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The Simple Geometry of ‘Linearism’. Metaphors of the Nation in the Radical Falangist Discourse of the Immediate Postwar Period in Spain
Author(s) -
Box Zira
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of historical sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.186
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1467-6443
pISSN - 0952-1909
DOI - 10.1111/johs.12117
Subject(s) - opposition (politics) , metaphor , nationalism , argument (complex analysis) , period (music) , aesthetics , literature , philosophy , sociology , epistemology , linguistics , political science , art , law , politics , biochemistry , chemistry
Taking as a point of departure the understanding that metaphors, as linguistic expressions, indicate the thought processes of those who formulate them, the present article explores a specific metaphor that formed part of the discourse of radical Falangism: the definition of the Spanish nation as straight, upright, linear or vertical, in opposition to another Spain that had to be combatted, and which was portrayed as twisted. The argument put forward here is that, by analysing the various metaphorical expressions that arose in the wake of the identification of Spain with an image of linearity, it is possible to examine aspects of Falange nationalism that bring into relief the ideal of a sombre, spare, masculine and austere Spain.