Cecilia,
By now you have received many valuable suggestions on secondary literature and the theme of exile in monastic culture. I have not yet seen any on primary sources - not surprisingly, since the theme of exile is a capillary one, pervasive and yet difficult to pinpoint because of its many nuances.
One primary source is, however, within easy reach: the Salve Regina (better if listened to, for, as S. Bernard pointed out in Ep. 312, music enhances the text). In this work exile is not only alienation (exules filii Evae), but longing for (Sehnsucht, if you will), and prelude to, the joy of certainty ('gaudium securitatis'): Iesum...nobis post hoc exilium ostende.
Cheers, Luciana
Luciana Cuppo Csaki
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http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/9891
