The Cosmopolitan Novel

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.