Cercas’ “Soldier of Salamis has a bewildering jigsaw puzzle- like structure and form, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It invited the reader to accompany the narrator on his quest to piece together fragmented information from the past, through archives, oral history and other resources. I would categorize Cercas’ writing style as historical fiction, in part due to the similarities in the public figures and themes of Francoism to the loom large in the accounts, and most of their stories are accounts of the historical truth.
The narrator, who is divorced, childless and recently fatherless, begins a journey to uncover the truth of Sanchez Mazas story of survival in a historical event that took place in his life. He is gripped by uncovering this story, as a writer and a journalist and it awakens his passion to write again. All other aspects of his life, such as his formal job, and relationships, are depicted on the periphery of his narration- highlighting the importance of writing the story of Mazas for him. Personally, the facts I read about Mazas and his drive for fascism and a return of absolute dictatorship control was not for me. It was built on a dream of fascism – and I could not connect with his ideas, but the interesting part of this was, that I could easily admire his belief in his own ideas. This prompts the question (that the narrator investigates as well) of what makes a hero? As far as violence, radicalism and dictatorship is concerned, Mazas only had them, without ever fighting or engaging in violence for them.
A key element in the narrator’s writing was that he was not writing a novel, but a “tale”. The distinction for him was clear (even in the face of it being obscure in other people’s minds). He hoped to uncover a parallel or close version of the truth; “if we manage to unveil one of these parallel secrets, we might perhaps also touch on a more essential secret” (p. 12) which indicated his commitment to reaching closer to this ultimate form of truth. he hope being that the fictional invention will be more convincing in the end than any biographical memoir. It is as though he hopes being that the fictional tale will be closer to a more convincing account in the end than any existing memoir of Mazas.
As a concluding thought, the book is a fascinating account of memory and history- and how they are both reliable, and unreliable and in the case of Mazas, can only truly be verified in some parts, leaving room for fiction.
Food for thought:
How do you approach the cautionary mark of fiction that lies in the opening pages of the book, as someone who knows the context?
Hi Astha,
I remember mentioning in my blog post that the dichotomy of fiction and non-fiction in this book serves purpose for the following reasons. Fiction to add fluidity to the reflective process of the reader but non-fiction to add boundaries to the imagination. I could be wrong but I felt the elements of fiction allowed me to ask irrelevant questions with the historical significance reeling me back in.
“Soldier of Salamis has a bewildering jigsaw puzzle- like structure and form”
Nice! Such a relatable description. I really like the image of a “bewildering jigsaw puzzle”. I too felt that it was a “jigsaw puzzle” – perhaps recollecting the past is a puzzle of its own. However, I really agree that it was a “bewildering” one. In parallel with some other books we’ve read in this class, such as W or the Memory of childhood, I think recollecting something of the past is a process of piecing together unfitting fragments. In this book, the facts of history seemed like puzzle pieces that were quite loose; they needed to be glued together, and the glue seemed to be fiction. By making up the empty spaces between truth, Cercas recreated part of the past – although it wasn’t the most credible.
– Daniel Choi
Hi! I really agree with what you said about Mazas’ drive for fascism; I understand that it is a fictional(?) novel, but I still find it hard and confusing to sympathize with a fascist ideology. I am very interested by your question about what makes a hero, because I have yet to come to a conclusion about that question. On another note, I think that its interesting you take note of Cercas’ intention when writing his ‘tale’ in hopes that it’ll be more convincing than any existing memoirs of Mazas. Can we have anything that is fictional that is closer to the truth than the recorded truth? Bear with me as I explain what I mean by this; do you think that Cercas’ goal is possible, with his goal being his tale be more truthful than any memoir about Mazas? I hope that made sense lol.
Hi Astha, Thank you for the insightful blogpost! Overall, I overlooked the fictional aspects of the novel, for me I did not see the characters as fictional people or the events described in the novel as entirely imagined. Instead, I looked at the Cercas’ novel as a historical text which he gives an analysis and an opinion of.
Hello! I loved reading your thoughts, I think you out everything into words do perfectly. I think it was really interesting how you mentioned that it explores how memory and history are both reliable and unreliable and how this makes room for fiction. This was something I thought about a lot but I didn’t know how to word properly, and it’s also something I had never eally looked into too deeply before – I definitely will be thinking about it a bit more.
The whole idea of this novel I feel is that the author is trying to tell us that though he has bits and pieces of facts, he is not able to weave it into a tale without the help of the reader and others. This story is a collective effort and this the only way this narrative will work, even though one person is credited with writing it. Sometimes incomplete historical accounts can help bring people back to life in a metaphorical sense in order to tell a story that needs to be told, not just about the winners and the people who dictate it, but about everyone who has ever lived in this world and made the right choices at the moments when it counted most.