Exile and Pride

Using Clare’s analysis of the history of freak shows as an example, craft an essay that utilizes historical evidence and analysis blended with personal narrative to explore a historical era, event, or phenomena that is important to you.

Clare links trauma and gender throughout Exile and Pride. Trace the connections between his understanding of his gender identity as informed by trauma and the broader political connections between gender-based oppression and collective trauma.

Explore how reclamation plays an important role in Exile and Pride. How does language inform Clare’s ideas of pride and witness? How does Clare show language inflicting pain or cultivating self-love?

Discuss Clare’s recognition of the intersectionality between race and environmental justice in both the “clearcut” essays and in the endnotes from 2009. How did his perception change in the decade after initial publication?

How do the themes of exile and belonging change throughout the narrative? Be sure to define exile in the context of Clare’s notions of home and the body.

Many creative nonfiction writers now refer to personal writing about the body as “writing the body,” which encompasses themes of trauma, illness, sexuality, and more. How does Clare write his body? What role does the body play in each essay?

Forestry and fishing are integral to Part 1 of Exile and Pride. Explore Clare’s depiction of the two industries and their impacts on the environment, including your own research about how those industries have evolved (or not) since the publication of the 2015 edition.

How does the LGBTQIA+ community impact Clare’s notions of belonging? What role does class play in his attempts to belong?