There's a lot that I can relate to, starting with leaving my passport country in 2009 and ending with America's 2024 election. The most popular reasons why folks leave is to seek adventure, maybe something along the lines of employment, but rarely do you hear for political reasons. While I certainly wandered around the US for years before finally leaving, one of the reasons was political -- I knew the two-party stranglehold was two sides of the same coin. Of course, back then, that statement was considered laughable or deeply cynical.
There have been times that I long for home, to live there again, but something that I have to realize is what I long for is something from the past. America has changed a great deal, like Britain. And yes, people don't know what to do you with (something that I touch upon in my most recent essay, so I'm feeling the synchronicity). You ended this perfectly, love that last line.
Thank you, Lani. I kind of imagined this might be something you could relate to. And you're right, often people don't know what to do with you. That can be good and bad...
Another great write, and a lot to unpack. I had a similar sentiment about "home" but did not give "exile" much thought (not even as a state of mind), until I read this essay.
Thanks, Jeffery, for giving me something (again) to mull over, and something to maybe write about myself.
BTW, I have my opinions about Chinese poetry (or philosophies, or proverbs) translated by non-Chinese literate, especially when the knowledge of Chinese was indirectly obtained (in Pound's case, Japanese). 😊
Thank you, Yi Xue! I agree it's a big topic for those of us who have left our homeland. Thank you for raising your issue about indirect translations from Chinese. I tend to look for more direct ones, but here the Pound is readily accessible and also rather beautiful. If you can point me to a better translation online, I'd be grateful!
Regarding my comment on Chinese translations, it wasn't much of an issue but an observation, not meant to be negative at all. Regardless of its relationship to the original poem, Pound's resulting work is beautiful indeed!
I have been thinking about potential collaboration projects with other writers though, to bring better introductions (translations) of Chinese philosophy and literature on Substack. DM me if you are interested. 🙂
I spent nearly 19 years living outside my native country, voluntarily. As you point out, you're not in exile if you chose to leave although we hear of people going into a self-imposed exile of one kind or another. On the whole, I found life in foreign countries congenial, indeed restful, for one simple reason: I didn't fit in, but because I wasn't expected to it didn't cause me any significant stress. I never felt like I fit in where I'm from and that did stress me out. It doesn't anymore. :)
Thanks for your brilliant article. I believe exile is a state of mind. When discussing Spanish exile, it's important to remember that those who managed to flee were a privileged minority, albeit numbering in the thousands. After Hitler's ally emerged victorious, he exacted revenge by executing around 200,000 individuals without trial, who were deemed unfit for fascist norms. A significant number were imprisoned, while many others were exiled within their own country, facing looting and ostracization for half a century. Most families even abandoned the search for their murdered loved ones, whose bodies are still being discovered while conservative forces—heirs, nostalgics, and beneficiaries of Franco—conspire to deny this basic and miserable right.
In 2004, the Cuban songwriter Silvio Rodríguez—probably one of the best lyricists in Spanish—released his album 'Cita con ángeles,' filled with messages against war. His repertoire is so extensive that the audience was calling out the titles of various songs. Someone, with an obviously biased intention, asked for 'a song for the exiled people.' Silvio's serene response has always stayed with me: 'Everyone is an exile from somewhere.' We need fewer boundaries, fewer owners and dividers, and more caretakers of this little, lonely planet.
Thank you, Rafa, for your wonderful response and for adding so much context to the aftermath of the civil war. Living in Spain in the 1980s I began to feel the importance of democracy, through people I knew who'd suffered its absence for decades. That was an important and humbling lesson. And Silvio Rodríguez is a demi god as far as I'm concerned. That's a wonderful quote from him. His lyrics still bounce around in my head and I hope they always will. Thank you.
I mean, just so much to relate to Jeffrey! You’re probably not so surprised by that. 😁
Interesting to hear more about your movements around the world and the feelings about home as well. I also have a hard time naming myself. Often people call me an expat, but that certainly doesn’t feel right. Émigré does sound the closest. Overseas voter, overseas taxpayer…yes these things, too. It is a privilege to keep my passport even when I occasionally feel it is also some odd kind of noose. A type of Pharmakon I guess. But this issue of returning home…people at some point stopped asking when I’d come home to the US. Now we are going to my husband’s home (U.K.). He has also been abroad for about 17 years. I landed a job but he - the citizen - is struggling to find one whilst receiving offers in other countries. It’s a weird thing that happens to your mind. Things feel hard when you think they would feel easy. Healthcare, finding a flat…and yes, driving a car and changing my license over. It makes one feel especially unsettled as it is “supposed to be easier” - returning home.
