Between Exile and Elegy: Resistance, Memory, and Identity in Palestinian Literary Voices

Abstract

In a world fragmented by borders and bolstered by dominant poli tical narratives, the literary landscape of Palestine emerges as a resilient site of resistance and remembrance. This paper explores the intersection of language, literature, and power through the voices of Mahmoud Darwish, Mourid Barghouti, Judith Butler’s engagement with exile, and the lesser-known yet equally potent reflections of Abel Nasser Talia. Drawing upon Darwish’s If I Were Another, Barghouti’s I Saw Ramallah, Butler’s What Shall We Do Without Exile?, and Talia’s Between Exile and Elegy, the paper interrogates how exile, displacement, and resistance are linguistically and metaphorically constructed within Palestinian and diasporic poetics. The study situates resistance not merely as political defiance  but as an act of cultural preservation and identity assertion through multilingual expression and poetic form. Darwish’s fluid interplay between personal longing and collective mourning positions poetry as both a shelter and a weapon, where metaphors bleed into memory. Barghouti, through autobiographical reflection, captures the nuances of homecoming as estrangement, showing how language itself is altered by occupation. Judith Butler, while not Palestinian, contextualizes exile as a space of philosophical and emotional dislocation—an analytical frame that deepens the understanding of poetic resistance. Talia’s elegiac tone bridges literary mourning and political memory, offering a voice that resists erasure through subtle but potent linguistic choices. This paper further examines how multilingualism and translation become acts of resistance, enabling suppressed voices to transcend geopolitical boundaries. The poetic text becomes a borderless archive of struggle, where Arabic, English, and other languages converge to challenge hegemonic discourse. In doing so, these texts reimagine nationhood not through physical territory but through memory, metaphor, and literary solidarity. Ultimately, the paper argues that in the context of Palestine and other oppressed geographies, literature enacts a multilayered resistance—cultural, emotional, and ideological—preserving heritage while subverting silence. It contributes to broader discussions on linguistic diversity and postcolonial activism, positioning literature as both a witness to and a weapon against systemic erasure.