The mirror of Exile. Autobiography as estrangement in the works of Andrei Codrescu
The present paper deals with the concept of estrangement as a narcissistic projection of Self in the society due to the need of the exiled writer to reconstruct his identity. The writer does so by a process of deterritorialization of his Self in text. The text becomes from this standpoint the environment where identity disseminates in the form of narration and where the individual becomes Subject as character in the literary work. This enables the Self to undergo permanent reconstruction, as every reader of the literary work will put together the image of the character, as the Other, always different. We are going to focus in our paper on the study of the autobiographies of the American writer of Romanian origin Andrei Codrescu, who regards this type of narrative as a means to reconstruct identity in order to integrate without discarding his stranger-self.
Keywords: exile, autobiography, narcissistic estrangement, Codrescu, mirroring
2.[1] In “Of Others Spaces: Heterotopias”, Foucault argues that one of the functions of heterotopias is “to create a space that is other, another real space, as perfect, as meticulous, as well arranged as ours is messy, ill constructed, and jumbled”; http://foucault.info/documents/heteroTopia/foucault.heteroTopia.en.html, 04 August 2010
3.[1] Andrei Codrescu, “Adding to My Life” in Kathleen Ashley; Leigh Gilmore; Gerald Peters, (ed), Autobiography and Postmodernism, Boston, University of Massachusetts, 1994, p.25;
4.[1] Codrescu leaves Romania in 1965 when the country was under the rule of the Communist Party. Exile was a common solution for the writers who couldn’t stand seeing their works cut by Censorship. Still, Codrescu’s vision on exile is unique due to this transformation into a myth, rather than seeing it a an ultimate solution of survival;
5.[1] Andrei Codrescu, op.cit., p. 26
6.[1] Andrei Codrescu , op. cit. p. 23;
7.[1] Jacques Lacan, “The Mirror Stage” in Paul Du Gay; Jessica Evans, (ed), Identity: A Reader, London: Sage, 2000, p.46;
8.[1] Ibid, p. 50;
9.[1] Ovid, Metamorphoses, http://www.theoi.com/Text/OvidMetamorphoses3.html, 04 August, 2010
10.[1] Ibidem;
11.[1] Ibidem;
12.[1] Jacques Derrida, Points…, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995, p. 57;
13.[1] reference
14.[1] Andrei Codrescu, op. Cit., p. 24;
15.[1] Jacques Derrida, The Ear of the Other: Otobiography, Transference, Translation, New York: Schocken Books, 1985, p. 12
16.[1] Andrei Codrescu, , op.cit., p. 25;
17.[1] Ibid, p.30;
18.[1] Ibid., p. 23;
19.[1] Ibid., p. 21;
20.[1] Ibid., p. 23;
21.[1] Ibid, p.26.
