Exile: A Moving Wound

Damian Ruth (Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand, d.w.ruth at massey.ac.nz)

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DOI: 10.1191/0967550706ab045oa

Abstract

This paper is a collage, a succession of meditations, poems, excerpts of letters, conversations, seminar notes and responses to writing about exile, location, being homesick and nostalgia.It attempts in substance and form to capture the fractured yet coherent, disconnected yet continuous experience of being in exile. Exile is a profoundly personal experience and yet it is a common one, and increasingly so. In other ways it is most public. It is a complex idea, and it can also be a visceral and emotional experience. The reader is offered inter alia a poem written for a father, a letter written to a daughter, excerpts from letters to the author, and notes and facts from seminars; you are invited to consider the difference between refugee, immigrant and relocated executive; above all, you are challenged to not be a tourist.

References

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