'Exile' means a prolonged usually enforced absence from one's home or country. There is no
paradigm for an exilic existence and no prescription of how to heal the loss of one's home and
one's identity. Exiles move in space migrating from one place to another but they are trapped
in time. They long for what they have lost and fear what is yet to come. Like the Roman god
Janus they constantly look both ways often lacking language that would help them to reconnect
with the world. This volume examines the process of the exile's self-translation by
rediscovering a way of expression for the ensnared experience. It requires a new language so
that the self may take a new shape. By discussing the unavoidable losses wrought upon
immigrants exiles and refugees by the mere fact of being displaced the authors hope to foster
a better understanding of these problems and help to rebuild shattered identities and ruined
lives.
