Spanish poetry in Jorge Semprún’s Works about Buchenwald: Memory, Sustenance and Dialogue

Abstract

Intertextuality is a key feature of Jorge Semprún’s work that has been addressed in many studies through different approaches. However, there is a gap in the deepening of the role of Spanish poetry in his novels. This study aims to analyze the role of Spanish poetry, specifically Federico García Lorca, Rafael Alberti and César Vallejo, in the development of the work related to concentration camps by Jorge Semprún. It will be observed that, for the subject who lives a traumatic experience, poetry is moral sustenance, helps to understand and reconstruct the identity, and even becomes a character in the novels.