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“Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible 
To experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between
A human being 

And a native place, between the self and its true home:
Its essential sadness can never be surmounted. And while
It is true 

That literature and history contain heroic, romantic, glorious, 
Even triumphant episodes in an exile’s life, these are no more 
Than efforts meant 

To overcome the crippling sorrow of estrangement. The achievements
Of exile are permanently undermined by the loss of something 
Left behind forever ”

Edward Said from “Reflections on Exile”