A memory that imagines: the fusion of memory and imagination in Jorge Semprún's literary testimonies

  • Maria Shakhray
Keywords: literary testimony, memory, imagination, fiction, history, Jorge Semprún.

Abstract

The present work deals with the genre of literary testimony and explores its double literary-historical status, as well as its unique position at the crossroads between memory and imagination. The paper analyses the specificity of Jorge Semprún’s literary testimonies and focuses itself on the phenomenon of the imaginary memories and the image of snow, considering emblematic examples of the fusion of mnemonic and imaginary faculties.

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Author Biography

Maria Shakhray

Maria Shakhray

 

Maria Shakhray obtained her PhD in European Literatures (DESE) from the University of Bologna in 2018. Her doctoral thesis was dedicated to the epic poetry of the XVIth-XVIIth centuries, with a special focus upon epic poems dedicated to ‘contemporary’ historical events (Lepanto and the Reconquista). Her research interests include the relationship between history and fiction, the Baroque literature, epic poetry of the Seicento, literary testimonies and the literature of the Second World War.

References

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Cambridge; London, Harvard University Press, 1992.

Levi, Primo, I sommersi e i salvati (1986), fr. tr.Les naufragés et les rescapés. Quarante ans après Auschwitz, Paris, Gallimard, 1989.

Ricœur, Paul, La mémoire, l’histoire, l’oubli, Paris, Seuil, 2000.

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Semprún, Jorge, Quel beau dimanche, Paris, Gallimard, 1980.

Semprún, Jorge, L’Écriture ou la vie, Paris, Gallimard, 1994.

Semprún, Jorge,Le langage est ma patrie. Entretiens avec Franck Appréderis, Paris, Libella, 2013.

Wieviorka, Annette, L’Ère du témoin, Paris, Plon, 1998.

Published
2019-12-30
How to Cite
Shakhray, M. (2019). A memory that imagines: the fusion of memory and imagination in Jorge Semprún’s literary testimonies. Between, 9(18). https://doi.org/10.13125/2039-6597/3698