In today’s episode, we talk about what it’s like to be writing in exile, kicked off by Ovid, who was a famous writer 2000 years ago who eventually got on the wrong side of the Roman Emperor, and was exiled to what is now Romania. Ovid wrote letters home, telling of his exile, and these are wonderful accounts of how exile can affect a person. Julian’s father was an academic exiled from Germany, and that’s influenced Julian too. There is pressure and suffering, and the feeling of being an ‘alien’ (‘alienation’, I guess), which is close to the sense of ‘imposter syndrome’ common amongst academic writers. But being an exile can have a positive effect. It can help a writer see things from a different perspective, and can help them reach new audiences. Our ‘small’ exiles – the time we spend in hospital, perhaps, or even on holiday, the experience of arriving in a new city or a new institution – can involve both the bad and the good effects of larger-scale exiles. As academic writers, it’s as well to make use of every experience, to enhance our writing.
","author_name":"Julian Stern"}