East European public intellectuals as academic sojourners: Analysing the deep stories in the life narratives of Ágnes Heller and Andrzej Walicki

Employing the tools of biographical sociology, this paper analyses the life narratives of two East European intellectuals: Hungarian-born Ágnes Heller and Polish-born Andrzej Walicki. Both scholars, whose trajectories display striking parallels, emigrated first to Australia and then to the United States, returning only in old age to their countries of origin. Their academic paths are interpreted through the concept of the ‘deep story’, understood as the emotional core of a worldview. Although Heller and Walicki left for different reasons, both were academic sojourners – individuals who longed for their homelands, never fully integrated into the university cultures of the receiving countries, and grappled with cultural contact and political entanglements beyond academia. This paper contributes to intellectual history by examining homegrown academic success, expulsion, attempts at ‘homemaking’ abroad, and eventual return, while also offering insight into humanities careers that remain deeply rooted in national cultures and embedded within broader intellectual traditions.