Hope you use your vote! I have no answers and shall let your questions sit with me :)
Thank you for your wonderful response, Kate! That "supposed to be easier" is a killer, right? Yes, it's all the practical stuff, but it's also a sense of estrangement. "I was brought up here. Why can't I belong any more?" To which the answer is possibly, "maybe you never did" in my case.
“Who ever heard of an exile who could vote?” I love the wide-ranging, casual erudition of this essay. Such wry, self-deprecating wit. It’s just delightful. I’ve always understood Pound’s translations fr om the Chinese to be written in a voice that is uniquely his, not superimposed on the originals but opening up their meaning in a way that English-speaking readers can appreciate. Maybe you’re someone who sends your words “a thousand miles, thinking.” I don’t think there’s one single term for that. Thank you, Jeffrey, for this lovely essay.
When I read the newspaper headlines I feel like an exile in my own country. Or wish I could escape from their version of England (some kind of rose-tinted, fake-rural idyll where people doff their hats to the squire and listen to Vera Lynn).
I spent a year in the UAE when I was 5 and then again when I was 7, 6 months in the Bahamas when I was 18, 6 months in the USA when I was 21. I think that time abroad, especially when I was a 'minority', gave me a different perspective of life and people than my peers who had spent their whole life in one place.
There is nothing innately superior about the English, nor is there anything inately inferior about the rest of the world and yet that attitude permeates through a lot of society.
A very enjoyable read, Jeffrey, and I loved the literary references. I’m the opposite to you. After six years, I was happy to return to England. It did take me about a year to fully adjust, though, because I think you do look at things more critically on your return.
Thank you, Maureen! It's good to hear that you were able to settle back in. Perhaps in my case, 15 years was just too long—a big chunk of my adult life.
Yes, Jeffrey, I was thinking the same thing. I was also about ten years older than you when I left England. I was surprised it took me a year to readjust on my return, after all, I hadn’t been away very long. I hadn’t been expecting that at all and I had even visited the UK every Summer during the six years. I think you are likely very happy where you are, but if you do ever return permanently, maybe expect a long adjustment period !
Thank you, Maureen. That makes me think that if I'd got "established" in the Uk first, I might have found it easier to come and go. I did spend a year there recently and in many ways it was very good. But it was always a temporary thing. I always felt/knew I was in transit.
Exile is such a visceral experience and a really powerful literary theme. I really enjoyed reading Henry Kamen’s book ‘The Disinherited: The Exiles Who Created Spanish Culture’. ‘Reflections on Exile’ by Edward Said is brilliant too.
We embrace being 'citizens of nowhere' with alacrity, Jeffrey having lived away from our respective home countries (UK and Australia) for so much of our lives.
In anticipation of a general election this year, I double-checked my electoral status in March. And then when it was officially announced I contacted my borough council about my proxy vote - glad I did as the online form that I completed had somehow been lost!
The term 'exile' is really interesting as since I left the UK 12 years ago, there have been certain political decisions that seemed completely alien to me. And the increasingly polarisation of politics (although worse, it seems in the US) makes me wonder whether I would want to live there again. But perhaps the image that I had of the UK was not one that was truly real.
Lots to think about with this post, thank you for sharing it.
Hi Sarah, thank you for commenting and sharing your experience. Good to hear that you were well prepared for the election announcement! What you say about the image of the UK that you have is very interesting. It makes me wonder whether anyone's image is more than just a very partial and incomplete one. Plato urged us to look at the world from above, I believe. But it often feels like all I see is a glimpse through the privet hedge.
Love a good musing, Jeffrey - so identify with this. Am I an immigrant? I'm not planning to stay in Spain forever. Expat (which you didn't mention) has an elitist ring, some say, though it's the word most of us use locally. Exile? Well we did leave, in part, because of the political situation in the U.S., but only partly, and we didn't have to. I'm preferring "adventurer" more and more, although it's definitely from a seated position most days. ;)
Thank you, Troy. Adventurer is good! I've never cared for expat as a term, but as you say, it's widely used. It always conjures up the kind of club I've spent a lifetime not joining.
