Reflections on Ambiguity, Historical Memory and the Discourse of the Hero in Soldados de Salamina

Abstract

Soldados de Salamina, an important novel by Javier Cercas, has been highly acclaimed by international critics and translated into more than thirty languages. It is the conflict between reality and fiction which causes the narrative climax, in particular by the mysterious episode of the frustrated execution of Rafael Sánchez Mazas, ideologist and founder of the Spanish Fascist Falange Party. It turns out that Sánchez Mazas is not the real hero of the story; rather, “a soldier of Salamina”, an anonymous and unknown character like Antonio Miralles, is able to create a history in his attempt to rescue the collective groups and becomes an authentic hero. The present study aims to analyze how Cercas demonstrates the phenomenon of ambiguity as consequence of the blurring of reality and fiction in Soldados de Salamina. Drawing from the concept of collective memory by Maurice Halbwachs and the theory of les lieux de mémoire by Pierre Nora, we will study how Cercas intends to rewrite official versions of historical truth, explore and rescue some repressed historical memories of the past. We will examine the heroic archetypes defined by Carol S. Pearson in order to construct or deconstruct heroes’ multiple personalities in the novel.