Motherland is out of place: A Study of Said’s Autobiography
Ahlam Masad, Languages Center, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan.
Abstract
Based on analyzing the images and conceptions perceived in Edward Said's Out of Place, this paper attempts to explore the reasons why Said does not attach himself to a specific place of identity or to a nostalgic restored place described as the lost place. These reasons are a unique layout Said portrayed to deal with the place. They also show an intense paradox of the image represented in various cultural classical literature tackling the relationship between man in exile, place, and motherland. Thus, Said presented a new image of his relationship with place in line with the different spatial frameworks he lived in, with all its cultural and social components. Yet, he lacked, in these different places, the familiarity, identity and security. These feelings and emotions made him aware that he is always displaced or in the wrong place and pushed him to seek salvation while, simultaneously, enabling him to free himself from the past. He also presents an alternative thought to the phenomenon of connection to one's motherland. This alternative notion in finding home out of place, a placeless home, is the main component that encompasses his vision of academic knowledge.
Kaywords: Edward Said, motherlad, identity, nostalgia, the place.