Foreword
In her treatise, Cristina Dascălu writes that “the exile lives in a foreign country, a culture that is not his or her own, one that is alien, ‘other.’ The exile’s existence, therefore, is underpinned constantly by a sense of his or her geographical displacement.To fit in with the dominant culture, the exile most often appropriates expectations that are alien; the exile assimilates the roles and expectations of ‘the Other(s)’ among whom they find themselves. In t[his] process, the exiled displace who they are.”
Dascălu is not only a writer of distinction who demonstrates a clear, uncluttered style and a rare lucidity, but she has thoroughly and meticulously drawn on the work and theories of consummate minds in the field of literary theory, including Frantz Fanon, Homi Bhaba, and Jacques Derrida.
Imaginary Homelands explores, as the talented young poet-scholar Grant Matthew Jenkins notes, “the important theoretical and practical implications of exile across national, generic, and ethnic boundaries” and fills and fulfills a significant niche and need in post-colonial literary studies and narrative. Jenkins observes further that this significant study in contemporary post-colonial and decolonial displacement “is one of the most lucid and concise examinations of exile” yet to appear.