The Pleasure of the Melancholic: Allegories of Loss in Anibal Nunez's Poetry

This article aims to study the relationship between melancholy and allegory in the poetry of Anibal Nunez (Salamanca, 1944-1987). On the basis of Walter Benjamin's thought in Das Passagen-Werk about melancholic gaze in the metropolis, we first address the connection between melancholy as an historical emotion, the critique of modernity, and allegorical expression. Second, we examine the Freudian distinction between melancholy and mourning, in which the poet, as the melancholic identified with the lost object, becomes damaged. Finally, we study three allegorical images from the series "Triptico plastico" belonging to the book Naturaleza no recuperable.