The many houses of Exile

 In the mid-eighties, at the height of the crisis in South Africa, Richard Jurgens, a young white man, joins the predominantly black revolutionary movement. Having undergone the twin rites of passage of compulsory military service and university, he leaves his world of relative privilege and goes to work for the movement in exile. There he and his wife discover that idealism has no place in the revolution, and that cynicism and authoritarianism exist on both sides of the fateful chasm between blacks and whites in Africa. In this compelling autobiographical account, Jurgens recounts with humor, forthrightness and insight his experiences of the many forms of exile. Coming to consciousness in a time of profound turmoil and confusion, he takes an unusual course through the conflicting worlds of Africa and he finds himself continually representing the Other in whichever divided group of people he happens to be. Dissidence begins in loyalty, he discovers, and exile begins at home.