Cosmopolitan Parables

Reviews / Votes

This book addresses an important and timely subject: the question of world citizenship in the wake of the various shifts in power after 1989. Time and again, cultural critics of the late 20th century returned to the German events as events of world-historical significance that have shaped the way they make us think about common humanity. And yet, there is no in-depth study of how this looks from a German literary perspective. This shift of the debate to German history and German literature makes Kim's book a worthwhile addition to the widespread debates around cosmopolitanism." -John K. Noyes, author of Herder: Aesthetics Against Imperialism

"Parables for World Citizenship: Entangling Memories of Trauma in Contemporary Germany isan insightful exploration of the idea of cosmopolitanism, specifically in the works of select German-language writers. Kim provides detailed information on the authors and their literary production, and then proceeds to offer passionate and deeply thoughtful analyses of select texts with regard to the main focus of the study. This is an original contribution to a critical debate in the humanities." -Nina Berman, author of German Literature on the Middle East: Discourses and Practices, 1000-1989

"At a time when rampant nationalism casts its dark shadow on societies, creating a worldwide resurgence of hate, exclusion, and discrimination, David Kim underlines the significance to bond with those to whom we are not connected through blood or soil. He offers a timely and multifaceted examination of the concept and practice of cosmopolitanism. Meticulously researched and consistently political, this book offers some of the finest readings of contemporary German literature, by wresting it out of its pedantic national canon and subjecting it to scrutiny in the larger world literary space." -B. Venkat Mani, author of Cosmopolitical Claims and Recoding World Literature