Abstract
This article discusses the experience of exile as the reproduction of a structuring state of the human being, the original helplessness. To work on the issue of exile we have to resort to Edward Said, through his theoretical production and his autobiographical work Out of place: a memoir, as well as the contributions of Maria José de Queiroz on the evils of absence. Next, we cover the notion of original helplessness from the psychoanalytic propositions of Sigmund Freud. Finally, we articulate exile and helplessness with the dialectical movement, proposed by Octávio Paz, between solitude and creation, to think of writing as a possible outlet for the state of helplessness that is upgraded to the subject’s life.
Keywords:
loneliness; exile; helplessness; anguish; Edward Said