<i>«Dahin will ich nicht zurück» Alla ricerca della</i> Heimat <i>in</i> Jahrestage <i> di Uwe Johnson</i>

Abstract

This article attempts to address the problem of representation: in particular the re-working of memories linked to a trauma. Regarding the collective trauma of concentration camps, two contradictory forms of memory criticism have been employed: on the one hand the deconstruction matrix favoured in France by Lyotard, or the existentialist matrix used in Germany by Heidegger; on the other hand the poetic forms connected to the personal experience of survivors (Celan, Sebald). Therefore, the article concentrates on highlighting different strategies assigned to the language understood as native language, national language or traditional language. This very language now lends itself to becoming a factor of identity and freedom or, in other cases, a way of disguising the real contents of existence.