Synopses & Reviews
By emphasizing their years in exile and how those years affected their writings, Literary Exile in the Twentieth Century provides a unique and fascinating perspective on expatriate writers that cannot be gleaned from any other biographical dictionary. This excellent compilation is recommended for academic libraries, and it could also be useful in large public libraries.
Reference Books Bulletin
This encyclopedia provides an analytical survey of writers in exile who left their homelands for various reasons such as banishment, deportation, voluntary exile, anticipation of imprisonment, harassment, torture, or religious persecution. The various writers of the modern age represented in more than 500 entries have been chosen for having received wide acceptance and high critical evaluation. The length of the entries varies because of the need to reflect a balance of exilic forms and types. Most of the entries written by esteemed critics in specialized fields deal with prominent writers and provide in-depth treatment of the writers' milieu, biography, and works. Titles by each author are listed at the end of the entry and are followed by a list of critical source material on the writer. Group entries such as Holocaust writers, Iranian writers in exile, and expatriates discuss exile as a phenomenon beyond the realm of individual behavior. The editor also includes several representative non-exiled authors whose literary work reflects a profound state of psychic exile.
Czeslaw Milosz, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Henry James, Thomas Mann, Elie Wiesel, Joseph Conrad, and Hannah Arendt are among those considered in this exploration of the varieties of exilic experience. Tucker's thoughtful introduction examines literary exile from a myriad of viewpoints, arriving at a formulation of universal features of exilic writing characteristic of the twentieth century. This distinguished resource should find a place in college and university libraries as well as in the reference collections of larger public libraries.
Review
Tucker (C.W. Post Campus, Long Island University), editor of the literary journal Confrontation (1968-), and compiler of a number of literary encyclopedias for Ungar, e.g., The Critical Temper (5v., 1969-89), has put together this international guide to modern exiled writers. The main body of the text lists, alphabetically, entries for some 550 exiled writers, living and dead. A useful introductory essay explores the varied types of exile and the difficulty in defining the terms and in categorizing artistic victims and the ways their exile affects their work. The entries often continue this exploration, and cross-references are made when a shared exilic milieu exists. Since the selection is made to be a "representative survey" and full entries are provided only for those who have received "wide acceptance and high critical evaluation," a number of important writers are omitted, particularly women (e.g., Marjorie Agosin, Marta Traba, and Cristina Peri Rossi). Major figures are covered at length (Beckett, Conrad, and Lawrence get five to nine pages each), and most entries contain references to specific works influenced by or reflecting on exile as well as additional titles and sources of critical commentary at the end. Some short entries are questionable and lack explanation for their inclusion (e.g., Raymond Andrews and Italo Calvino), and some entries offer little analysis (Andrei Codrescu's entry is made up of excerpts from an interview and his autobiographical works). Additional sections list exiles by categories (e.g., gay and lesbian writers), and the appendixes cover additional categories and geographic points of departure and refuge. A valuable survey and biographical source.Choice
Review
In detailing individual movements from the familiar to the foreign space and exploring the effect of exile on the specific literature that emerges from the specific journey, the contributing authors (more than 100) have done much to enrich and clarify for the reader some of the subtle similarities and vast differences among the experiences of 20th-century wanderers.Phi Beta Kappa
Synopsis
"a unique and fascinating perspective on expatriate writers that cannot be gleaned from any other biographical dictionary." Reference Books Bulletin
Synopsis
"By emphasizing their years in exile and how those years affected their writings, Literary Exile in the Twentieth Century provides a unique and fascinating perspective on expatriate writers that cannot be gleaned from any other biographical dictionary. This excellent compilation is recommended for academic libraries, and it could also be useful in large public libraries." Reference Books Bulletin
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [811]-818) and index.
About the Author
MARTIN TUCKER is Professor of English at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.