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.
