“Heimat ist ein Raum aus Zeit”. Esilio e identità personale nell’opera di W.G. Sebald

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine the works of W.G. Sebald, following the thread of the dialectic homeland-exile. German history and geography seen through the lives of dystopian wanderers are the main focus of Sebald’s work, which also tries to establish a connection with his personal experience. Both for the author and for his characters any sense of cultural belonging is declared to be either unsustainable or denied. For this reason, together with Die Ausgewanderten, Die Ringe des Saturn and Sebald’s interviews, particular attention is devoted to Schwindel. Gefühle and its main character: Kafka’s Hunter Gracchus, symbol of concrete and emotional exile in limbo.