This paper discusses current migration policies and the status quo of refugees by circumscribing some specificities of its subjective configuration. Traumatic elements and expressive hiatuses belonging to the representational capacity show to be contingencies, a corollary of repeated exposure to precariousness and violence. Based on some metapsychological tools and the interlocution between psychoanalysis, culture and literature, the most relevant and idiosyncratic aspects of the clinic of refuge are developed. To achieve that, the strongly autobiographical narrative “Why the Child is Cooking in the Polenta” by Romanian writer Aglaja Veteranyi is used as an illustrative resource.
Key words:
Clinic; refugee; violence; literature