Inner Exile and Alternative National Identifications after the Spanish Civil War: Imagining the Basque Country in Ramon Saizarbitoria's 100 metro

Abstract

This study explores the representation of national identities and their relationship to inner exile in the Spanish translation of the Basque novel 100 metro, by Ramon Saizarbitoria, which narrates the last 100 metres an ETA member runs before being shot to death by the police. According to its publishers, 100 metro is the first novel in the Basque language to be translated into Spanish (as Cien metros). The present reading questions the concept of inner exile (exile within the borders of one's own nation) as it applies to stateless nations within the Spanish state. Paul Ilie's model considers inner exile a consequence of the split in the national unity caused by territorial exile, which does not work with minority nations within the Spanish state. For the present analysis, inner exile is redefined as a conflict between the individual and the official national discourse and is used to examine national constructions within the Basque Country.