La formazione di un’identità europea attraverso il linguaggio: l’apolide Jorge Semprún, oppure lo spagnolo delle tre patrie

Abstract

Jorge Semprún (Madrid, 1923 - Paris, 2011) wrote novels in two languages, French and Spanish. His schizophrenic bilingualism led him to say that his homeland was language in general, not a language (his particular phraseology may be interpreted as a symptom of his illness). In both French and Spanish his fiction is deeply autobiographical. Indeed, literature seems to have been the writer’s lifesaver, the context in which he affirmed his at least double identity (without forgetting, however, the importance of German). This double identity he proudly affirmed both in politics and writing, which alternate and nurture each other throughout his life and by means of which he struggled to change the world, passionately committing himself to the making of Europe.