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Presenting the first English-language collection of essays on Jorge Semprún, this volume explores the life and work of the Spanish Holocaust survivor, author, and political activist. Essays explore his cultural production in all its manifestations, including the role of testimony and fiction in representations of the Holocaust.

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Introduction; Ofelia Ferránand Gina Herrmann PART I. HISTORICAL CONTEXTS AND CALLINGS 1. Jorge Semprún and the Writing of Identity: Family Origins and Fictional Construction; Fran‡oise Nicoladzé 2. Jorge Semprún and his Heteronym Federico Sánchez; Javier Pradera 3. The Clandestine Militant Who Would Be Minister: Semprún and Cinema; Esteve Riambau PART II: ON DEATH AND HOLOCAUST WITNESSING 4. "Don´t leave me, pal": Witnessing Death in Semprún´s Buchenwald Narratives; Dorota Glowacka 5. Semprun, Philosophy, and the Texture of Literature; Carol L. Bernstein 6. In the Name of Things That Have Happened: Jorge Semprun and the Writing of History; Emmanuel Bouju PART III: GENDER, GENRE, AND ART 7. Jorge Semprún and the Myth of Woman; Ursula Tidd 8. A Mirror of History: The Self and Its Reflections in Jorge Semprún´s Oeuvre. Veinte a¤os y un día: Duality and Vertigo; María A. Semilla Durán 9. The Significance of Art in Semprun´s Writing; Tijana Miletic PART IV: THE PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL 10. Dissidence, Citizenry, and Witnessing: Three Screenplays by Jorge Semprún; Txetxu Aguado 11. Semprún´s Germany - Germany´s Semprún: Stereoscopic Scenes of a Twentieth Century; Ulrich Winter 12. Jorge Semprún´s Speeches: Self-Fashioning and the Idea of Europe; Jaime Céspedes PART V: MARXIST AESTHETICS 13. Semprun and Lukács: For a Marxist Reading of Le grand voyage; Antoine Bargel 14. Jorge Semprún, Brecht, and Theater; Jaime Céspedes Epilogue: Laudatio on the presentation of the Goethe Medal to Jorge Semprún, Weimar, February 2003; Ruth Klüger

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"Ofelia Ferrán and Gina Herrmann´s A Critical Companion to Jorge Semprún is a gift and an invitation. Presenting Semprún´s probing insights about history and politics, memory and testimony, art and ethics, its expert essays draw their readers to join him on the moral journey that led from his World War II captivity in the Buchenwald concentration camp to lifelong resistance against cruelty, oppression, and injustice. Thanks to Ferrán, Herrmann, and their companions, Semprun´s voice will be amplified, the vision of a vital European writer magnified." - John K. Roth, Edward J. Sexton Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Claremont McKenna College, USA

"A comprehensive and illuminating collection of essays that will finally introduce English-speaking readers to the work of a major literary figure of the past fifty years. The varied critical approaches in this volume explore the complex dimensions of a long career that spanned more than five decades. They should inspire readers to turn to Semprún´s own rich and imaginative contributions to the intellectual history of our time." - Lawrence L. Langer is the author of The Holocaust and the Literary Imagination, Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory, and Using and Abusing the Holocaust.

"Paraphrasing Isaiah Berlin, one could argue that Jorge Semprún´s literary lineage comes from many mansions. So much so that it is a true challenge to gather them all, with the purpose of offering a plural, complex, and critical view of his vast work. In any case, his experience in the fields of Buchenwald represents a definitive anchoring point. A Critical Companion to Jorge Semprún: Buchenwald, Before and After constitutes the most profound inquiry to date on the oeuvre of the Spanish-French writer. It is an indispensable study to grasp the relations between morality, politics, and literature." - Anna Caballé Masforroll, Professor of Spanish Literature, University of Barcelona, Spain

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