Exile and Expatriates in Robin Jenkins’ Novels

Exile and Expatriates in Robin Jenkins’ Novels

Robin Jenkins (1912-2005) is one of the most distinguished novelists of post war Britain. In a career which lasted some fifty years, he became a perceptive, though disenchanted, observer of Scottish society.However, we are less familiar with a second aspect of his work, nine novels and collections o...

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Publicado en:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises,
Autor principal: Sellin, Bernard
Formato: Article ou chapitre numérique
Lenguaje:Anglais
Publicado: Études écossaises 2011
Acceso en línea:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
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spelling openedition-oai:revues.org:etudesecossaises_231 https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesecossaises.231 urn:doi:10.4000/etudesecossaises.231 en https://journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises/231 2011-09-30T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/g5sy All rights reserved Exile and Expatriates in Robin Jenkins’ Novels Études écossaises UGA Éditions - Université Grenoble Alpes info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1969-6337 info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1240-1439 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises Sellin, Bernard Robin Jenkins (1912-2005) is one of the most distinguished novelists of post war Britain. In a career which lasted some fifty years, he became a perceptive, though disenchanted, observer of Scottish society.However, we are less familiar with a second aspect of his work, nine novels and collections of short-stories which are set abroad and find inspiration in the author’s own experience as a teacher in Afghanistan, Catalonia and Malaysia in the 1960s.For Jenkins this withdrawal from the Scottish scene offered a much needed distance at a time when he was increasingly dissatisfied with Scottish society and the lack of vitality of the literary scene. It also gave the opportunity for a discovery of new cultures and territories.What the books have in common is the experience of a majority of Scottish expatriates abroad, their mixed feelings, ambiguities and cowardice in front of the Other. Titles like The Expatriates, A Far Cry from Bowmore, Dust on the Paw, The Sardana Dancers, among others, offer a complex literary discussion of themes of exile and possible return, the pain of separation, the tensions between home and abroad, the vulgarity of the Scottish and English communities overseas. Inevitably, expatriation or exile is integrated into Jenkins’ spiritual quest for values until it merges with a possible experience of rebirth and self-discovery. Robin Jenkins (1912-2005) est l’un des écrivains les plus remarquables de la Grande-Bretagne de la seconde moitié du xxe siècle. Au fil d’une carrière qui s’étendit sur quelque 50 années, il jeta sur la société écossaise un regard aigu bien que désenchanté.Mais c’est ignorer un autre aspect de son œuvre, neuf romans et recueils de nouvelles, tous situés à l’étranger, dans des pays que fréquenta l’auteur comme enseignant en Afghanistan, Catalogne et Malaisie dans les années 1960.Pour Jenkins, ce retrait de la scène écossaise signifia une prise de distance salutaire à un moment où l’écrivain se montrait de plus en plus critique à l’égard de la société et du manque de vitalité de la scène littéraire. Ce fut aussi l’occasion de découvrir de nouvelles cultures. Ces livres partagent tous l’expérience d’expatriés, en majorité écossais, leurs ambiguïtés, hésitations et lâcheté face à l’Autre. The Expatriates, A Far Cry from Bowmore, Dust on the Paw, The Sardana Dancers sont quelques-uns des récits dans lesquels Jenkins se livre à un complexe examen des thèmes de l’exil et d’un possible retour, les tensions entre l’éloignement et la découverte de nouveaux horizons, la vulgarité quasi générale des expatriés, qu’ils soient anglais ou écossais. Inévitablement, expatriation et exil finissent par être intégrés à la quête spirituelle qui sous-tend tous ses livres jusqu’à suggérer renaissance et découverte de soi.
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description Robin Jenkins (1912-2005) is one of the most distinguished novelists of post war Britain. In a career which lasted some fifty years, he became a perceptive, though disenchanted, observer of Scottish society.However, we are less familiar with a second aspect of his work, nine novels and collections of short-stories which are set abroad and find inspiration in the author’s own experience as a teacher in Afghanistan, Catalonia and Malaysia in the 1960s.For Jenkins this withdrawal from the Scottish scene offered a much needed distance at a time when he was increasingly dissatisfied with Scottish society and the lack of vitality of the literary scene. It also gave the opportunity for a discovery of new cultures and territories.What the books have in common is the experience of a majority of Scottish expatriates abroad, their mixed feelings, ambiguities and cowardice in front of the Other. Titles like The Expatriates, A Far Cry from Bowmore, Dust on the Paw, The Sardana Dancers, among others, offer a complex literary discussion of themes of exile and possible return, the pain of separation, the tensions between home and abroad, the vulgarity of the Scottish and English communities overseas. Inevitably, expatriation or exile is integrated into Jenkins’ spiritual quest for values until it merges with a possible experience of rebirth and self-discovery.
author Sellin, Bernard
spellingShingle Sellin, Bernard
Exile and Expatriates in Robin Jenkins’ Novels
author_facet Sellin, Bernard
author_sort Sellin, Bernard
title Exile and Expatriates in Robin Jenkins’ Novels
title_short Exile and Expatriates in Robin Jenkins’ Novels
title_full Exile and Expatriates in Robin Jenkins’ Novels
title_fullStr Exile and Expatriates in Robin Jenkins’ Novels
title_full_unstemmed Exile and Expatriates in Robin Jenkins’ Novels
title_sort exile and expatriates in robin jenkins’ novels
publisher Études écossaises
publishDate 2011
container_title URI:https://journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises
url https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesecossaises.231
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises/231
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