{"id":37,"date":"2022-03-28T10:42:49","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T17:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/letterstotheromanceworld\/?p=37"},"modified":"2022-03-28T10:49:57","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T17:49:57","slug":"week-eleven-wartime-morality-in-cercass-soldiers-of-salamis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/letterstotheromanceworld\/2022\/03\/28\/week-eleven-wartime-morality-in-cercass-soldiers-of-salamis\/","title":{"rendered":"Week Eleven: Wartime Morality in Cercas\u2019s \u201cSoldiers of Salamis\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Javier Cercas\u2019s \u201cSoldiers of Salamis\u201d is a story which examines the human condition in wartime. From his own experience, he places the study in the context of the Spanish Civil War. A sparring match between fascist and socialist sides, it was a battle which was ultimately viewed as a precursor to World War II. Yet through unreliable narration and an unclear answer on the identities of several real world historical characters, he paints the portrait of the war as one involving, predominantly, the nameless soldier, often unsure of why or for what reason for which he is fighting. Through highlighting this struggle of purpose, the human condition is distilled as little more than a vessel of duty in wartime. In its purest essence, there is no room for morality\u2014although it may sometimes shine through.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 Miralles, like the other characters, is a soldier in the Spanish Civil War. Unlike some authors, who seek to create a character through which to espouse their philosophy and life experiences, Miralles seems to lead a life completely opposite from the author Javier Cercas who narrates the book. At age forty, he is divorced, has no children and still grieving his father\u2019s passing: At age fifty, Cercas has attained all that Miralles wishes he could have. Tragically, it is only war which halts his progress and holds him back from bettering himself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 There is some debate as to whether or not Miralles\u2014and other characters like an apparent mirroring of the Chilean novelist Roberto Bolano\u2014are real life depictions marred by embellishment, or simply coincidence. One thing we know is that, early on in the story, the narrator clearly states, \u201cI am lying\u201d (pg. 13). It is a statement which seems to\u00a0 leave fewer answers than the leaders who spout the purpose of the Spanish Civil War in its entirety.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 There is a strange conflict in the structure of the book as being part lying, part truth-telling. One might view following the latter veracity as a dutiful act, where the former conjures up images of deceit and corruption in the ranks. Through refusing to conform to one extreme or the other, the reader can only leave with the impression that Cercas seeks to present wartime as perverting even the most intrinsic of human emotions\u2014in their wake, pure survival is all that is left for the many.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 Later on in the novel, when one character Mazas is found by an enemy soldier (suspected to be Miralles), the man does not give his position away and instead chooses to save his life: for what reason, it is unknown. In this instance, \u201c[t]he soldier\u2019s look doesn\u2019t express compassion or hatred, or even disdain, but a kind of secret or unfathomable joy,\u201d evidencing some greater morality behind the veneer of service (pg. 118). Of course, the reasons could also be practical: perhaps he simply does not wish to get his hands dirty, or refuses to taint his conscience further by killing an unarmed man. Time and time again, however, readers are left with the distinct impression that morality and war can, and often do, manifest themselves in a state of coexistence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 My question follows along this line: Is morality possible in wartime, as Cercas suggests?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Javier Cercas\u2019s \u201cSoldiers of Salamis\u201d is a story which examines the human condition in wartime. From his own experience, he places the study in the context of the Spanish Civil War. A sparring match between fascist and socialist sides, it was a battle which was ultimately viewed as a precursor to World War […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90018,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[35,36,28,37],"class_list":["post-37","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entries","tag-cercas","tag-morality","tag-truth","tag-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/letterstotheromanceworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/letterstotheromanceworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/letterstotheromanceworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/letterstotheromanceworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/letterstotheromanceworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/letterstotheromanceworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/letterstotheromanceworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions\/39"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/letterstotheromanceworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/letterstotheromanceworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/letterstotheromanceworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}