'Irrémédiables étrangers’: Lifelong Trajectories of Exile in the Late Works of Linda Lê

This article examines the lifelong trajectories of exile in Lê's late works, Lame de fond (2012) and Je ne répondrai plus de rien (2021). Departing from a critical tendency to focus on the exilic identities of the young female protagonists that featured most prominently in Lê's early works, this article analyses Lê's contemplation of exile as a long-term condition in her late works. It concludes by drawing a parallel between these fictional texts and Lê's own lifelong, non-fictional construction of a 'lettered republic' of exiled, transient, and isolated writers that culminates in De personne je ne fus le contemporain (2022).