The Cosmopolitan Novel - Softcover

Schoene, Berthold

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0748640037 ISBN 13: 9780748640034

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2010

Synopsis

While traditionally the novel has been seen as tracking the development of the nation state, Schoene queries if globalisation might currently be prompting the emergence of a new sub-genre of the novel that is adept at imagining global community. The book introduces a new generation of contemporary British writers (Rachel Cusk, Kiran Desai, Hari Kunzru, Jon McGregor and David Mitchell) whose work is read against that of established novelists Arundhati Roy, James Kelman and Ian McEwan. Each chapter explores a different theoretical key concept, including 'glocality', 'glomicity', 'tour du monde', 'connectivity' and 'compearance'.

About this title

About the Author:

Berthold Schoene is Professor of English and Director of the English Research Institute at the Manchester Metropolitan University

Review:

The Cosmopolitan Novel offers what is - to my mind - the best explanation to date for the continuing success of British fiction. Boldly counterintuitive and always intelligent, this book forces us to consider how contemporary fiction might be refiguring the modern subject for the twenty-first century and whether, in doing so, it also continues the novel's generic mission of "mimicking the world". -- Professor Nancy Armstrong, Duke University Berthold Schoene offers us a refreshing look at creative world-making in the contemporary cosmopolitan novel. Schoene's elegant readings - of pre-canonical and better-known writers - establish a cosmopolitan tradition that effectively disaggregates common conceptions of the monolithic "West." The reach of this work is ambitious; yet Schoene carries off an eminently convincing argument, provocative in its incitements for future literary studies of global culture. -- Professor Bishnupriya Ghosh, University of California at Santa Barbara The Cosmopolitan Novel offers what is - to my mind - the best explanation to date for the continuing success of British fiction. Boldly counterintuitive and always intelligent, this book forces us to consider how contemporary fiction might be refiguring the modern subject for the twenty-first century and whether, in doing so, it also continues the novel's generic mission of "mimicking the world". Berthold Schoene offers us a refreshing look at creative world-making in the contemporary cosmopolitan novel. Schoene's elegant readings - of pre-canonical and better-known writers - establish a cosmopolitan tradition that effectively disaggregates common conceptions of the monolithic "West." The reach of this work is ambitious; yet Schoene carries off an eminently convincing argument, provocative in its incitements for future literary studies of global culture.

About this edition

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0748640037
• ISBN 13: 9780748640034
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216