La sombra exiliada

The Exiled Shadow is a psychological and intellectual novel, a collage that intersects the life of a Holocaust survivor, his subsequent existence in a communist dictatorship and exile in America, with his obsessions, those of a literature lover. The narrative discourse, developed on several levels, is dominated by his passion for books and intense intimacy with his stepsister, with whom he shared the horror of the camp. The friendship between the protagonist -the Misanthrope Nomad- and Günther, a Romanian of German ethnicity, exiled in Berlin, obsessed by the Holocaust and German guilt, marks a retrospective of the dramatic events of the 20th century, nationalism, fascism, the communism and exile. The metaphor of the shadow as the bearer of identity reappears throughout the entire epic trajectory, a leitmotif with variations, and expresses the exile's confrontation with the estrangement he is going through. Literature as a way of life and expression of identity is, in fact, the theme of the story, enhanced by continuous references to the German classic by Adelbert von Chamisso about the "Man who sold the shadow of him" and fragments of it. A collage of meaningful quotes and reading notes about identity, love, and literature. At the end of the reading, the reader will probably feel like a supportive companion of the melancholic and ironic nomad who accompanies us with humor, skepticism and his tenacious determination to survive.