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A Critical Companion to Jorge SemprúnA Mirror of History: The Self and Its Reflections in Jorge Semprún’s Oeuvre. Veinte años y un día: Duality and Vertigo

A Critical Companion to Jorge Semprún: A Mirror of History: The Self and Its Reflections in Jorge... [Jorge Semprún’s oeuvre is exceptional for the literary critic who decides to explore it, rife with theoretical questions and possible interpretations. Critics must be open to constant adaptation and flexibility with concepts, as his works challenge all academic definitions of literary genres. From memoir to autobiography—never entirely orthodox—from literary testimony to novel—always to some extent autobiographical or autofictional—what Philippe Lejeune calls the “autobiographical space” stretches out, in full relief, the boundaries blurred. How then do we read this set of texts, each of which presents a different intention and configuration, but all of which point (though often with detours or deviations) to the same referent, the same conscience, a single voice that is recognizable in all of them? Who are the people in the texts and who is the historical figure, the witness, and the writer over time that emerge from this textual journey? To quote Philippe Lejeune: Posed in this way, the nature of the problem changes completely. It is no longer necessary to know which of the two, autobiography or novel, would be truer. It is neither one nor the other; autobiography will lack complexity, ambiguity, etc.; the novel accuracy. So it would be one, then the other? Rather, one in relation to the other. What becomes revealing is the space in which the two categories of texts are inscribed, and which is reducible to neither of the two. This effect of contrast obtained by the procedure is the creation, for the reader, of an autobiographical space. (On Autobiography 27)] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Critical Companion to Jorge SemprúnA Mirror of History: The Self and Its Reflections in Jorge Semprún’s Oeuvre. Veinte años y un día: Duality and Vertigo

Part of the Studies in European Culture and History Book Series
Editors: Ferrán, Ofelia; Herrmann, Gina
Durán, María Semilla A.; Carter, Lisa
Springer Journals — Oct 28, 2015
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13 pages

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Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan US
Copyright
© Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Nature America Inc. 2014
ISBN
978-1-349-45859-2
Pages
155 –168
DOI
10.1057/9781137439710_9
Publisher site
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Abstract

[Jorge Semprún’s oeuvre is exceptional for the literary critic who decides to explore it, rife with theoretical questions and possible interpretations. Critics must be open to constant adaptation and flexibility with concepts, as his works challenge all academic definitions of literary genres. From memoir to autobiography—never entirely orthodox—from literary testimony to novel—always to some extent autobiographical or autofictional—what Philippe Lejeune calls the “autobiographical space” stretches out, in full relief, the boundaries blurred. How then do we read this set of texts, each of which presents a different intention and configuration, but all of which point (though often with detours or deviations) to the same referent, the same conscience, a single voice that is recognizable in all of them? Who are the people in the texts and who is the historical figure, the witness, and the writer over time that emerge from this textual journey? To quote Philippe Lejeune: Posed in this way, the nature of the problem changes completely. It is no longer necessary to know which of the two, autobiography or novel, would be truer. It is neither one nor the other; autobiography will lack complexity, ambiguity, etc.; the novel accuracy. So it would be one, then the other? Rather, one in relation to the other. What becomes revealing is the space in which the two categories of texts are inscribed, and which is reducible to neither of the two. This effect of contrast obtained by the procedure is the creation, for the reader, of an autobiographical space. (On Autobiography 27)]

Published: Oct 28, 2015

Keywords: Concentration Camp; Narrative Identity; Literary Genre; False Identity; Single Voice

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