Culture and Economics in Contemporary Cosmopolitan Fiction

This book investigates how culture and economics define novel forms of cosmopolitanism and cosmopolitan fiction. Tracing cosmopolitanism’s transition from universalism to vernacularism, the book opens up new avenues for reading cosmopolitan fiction by offering a precise and convenient set of terminology. The figure of the cosmoflâneur identifies a contemporary cosmopolitan character’s urban mobility and wandering consciousness in interaction with the global and the local. Posthuman cosmopolitanism also extends the meaning of cosmopolitan which comes to embrace the nonhuman alongside the human element. Defining narrative glocality, political hyper-awareness, and narrative immediacy, the book thoroughly explores how cosmopolitan narration forges direct responses to the contemporary world in postmillennial cosmopolitan novels. All of these concepts are elaborated in Ian McEwan’s Saturday (2005), Zadie Smith’s NW (2012), Salman Rushdie’s The Golden House (2017), and Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun (2021), to which world-engagement is central. Acknowledgments Contents 1 Introduction: Cosmopolitanism’s New Orientations The New Cosmopolitan Fiction What Is Cosmopolitanism?: Diverse Points of Departure From Universalism to Particularism in Cosmopolitanism Particularist/Vernacular Cosmopolitanism: Emphasis on the Parochial/Local Notes References 2 New Intersections in Fiction: Cosmopolitanism, Culture, and Economics Narrative Glocality: Interaction Between the Global and the Local Allegiances as a Matter of Choice Everyday Difference Cosmopolitanism’s Veiled Ideologies: Relationship with Neoliberal Capitalism The “Cosmoflâneur”: Existence in City Spaces Narrative Immediacy and Political Hyper-awareness References 3 Narrative Glocality and the Cosmoflâneur in Ian McEwan’s Saturday Narrative Glocality and Vernacular Cosmopolitanism The Cosmoflâneur as a Globally Conscious City-Wanderer Perowne’s Transformation and the Vernacular Feelings References 4 Vernacular Cosmopolitanism, Cosmopolitan Culture, and Economics in Zadie Smith’s NW Cultural Communication in Vernacular Cosmopolitanism Narrative Glocality: Cosmopolitan Spaces in NW Cosmopolitan Outlook of Identity Toward Political Hyper-awareness: Economic Dimensions of Vernacular Cosmopolitanism References 5 Cosmopolitan Identity and Narration in Salman Rushdie’s The Golden House: The Move Toward Vernacular Cosmopolitanism Cosmopolitan Identity and Choice Cosmopolitan Narration: Compositeness, Narrative Immediacy, and Political Hyper-Awareness Considerations About the Economic Dimensions of Cosmopolitanism The Vernacular Ending Note References 6 Posthuman Cosmopolitanism and Post-COVID-19 Sensitivities in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and The Sun Posthuman Cosmopolitanism: Do Androids Dream of Being Cosmopolitan? The Cosmoflâneur as a Carrier of Posthuman Cosmopolitanism Post-COVID-19 Sensitivities: Engagement with Health and the Ecological World The Vernacular Ending and Healing Notes References 7 Conclusion: The Genre of The Contemporary Note References Index