"Exile" --a grand metaphor for feeling out of place -- as you so describe with magical allusions. I admit to feeling that way now in the U.S., as I consider the reaction by the so-called Republicans to 34 guilty felonies by a jury and a system of law I respect.
This is a beautiful essay and there's so much that resonated with me. I also feel myself to be in exile because my decision to leave my native America felt so urgent and so necessary. My Substack is actually called Notes from Exile! And while I am hardly to be pitied and certainly have not suffered like migrants and refugees have, there's something about my decision to leave home this time (I've done stints as an expat before), with my husband and my children and my dog, that won't let go of me. Thank you for this.
Thank you, Laura! I'm glad you enjoyed the essay and I can see simialrities between our situations. I've susbscribed to Notes from Exile and look forward to learning more.
There's a lot that I can relate to, starting with leaving my passport country in 2009 and ending with America's 2024 election. The most popular reasons why folks leave is to seek adventure, maybe something along the lines of employment, but rarely do you hear for political reasons. While I certainly wandered around the US for years before finally leaving, one of the reasons was political -- I knew the two-party stranglehold was two sides of the same coin. Of course, back then, that statement was considered laughable or deeply cynical.
There have been times that I long for home, to live there again, but something that I have to realize is what I long for is something from the past. America has changed a great deal, like Britain. And yes, people don't know what to do you with (something that I touch upon in my most recent essay, so I'm feeling the synchronicity). You ended this perfectly, love that last line.
Thank you, Lani. I kind of imagined this might be something you could relate to. And you're right, often people don't know what to do with you. That can be good and bad...
Another great write, and a lot to unpack. I had a similar sentiment about "home" but did not give "exile" much thought (not even as a state of mind), until I read this essay.
Thanks, Jeffery, for giving me something (again) to mull over, and something to maybe write about myself.
BTW, I have my opinions about Chinese poetry (or philosophies, or proverbs) translated by non-Chinese literate, especially when the knowledge of Chinese was indirectly obtained (in Pound's case, Japanese). 😊
Thank you, Yi Xue! I agree it's a big topic for those of us who have left our homeland. Thank you for raising your issue about indirect translations from Chinese. I tend to look for more direct ones, but here the Pound is readily accessible and also rather beautiful. If you can point me to a better translation online, I'd be grateful!
Regarding my comment on Chinese translations, it wasn't much of an issue but an observation, not meant to be negative at all. Regardless of its relationship to the original poem, Pound's resulting work is beautiful indeed!
I did some searching online for you to look for direct translations of Li Bai's poem and could not find a good one (maybe it just does not exist) but came across this interesting discussion: https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/56342/could-someone-help-me-untangle-some-of-the-mistranslations-in-ezra-pounds-exil
I have been thinking about potential collaboration projects with other writers though, to bring better introductions (translations) of Chinese philosophy and literature on Substack. DM me if you are interested. 🙂
I spent nearly 19 years living outside my native country, voluntarily. As you point out, you're not in exile if you chose to leave although we hear of people going into a self-imposed exile of one kind or another. On the whole, I found life in foreign countries congenial, indeed restful, for one simple reason: I didn't fit in, but because I wasn't expected to it didn't cause me any significant stress. I never felt like I fit in where I'm from and that did stress me out. It doesn't anymore. :)
Thanks for your brilliant article. I believe exile is a state of mind. When discussing Spanish exile, it's important to remember that those who managed to flee were a privileged minority, albeit numbering in the thousands. After Hitler's ally emerged victorious, he exacted revenge by executing around 200,000 individuals without trial, who were deemed unfit for fascist norms. A significant number were imprisoned, while many others were exiled within their own country, facing looting and ostracization for half a century. Most families even abandoned the search for their murdered loved ones, whose bodies are still being discovered while conservative forces—heirs, nostalgics, and beneficiaries of Franco—conspire to deny this basic and miserable right.
In 2004, the Cuban songwriter Silvio Rodríguez—probably one of the best lyricists in Spanish—released his album 'Cita con ángeles,' filled with messages against war. His repertoire is so extensive that the audience was calling out the titles of various songs. Someone, with an obviously biased intention, asked for 'a song for the exiled people.' Silvio's serene response has always stayed with me: 'Everyone is an exile from somewhere.' We need fewer boundaries, fewer owners and dividers, and more caretakers of this little, lonely planet.
