Open Forum – An interview with Javier Cercas: language, history and memory in Soldados de Salamina

The author presents material from an interview with the writer Javier Cercas, author of Soldados de Salamina, to illustrate Cercas’s views on two issues of concern in contemporary Spanish public debate: the issue of which language a writer chooses to write in, particularly in the context of deliberations about Catalan identity; and the issue of truth in private and public memories, particularly memories of wartime atrocities and acts of heroism.