Dimensions of exile: on displacement, absence, and alienation

Abstract

In this thesis, I study narratives by three exiles respectively living abroad, in the Arab world and inside the homeland—Palestine: Edward Said’s memoir Out of Place (2000), Jabra Ibrahim Jabra’s novel In Search of Walid Masoud (1978), and Mourid Barghouti’s autobiographical essay, I Saw Ramallah (1997). I attempt to answer the following questions: How is the experience of exile depicted in the narratives for each intellectual in their unique place of exile? How is homecoming portrayed in the texts and what kind of relation does the exile have with his nation? How has exile left a mark on the texts in content and form? Narratives on exile depict the experience as tragic and disorienting. They speak of a longing for homecoming that is fetishized to the extent that it is portrayed as the exile’s only dream. My aim is to break down this “single story” (term by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie). I argue that the tragic exile can still be enriching, and that homecoming does not necessarily provide solace. I explain that Said’s exile was not only the result of banishment from Palestine; rather, it was the outcome of a colonial rule, upbringing, and discrimination. Said felt out of place all his life, but he managed to secure a place for himself as a writer both back in Palestine and the world at large. Written in English, his memoir has been part of world literature from the beginning. Jabra found a place for himself in a new country in the Arab world, Iraq, while maintaining his commitment to Palestine. He was less disoriented than Said and Barghouti because of his ability to find roots in Iraq. His literary work made him an influence in Palestine, the Arab world, and beyond. While firmly embedded in Palestinian and Arabic literature, his novel has circulated abroad in translation and became part of world literature. Barghouti returned home to discover that homecoming can be as alienating as exile because he neither recognized his homeland, nor the people he had left behind.