The soldier/poet, the fear, the defeat: reading the Segunda Derrota: 1940, from Los Girasoles Ciegos

Abstract

This article is meant to encourage reflection on the dark years following the Post Civil War period in Spain, especially as portrayed in “Segunda Derrota: 1940 o Manuscrito encontrado en el olvido.” This is one of the four short stories in Los girasoles ciegos (2004), by Alberto Méndez (1941-2004), who has recorded the fear experienced during that period. Considering the importance of recapturing the past (Benjamin), this article focuses on the vicissitudes of a young soldier/poet’s life who tries to flee to France with his eight-month pregnant fiancée and is later surprised by her death in childbirth. The power of words is strongly emphasized in Méndez’s story (Agamben, 2008). The author explores the themes of fear and cruelty which so violently ruin lives. In “Segunda Derrota,” one realizes that it is important to keep the memory of such wrongdoings alive so that they will not be forgotten or lost in silence.