Transformation of Identity in the Basque Narrative of the 20th Century

Abstract

This article discusses how economic, political and social changes linked to postmodernism have caused a transformation in the subject’s identity in recent Basque narrative. It shows the appearance a new type of postmodern characters. Postmodernity offers a set of tools to analyse the concept of identity and its alteration in narrative, in an attempt to make a global description of current society and postmodernism as a framework in which artistic creations are materialised. This research delves into the postmodern subject in the Basque literary context. Results obtained attest that an identity crisis experienced by main characters corresponds to an identity imbalance that postmodernity generates in Western culture, resulting in a multiple and transitory identity.