On re-reading Said

Re-reading Edward Said's "Secular Criticism" for class today, what struck me the most was what he said about Auerbach, who wrote a book about Western literature "Mimesis" with limited resources and in Istanbul experiencing exile. This secular perspective enabled him to write and this writing was even more important because "the possibility of not writing and thus falling victim to the concrete dangers of exile: the loss of texts, traditions, continuities that make up the very web of a culture" was great.
I know this is off-topic but it reminded me of prison literature. Prisoners are especially important exilic figures as they are literally isolated from society and hence culture, yet exceptional pieces of art from prisoners have come in the form of writing and not, say, painting, and I had been wondering why. This importance on writing that Said stresses on made a lot of sense to me, especially considering the secular perspective that so permeates such works of literature and enhances them.