Cosmopolitanism in contemporary British fiction

About this book

Cosmopolitanism in Contemporary British Fiction: Imagined Identities is a concise, lively and engaging analysis of contemporary literature viewed through the critical lens of cosmopolitan theory. It covers a wide spectrum of theoretical issues including globalisation, cosmopolitanism, nationhood, identity, philosophical nomadism, posthumanism, climate change, devolution and love. Texts discussed include those by Zoe Strachan, Philip Pullman, Jeanette Winterson, Nadeem Aslam, Ali Smith, and David Mitchell, to which original, compelling and persuasive readings are applied. Considerations of identity and nation, including gender, sexuality and social class are applied to the close readings in order to open up the textual possibilities and pleasures for the critical reader. It follows a new direction in literary criticism by demonstrating ways in which contemporary fiction is offering a response to planetary rather than national or postcolonial issues and, by doing so, is encompassing an ethical as well as political cosmopolitanism that seeks to connect citizens within a humanitarian and environmental global community.