Jorge Semprún's "recherche,"¹ "cette chronique du temps retrouvé qui sommeille en chaque romancier" (the chronicle of time regained that lies dormant in every novelist) (FSS 288), is the ongoing process of interrogating an identity structured by both political engagement and literature. From among the many elements comprising this plural identity, the present chapter is concerned with one of crucial significance: Semprún's connection to his family as well as his Spanish roots. Linked to the family milieu, a connection to Spain traverses Semprún's writing, and his narrators make liberal use of his cultural and political heritage.