature (a bilingual presentation)
Moderator: Sebastiaan Faber, Professor of Hispanic Studies

Full text thesis available here.

Major

Comparative Literature; Hispanic Studies

Advisor(s)

Ana Cara, Comparative Literature
Sebastiaan Faber, Hispanic Studies

Project Mentor(s)

Sebastiaan Faber, Hispanic Studies
Bernard Matambo, Creative Writing

April 2013

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COinS
 
Apr 26th, 2:45 PM Apr 26th, 3:45 PM

Luis García Montero's Quedarse sin ciudad: The City as Phoenix in Post-Dictatorial Spain

Science Center, A254

We can cross borders without moving. Luis García Montero's 1994 prose poetry collection Quedarse sin ciudad (To Be Left Without City) addresses the emotional obstacles of living in a city that undergoes rapid cultural change, forcing the poet to be "a foreigner in his own desire, in his own city." It is a loving ode to Granada, Spain, at the same time that it catalogs the jarring, painful palimpsest of memory. I explore the dichotomies expressed in Quedarse sin ciudad and their function as a narrative of the sociopolitical evolution of Spain in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, paying special attention to García Montero's feminization of the city and his use of prose poetry to illustrate the sense of duality that dominates this collection.