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THE ONE WHO LEAVES

THE ONE WHO LEAVES ARTICLES György Konrád Translated by Jim Tucker The forced kind is horrible. To have to leave behind all that is yours — this is practically to abandon your very self. But it could also be that you want to escape from here, from the cage, where threats ring you in and the anxiety is crippling. In which case it is exile denied that is horrible. If you must — if you would be in mortal danger to remain — then obviously you will go. For some reason, not entirely clear, you stay and happen to survive it: this time you were right. But it could happen that you do not survive it. And even then, for some reason, not entirely clear, you were also right. There are some émigrés who have not had time to weigh their decision. Many have sensed that, if they remained, they would be killed. Such were the odds for Jews in Hitler’s Europe. Sentimental attachment to home generally proved suicidal. The only ones who have a moral right to emigrate are those in mortal danger, said Solzhenitsyn, with characteristic strictness. I had thought that everyone had a right to it, even though I http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Common Knowledge Duke University Press

THE ONE WHO LEAVES

Konrad, Gyorgy; Tucker, Jim
Common Knowledge , Volume 14 (2) – Apr 1, 2008
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Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
© 2008 by Duke University Press
ISSN
0961-754X
eISSN
0961-754X
DOI
10.1215/0961754X-2007-087
Publisher site
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Abstract

ARTICLES György Konrád Translated by Jim Tucker The forced kind is horrible. To have to leave behind all that is yours — this is practically to abandon your very self. But it could also be that you want to escape from here, from the cage, where threats ring you in and the anxiety is crippling. In which case it is exile denied that is horrible. If you must — if you would be in mortal danger to remain — then obviously you will go. For some reason, not entirely clear, you stay and happen to survive it: this time you were right. But it could happen that you do not survive it. And even then, for some reason, not entirely clear, you were also right. There are some émigrés who have not had time to weigh their decision. Many have sensed that, if they remained, they would be killed. Such were the odds for Jews in Hitler’s Europe. Sentimental attachment to home generally proved suicidal. The only ones who have a moral right to emigrate are those in mortal danger, said Solzhenitsyn, with characteristic strictness. I had thought that everyone had a right to it, even though I

Journal

Common Knowledge – Duke University Press

Published: Apr 1, 2008

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