«The Sex of Angels»: An Intrigue Set Between Italy and Spain, Passing Through the Divine Barcelona
Abstract
This article aims to analyse themes and techniques of Terenci Moix’s book Lleonard examining both the original Catalan edition and the Castilian translation. The novel recounts the life and linguistic and artistic training of the man and the writer. The novel is the result of much reflection, largely due to Franco’s censorship, but also to the author's irreverent personality. Along with his obsessive search for the truth about the suicide of the successful writer and playwright Lleonard Pler, Moix presents a sarcastic portrait of the 1960s, the ‘Década’ and of a composite city-homeland: Barcelona, which experiences the disillusionment of postmodernity through the illusion of freedom of mass culture.
Submitted: June 6, 2025 | Accepted: Sept. 8, 2025 | Published June 15, 2026 | Language: it
Keywords Pasolini • Barcelona • Ana María Moix • Montage • Myth • Sex and sadism • Pere Gimferrer
Copyright © 2026 Nicola Palladino. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/Ri/2037-6588/2026/26/002