Disclaiming the sense of belonging: the image of the exile in Edward Said and Tzvetan Todorov

Abstract

The aim of this work is to promote a reflection on the impact of cultures in transit, on the languages in contact, on the desires in conflict when it comes to the production of an interdisciplinary literature knowledge. For this, we searched in the image of exile, reworked by Edward Said and Tzvetan Todorov during the second half of the twentieth century, nuances that allow reflection on the ideals as identity and otherness. In the debate, we chased theoretical reflections, conceptual reworkings and disputes that contribute to the redefinition of literary studies methods and objects since the advent of cultural studies. Among the lessons of exile, we found a critic to a universalizing conception of Culture and the conflictual history of its replacement by a pluralistic target supported by the term “cultures”, with a small “c” and in plural. The image of the exile underscores the importance of the work surrounding translation of the languages in wanderings, and pressuposes the formation of subjectivities in the context of collective experiences, estrangement and territoriality.