Resisting the impossible dandyism: Luis Cernuda and Mariano Jose de Larra

In this article, I seek to illuminate how Luis Cernuda understands dandyism through the literary and intellectual figure of Mariano José de Larra. In his poem 'A Larra con unas violetas' (Las nubes 1940), while paying homage to Larra 100 years after his death, Cernuda also uses Larra as an interlocutor who helps him understand the role of the dandy/artist in times of crisis. Facing the Carlist War (Larra) and the Spanish Civil War (Cernuda), both writers adopted dandyism as an ethical attitude. Focusing on the importance of the dandy in the literary analysis of 'A Larra.' allows us to appreciate how Larra is fundamental to Cernuda's self-fashioning as a writer and as a dandy, while broadening perspectives on dandyism in general.