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Article: Calamities of Exile: Three Nonfiction Novellas.
- Article from:
- The Washington Monthly
- Article date:
- July 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Washington Monthly Company. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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By Lawrence Weschler University of Chicago Press, $25
Aeschylus remarked 2,400 years ago: "I know how men in exile feed on the dreams of hope?" If the Greek dramatist could read Lawrence Weschler's vivid new portrait of three political exiles in this century he might change the sentiment to read: "how exiles starve on dreams of despair."
Each of Weschler's exiles sips the elixir of intrigue: By stealth, an Iraqi uncovers and publishes damning details of Saddam Hussein's repression; in a dozen ingenious ways, a Czech smuggles supplies and documents to the underground; in disguise, a South African slips into his native country on a clandestine mission. ...