Many of the earliest poems known, from the ancient world, deplore the pain of exile. Whether it is the highly stylized verse of the Arab world, or the oral recitation of Western Saharan, exiles and refugees from all parts of the world have shared their experiences of grief, loss and homesickness through poetry. With so … Continue reading Literature of Exile: Poetry (part 1)
Literature of Exile: The Armenian Genocide
One of the tragedies of the Armenian genocide is that there are still those who deny it happened. Beginning in 1914, the Ottoman authorities in Anatolia deported and killed over a million and a half ethnic Armenians. Although Turkey continues to deny it, the genocide against the Armenians is now generally recognized worldwide. Twenty-nine countries … Continue reading Literature of Exile: The Armenian Genocide
Literature of Exile: Hamid Ismailov and Exile as Folktale
“It is boundlessly difficult to be a stranger. Your usual ways of behaving bear no fruit: if your habits are not fit for purpose, you might as well be a wheel off its axle, alone over and over again.” “I am a stranger at home, and I am nobody abroad.” A common trope in folklore … Continue reading Literature of Exile: Hamid Ismailov and Exile as Folktale
Literature of Exile: Şavkar Altınel
Today I am handing over guest editor duties to Turkish author Kaya Genc. Thank you Kaya for this thoughtful piece! Exile wasn’t a choice for Turkish dissidents of the twentieth century. It was a necessity. Turkish literature’s luminaries, from the poet Nâzım Hikmet to the novelist Halide Edip Adıvar, lived abroad because autocrats who ruled … Continue reading Literature of Exile: Şavkar Altınel
Literature of Exile: Dubravka Ugrešić
“The invisibility in which we live next to one another is appalling" Perhaps the only thing more painful than leaving a beloved country behind is to realize that one's former country no longer exists. Emigres from the former Yugoslavia find themselves in this perplexing, and bewildering predicament: are they now merely Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian? If, … Continue reading Literature of Exile: Dubravka Ugrešić
Literature of Exile: Cuba in the fiction of Cristina Garcia, Ana Menendez, and Achy Obejas
"…where we come from the greatest achievement is to leave.” Arguably one of the richest traditions in exile literature is that of Cuban Americans. Given the strong economic and cultural ties between the two countries before Castro's revolution in 1959, it was hardly surprising that so many Cubans who fled the Communist takeover made the … Continue reading Literature of Exile: Cuba in the fiction of Cristina Garcia, Ana Menendez, and Achy Obejas
Literature of Exile: Kenya’s Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
To read global literature is to accept the compromise of translation. Even the most polyglot among us cannot hope to read everything that interests us in its original language. English has become the somewhat grudgingly accepted lingu franca for most of the world, yet to read and write in English is to speak the colonizer's … Continue reading Literature of Exile: Kenya’s Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
Literature of Exile: The Rohingya #ExileLit
Hello again! Many of the authors we will read about this month were exiled in isolation, for their individual acts of dissent or rebellion. Yet there are stories of entire communities exiled and driven from their homelands. One such expulsion that has captured world attention in recent years is that of the Rohingya. Although they … Continue reading Literature of Exile: The Rohingya #ExileLit
#ExileLit Welcome to the Literature of Exile
My name is Lesley Williams, and I am guest editing the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative blog for November. What a tremendous honor! As a librarian, I enjoy combining my love of beautiful writing with advancing social justice. So what better theme to choose that the literature of exile? Ovid, Dante, Victor Hugo, Wole Soynika, … Continue reading #ExileLit Welcome to the Literature of Exile
#TranslatedLit Editor’s Reflections by Rónán Hession
My month in the editor’s chair of the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative blog has come to an end. I’d like to thank sincerely all the publishers and contributors over the past month for providing such interesting and inspiring blog posts. At a time when everyone is so stretched and busy, your support and cooperation … Continue reading #TranslatedLit Editor’s Reflections by Rónán Hession
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 