In the late works of Maria Zambrano (1904-1991), the author presents exile as a particular kind of experience, by which the structure and arquitectonics of human existence become visible. Similarly, in his posthumously publishedPassagen-WerkWalter Benjamin (1892-1940) introduces the flaneur - which he repeatedly likens to the immigrant or exile - as the representation of a particular kind of gaze, disclosing the arquitectonics and structure of capitalist bourgeois society. In this article, I suggest that the notions offiguraanddialektisches Bildfrom the authors' respective works are connected to an exile mode of perception, centred on the problem of translatability across cultural and linguistic borders. I believe that the similarities between the two authors can be explained by a reading which contextualizes them as a political generation with a shared experience of exilic boundary-crossing.