Joseph Roth's The Emperor's Tomb: in search of lost identity

• Grant number: 10/00127-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2010
• End date: December 31, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Modern Foreign Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Juliana Pasquarelli Perez
• Grantee: Danica Zugic Sakabe Koishi
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The question of identity, so discussed in the post-modern, globalised world is not a characteristic exclusive to contemporary societies in transition. This problem also exists in different fields of human thought, since the creation of the first supranational states, when the need to create a new identity for their citizens arose. The central theme of this paper are the questions of identity configuration, belonging and deracination, and their development and treatment in the novel "The Emperor's Tomb" (Die Kapuzinergruft), written by Joseph Roth, the Austrian- Jewish author. The hypothesis of this paper is that the novel "The Emperor's Tomb" offers a critical view of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and of the attempt to configure a new universal and supranational identity. The problems stemming from this cultural model are reflected on both collective (dissolution of a state) and individual planes (dissolution of personal identity and ensuing complications). In order to prove this, the space and time configuration elements, as well as the characters' experience of belonging and deracination will be analyzed, bearing in mind that these can be realized through belonging or not to a certain social group, to a place (e.g. center or periphery), or to a specific time, present or future. Keywords: Joseph Roth, identity, deracination, belonging, Austro-Hungarian Empire. (AU)