The present paper aims at analysing the theme of identity in Anna Seghers’
Transit
(1944). Due to the fact that it deals with the story of a German man who is in exile in
order to escape from the Nazi regime, its historical context is relevant. The novel
p
resents Marseille as a chaotic city granting asylum and as the last choice for exiles’
way out. It also reflects the official French policy toward exiles, which was
characterized by its unlimited requirement of visas in order to remain in the unoccupied
Fr
ance. It will be explained, through the analysis of the narrator’s and protagonist’s
dimensions, that under the arduous condition of exile the conception of identity turns
out to be quite controversial. In fact, individual identity is constructed in relati
on to the
collective one. In this sense, exiles have to overcome all the obstacles that emerge from
their lack of belonging to social groups in the new land. At this point, it must be noted
that exiles’ sense of national identity is also affected. They imm
erse themselves in a
slow and inefficient bureaucratic system which will somehow determine their identities.
In fact, the main struggle exiles have to face is the one about who they are and where
they find themselves. Hence, they subject themselves to a co
mplex process of
rediscovery in order to give answer to the principal question identity asks: how they
define their place in the world and present themselves to it. After having addressed the
basic notions of identity, I will develop the analysis of identi
ty in exile focusing on the
main protagonist and on the narrator’s voice. Through the analysis of both of them, it
will be proved that there is an inability to reconcile the authentic identity and the
identification, that is, how they are labelled by the a
uthorities. In other words,
I will try
to demonstrate that there is a gap between how individuals define themselves and how
bureaucracy
and society
determines the individual
