Abstract
Exile has appeared repeatedly in many myths inspired by individuals, since the birth of the most remote civilizations in history of Mankind; between pain and dreams, hopefulness and death, and desires and disillusionment. Since our origins, the literature has inherited this founder myth, in the sense that it founds the human condition, and is interpreted and reinterpreted through generations. Yet, the twentieth century is to be considered the very century of exile. In History of modern time as well as its Arts, the millions of exiles caused by the two Great Wars, the burst of the Empire or later the colony along with Totalitarianism, censorship, and genocides, marked the minds of this generation and especially numerous artists for they were often the first to be targeted in those tearing events. Nedim Gürsel, a Turk writer exiled in France for political reasons, asserts that "Literature of the twentieth century is mostly a literature of exile where different sensitivities find an expression through a common destiny: departure and wandering." Indeed, the exile represented through all the works studied this semester, is a non-exhaustive but telling sample of modern literature. The modern heroes commune one to the other in loneliness, isolation and wandering. From the lost K. to the decadent Clamence, going through the isolated and lonely shimamura, we are being told more than the indisputable painful experiences of their creators, but at stake is the condition of men, our Humanness.
