An Unfinished Dialogue. The Relevance of Intertextuality in Jorge Semprún's Concentration Narratives

Abstract

This article delves into the importance of intertextuality in Jorge Semprún's work and, specifically, in his four concentration memoirs: El largo viaje (1963), Aquel domingo (1980), La escritura o la vida (1994) and Viviré con su nombre, morirá con el mío(2001). The aim is to explain why the systematic recurrence of quotations is a key fact in the writer's way of narrating, of awakening his memory; and, above all, to show how the intertexts are decisive in understanding the writer's style and the main topics presented in his writings on the concentration camps and his experience as a prisoner in Buchenwald. Therefore, the main authors and texts invoked by Semprún in his literary works are analyzed; in parallel, a comparative approach is carried out that reflects on how, in his books, the writer engaged in a dialogue with this group of creators.