Exoduses

Dialogue between Hélène Cixous and Marta Segarra.

Exoduses have been part of human history right from the start. Hélène Cixous’ recent work focuses on her maternal Ashkenazi Jewish origins, and in particular on the figure of her mother Eva, as a paradigm not only of the forced migrations that marked the twentieth century, but even of the diasporic nature of human beings: “Wherever there’s a station, Eva is there”.

For Eva, the suitcase is “a portable home”: “Everything is in the case. It’s the aeroplane and the house. It’s full of voices. One cannot leave without a suitcase, without oneself, without a skin, without a body for summer and for winter.”