Abstract
This chapter articulates that while modern American expatriate writers represent return to the US as something possible and depend on their choice, intention and desire, Palestinian exiled writers describe homecoming as something they have no control over. Therefore, the routes the former group decide to follow afterwards are voluntarily chosen. In contrast, contemporary exiled Palestinian authors reflect on the impossibility of repatriation and their inability to reconnect with their original roots. Consequently, the subsequent routes followed by exiled Palestinian authors or their protagonists (return to exile) are not voluntarily chosen. The involuntary return of exiled Palestinian authors or their protagonists to their exile mirrors the initial disconnection of Palestinians from their roots, their coercion into exile and the prevention of their permanent return until now.
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Qabaha, A.R. (2018). Possible/Impossible Returns: The Questions of Roots and Routes in Thomas Wolfe and Mourid Barghouti. In: Exile and Expatriation in Modern American and Palestinian Writing. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91415-2_5
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