Conclusions

Literary critic Terry Eagleton, in his in-depth look at the phenomenon of exile in regards to Modernist literature, once sardonically noted,

"James, Conrad, Wilde, Shaw, Yeats, Joyce, Pound, Eliot, Beckett: if these are the chief luminaries of modern English literature, how come there isn't a decent, God-fearing Englishman among them?"

Although far from comprehensive, the object of this study was to examine the various motivations behind the self-imposed exiles of Joyce, Beckett, and Eliot in particular–three writers alike in many of their themes and experiences on the margins of European society. Eagleton continues by saying,

"They were all in-betweeners, caught between upper class and underdog, urban and rural, province and metropolis. Because of this, they could take in a wider range of experience than those ensconced in a single spot."

While it may be difficult to simplify this vast cultural movement, there is something to be said for the effect of such exiles on the literary works of these authors, all of whom published their respective magnum opi in a state of diaspora. In leaving America for England, Eliot gained a poetic persona, and it is often joked that he is more British than the British are. Some of his most influential pieces draw on the role of the outsider to convey a universal sense of alienation in a devastating post-war society. Using histories from across the globe, Eliot manages to compile something unique that distinctly captures the British experience after World War I, and sparked a revolution in literature that still extends today. Joyce and Beckett, on the other hand, brought to the table their own brand of post-colonialism, distancing themselves from their native Ireland as well as Britain in order to provide some sense of social commentary on the problems of their homeland. They deconstructed what it meant to write formal literature, and in doing so addressed similarly the limits of nationalism. Today, writers like Salman Rushdie embrace their Cosmopolitan heritage, belonging not to a specific country but rather being a citizen of the world, and his mentality finds its roots in the fragmented writings of Joyce and Beckett. In modern literature one's nationality because increasingly less important because, as Eagleton explains,

"The modernists were nomadic, in-between, adrift between cultures. Their home was art, not Birmingham or Bonn."