---
Thank you, Rafa, for your wonderful response and for adding so much context to the aftermath of the civil war. Living in Spain in the 1980s I began to feel the importance of democracy, through people I knew who'd suffered its absence for decades. That was an important and humbling lesson. And Silvio Rodríguez is a demi god as far as I'm concerned. That's a wonderful quote from him. His lyrics still bounce around in my head and I hope they always will. Thank you.
I mean, just so much to relate to Jeffrey! You’re probably not so surprised by that. 😁
Interesting to hear more about your movements around the world and the feelings about home as well. I also have a hard time naming myself. Often people call me an expat, but that certainly doesn’t feel right. Émigré does sound the closest. Overseas voter, overseas taxpayer…yes these things, too. It is a privilege to keep my passport even when I occasionally feel it is also some odd kind of noose. A type of Pharmakon I guess. But this issue of returning home…people at some point stopped asking when I’d come home to the US. Now we are going to my husband’s home (U.K.). He has also been abroad for about 17 years. I landed a job but he - the citizen - is struggling to find one whilst receiving offers in other countries. It’s a weird thing that happens to your mind. Things feel hard when you think they would feel easy. Healthcare, finding a flat…and yes, driving a car and changing my license over. It makes one feel especially unsettled as it is “supposed to be easier” - returning home.
Hope you use your vote! I have no answers and shall let your questions sit with me :)
Thank you for your wonderful response, Kate! That "supposed to be easier" is a killer, right? Yes, it's all the practical stuff, but it's also a sense of estrangement. "I was brought up here. Why can't I belong any more?" To which the answer is possibly, "maybe you never did" in my case.
Oh you do have at least one of the possible answers already :) In this case, I will share it with my husband and see what he thinks.
😊
“Who ever heard of an exile who could vote?” I love the wide-ranging, casual erudition of this essay. Such wry, self-deprecating wit. It’s just delightful. I’ve always understood Pound’s translations fr om the Chinese to be written in a voice that is uniquely his, not superimposed on the originals but opening up their meaning in a way that English-speaking readers can appreciate. Maybe you’re someone who sends your words “a thousand miles, thinking.” I don’t think there’s one single term for that. Thank you, Jeffrey, for this lovely essay.
When I read the newspaper headlines I feel like an exile in my own country. Or wish I could escape from their version of England (some kind of rose-tinted, fake-rural idyll where people doff their hats to the squire and listen to Vera Lynn).
I spent a year in the UAE when I was 5 and then again when I was 7, 6 months in the Bahamas when I was 18, 6 months in the USA when I was 21. I think that time abroad, especially when I was a 'minority', gave me a different perspective of life and people than my peers who had spent their whole life in one place.
There is nothing innately superior about the English, nor is there anything inately inferior about the rest of the world and yet that attitude permeates through a lot of society.
It gets us into a lot of trouble.
I agree, James, those attitudes get us into a lot of trouble. And we sometimes pass the harm on to others as well.
A very enjoyable read, Jeffrey, and I loved the literary references. I’m the opposite to you. After six years, I was happy to return to England. It did take me about a year to fully adjust, though, because I think you do look at things more critically on your return.
Thank you, Maureen! It's good to hear that you were able to settle back in. Perhaps in my case, 15 years was just too long—a big chunk of my adult life.
Yes, Jeffrey, I was thinking the same thing. I was also about ten years older than you when I left England. I was surprised it took me a year to readjust on my return, after all, I hadn’t been away very long. I hadn’t been expecting that at all and I had even visited the UK every Summer during the six years. I think you are likely very happy where you are, but if you do ever return permanently, maybe expect a long adjustment period !
Thank you, Maureen. That makes me think that if I'd got "established" in the Uk first, I might have found it easier to come and go. I did spend a year there recently and in many ways it was very good. But it was always a temporary thing. I always felt/knew I was in transit.
Yes, I think you’re probably right.
In my travels to obscure corners of the world, I was always intrigued by the wanderers from other lands who somehow ended up in the same place.
