Exile and Expatriation in Modern American and Palestinian Writing

By Ahmad Rasmi Qabaha

Book Overview

This book examines the distinction between literary expatriation and exile through a 'contrapuntal reading' of modern Palestinian and American writing. It argues that exile, in the Palestinian case especially, is a political catastrophe; it is banishment by a colonial power. It suggests that, unlike expatriation (a choice of a foreign land over one's own), exile is a political rather than an artistic concept and is forced rather than voluntary -- while exile can be emancipatory, it is always an unwelcome loss. In addition to its historical dimension, exile also entails a different perception of return to expatriation. This book frames expatriates as quintessentially American, particularly intellectuals and artists seeking a space of creativity and social dissidence in the experience of living away from home. At the heart of both literary discourses, however, is a preoccupation with home, belonging, identity, language, mobility and homecoming.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3319914146
• ISBN13: 9783319914145
• Release Date: June 2018
• Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 1.03 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.8" x 8.3"