“El nuevo ciudadano europeo”: Postnacionalismo, hiperrealidad y multiculturalismo en Farsa de Màrius Serra

Since its invention in the Maastricht Treaty (1992), European citizenship has had both defenders and detractors. By studying the representation of immigration in the novel Farsa, or Patraña in Spanish (2006) by Màrius Serra, and drawing on theoretical work by Jean Baudrillard, Guy Debord, and Will Kymlicka, this article aims to explore the hyperreality of European citizenship and the failure of its acclaimed post-nationalism and multiculturalism. The fissures between the official discourse on the EU and people’s reality are shown in the novel through its setting in two restricted spaces—the Fòrum Universal de les Cultures and the “casino,” representations of the EU and of Catalonia respectively—and through criticism of the empty language of the media.