Instructions:

Read the following famous meditation on exile by Edward Said, a famous Palestinian intellectual who was a professor of Comparative Literature and Culture at Columbia University. I have also provided a short video interview with Said below, if you are curious to learn more.

Suggestion: Take notes (as always) and consider the following questions:

- How does Said characterize exile at the beginning of his essay?
- According to Said, what is the difference between earlier exiles and those occurring in our modern age?
- For Said, what is the service provided by exiled poets and critics to society?
- The connections between nationalism and exile -- what are they?
- What do the literary examples that Said cites do for his argument on exile? What does he wish to show through these cases?
- What is the difference between emigre, exile, expatriate, and refugee? (p. 181)
- Said cites Georg Lukács to distinguish between the epic and the novel -- what is the difference?
- Toward the end of his essay, Said calls exile "an alternative" rather than a "privilege" to suggest a particular mode of existence that might have its rewards. What does he mean? How does the exile receive "originality of vision" or a "contrapuntal vision," a famous Saidian notion?

Edward Said, "Reflections on Exile"

Optional Short Video of An interview with Edward Said