"Al tyempo del kuechko dulse": History, Language and Identity in Enrique Saporta y Beja’s Account of Jewish Life in Salonika

• Autores: Katerina García
• Localización: Pulling together or pulling apart?: Perspectives on nationhood, identity and belonging in Europe / coord. por Susana Bayó Belenguer, Nicola Brady, 2020, ISBN 9781789976755, págs. 119-146
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto Completo Libro
• Resumen

  • Enrique Saporta y Beja’s En torno de la Torre blanca [Around the White Tower] was one ofthe last works to be published in Judeo-Spanish. It is an homage not only to the Salonikaof the author’s youth, but, above all, to the traditional ways of life of his native Sephardiccommunity. Conceived as a fictional, semi-autobiographical narrative against the backdropof the Great War, it is fundamentally a testimony of a place and a time which no longerexist, yet which remain as a symbol of the resilience and prosperity of the Sephardim asa diasporic community. Ultimately, the novel is a monument to the Judeo-Spanish language,displayed in all its lexical and idiomatic richness; in the pages of En torno de la Torreblanca, language becomes an intangible dimension within which the collective memoryof Salonikan Sephardim can be re-created and brought to life.