The concept of exile always recalls the Canadian folksong I learned as a child, with original words by Antoine Gérin-Lajoie:
'Un Canadien errant,
Banni de ses foyers,
Parcourait en pleurant
Des pays étrangers.
Un jour, triste et pensif,
Assis au bord des flots,
Au courant fugitif
Il adressa ces mots:
"Si tu vois mon pays,
Mon pays malheureux,
Va, dis à mes amis
Que je me souviens d'eux.
"Ô jours si pleins d'appas
Vous êtes disparus,
Et ma patrie, hélas!
Je ne la verrai plus!
"Non, mais en expirant,
Ô mon cher Canada!
Mon regard languissant
Vers toi se portera..." '
English rendering by John Murray Gibbon:
'Once a Canadian lad,
Exiled from hearth and home,
Wandered, alone and sad,
Through alien lands unknown.
Down by a rushing stream,
Thoughtful and sad one day,
He watched the water pass
And to it he did say:
"If you should reach my land,
My most unhappy land,
Please speak to all my friends
So they will understand.
"Tell them how much I wish
That I could be once more
In my beloved land
That I will see no more.
"My own beloved land
I'll not forget till death,
And I will speak of her
With my last dying breath.'
That's a lovely song; thank you for sharing!
Wanderer maybe? Like an albatross that spends most of his life in flight. https://oceanwide-expeditions.com/to-do/wildlife/wandering-albatross
Thank you, Karen! Yes, there's no better bird at wandering than the albatross. I was privileged to see some in the Galápagos Islands many years ago.
Exile is such a visceral experience and a really powerful literary theme. I really enjoyed reading Henry Kamen’s book ‘The Disinherited: The Exiles Who Created Spanish Culture’. ‘Reflections on Exile’ by Edward Said is brilliant too.
Thank you for the recommendations, James!
We embrace being 'citizens of nowhere' with alacrity, Jeffrey having lived away from our respective home countries (UK and Australia) for so much of our lives.
Ah! It's quite a nice trick, to turn Theresa May's term of opprobrium into a positive!
In anticipation of a general election this year, I double-checked my electoral status in March. And then when it was officially announced I contacted my borough council about my proxy vote - glad I did as the online form that I completed had somehow been lost!
The term 'exile' is really interesting as since I left the UK 12 years ago, there have been certain political decisions that seemed completely alien to me. And the increasingly polarisation of politics (although worse, it seems in the US) makes me wonder whether I would want to live there again. But perhaps the image that I had of the UK was not one that was truly real.
Lots to think about with this post, thank you for sharing it.
Hi Sarah, thank you for commenting and sharing your experience. Good to hear that you were well prepared for the election announcement! What you say about the image of the UK that you have is very interesting. It makes me wonder whether anyone's image is more than just a very partial and incomplete one. Plato urged us to look at the world from above, I believe. But it often feels like all I see is a glimpse through the privet hedge.
Love a good musing, Jeffrey - so identify with this. Am I an immigrant? I'm not planning to stay in Spain forever. Expat (which you didn't mention) has an elitist ring, some say, though it's the word most of us use locally. Exile? Well we did leave, in part, because of the political situation in the U.S., but only partly, and we didn't have to. I'm preferring "adventurer" more and more, although it's definitely from a seated position most days. ;)
Thank you, Troy. Adventurer is good! I've never cared for expat as a term, but as you say, it's widely used. It always conjures up the kind of club I've spent a lifetime not joining.
"Exile" --a grand metaphor for feeling out of place -- as you so describe with magical allusions. I admit to feeling that way now in the U.S., as I consider the reaction by the so-called Republicans to 34 guilty felonies by a jury and a system of law I respect.
Thank you, Mary!
And I hope the political institutions of the US prove strong enough once more to withstand the tide of intemperate feelings
This is a beautiful essay and there's so much that resonated with me. I also feel myself to be in exile because my decision to leave my native America felt so urgent and so necessary. My Substack is actually called Notes from Exile! And while I am hardly to be pitied and certainly have not suffered like migrants and refugees have, there's something about my decision to leave home this time (I've done stints as an expat before), with my husband and my children and my dog, that won't let go of me. Thank you for this.
Thank you, Laura! I'm glad you enjoyed the essay and I can see simialrities between our situations. I've susbscribed to Notes from Exile and look forward to learning more.