Alberto Blest Gana and the Unhappy Endings of Beautiful Men

ABSTRACT:This essay analyzes Alberto Blest Gana’s portrayal of masculine beauty in Rafael San Luis and Abelardo Manríquez through the lens of patriotism and social order. The divine, angelic looks of these two young characters come with a high cost. San Luis, from Martín Rivas (1862), and Manríquez, from El ideal de un calavera (1863), are exceedingly handsome but devoid of means, a fact that makes their circumstances especially harsh. They are also deeply in love with privileged, wealthy Santiago women, which causes the heroes to suffer. They challenge Chile’s capitalist social order, resist their outsider status, and follow the Weltanschauung of a pipiolo (liberal). They confront danger and fight the good fight. Yet these two brave men cannot escape past behaviors and decisions. It is their unhappy fate to lose their beautiful ladies to less attractive men, and ultimately to die in battle (San Luis) and by execution (Manríquez).