Ernst Toller and the Exigencies of Exile

Abstract

In the 1990s, no less than in 1939, exile, for most of those who are exposed to it, is a deeply disturbing experience. For someone like Ernst Toiler, the problems that arise are to some extent those of the uprooted individual, and to some extent those of the uprooted writer. Inevitably, the two interact, for while success as a writer may ease the lot of the uprooted individual, the problems of the uprooted individual can certainly inhibit the activities of the writer. In Toller’s case, these difficulties were compounded by his known political involvement and by the constraints of his status as a political refugee. I shall try to outline some of these problems, and Toller’s response to them, drawing for the most part on unpublished letters written during his years of exile in Britain.