Joseph Roth’s Itineraries Beyond Language: “der Süden konserviert die Steine, die Fragmente, die Weltanschauungen”

This study examines the perception of space and the mental landscapes in Joseph Roth’s travel reportages from southern France. Particular focus will be placed on the articles that Joseph Roth wrote for the “Frankfurter Zeitung”and collected in a book published posthumously, in 1956 with the title Im mittäglichen Frankreich and afterwards under the title Die weißen Städte. In this text the relationship between the real topography, the literary representation and the subjective point of view of the author, might give us a new definition of the concept of “space” and “belonging” beyond language. The aim is to analyze the representation that Joseph Roth gives us, through his articles, that builds up new spaces and is in relation with the actual place and with the topography of the individual and collective memory.