Conceptualising the Global in the Wake of the Postmodern : Literature, Culture, Theory

Evans, Joel Christopher (2019) Conceptualising the Global in the Wake of the Postmodern : Literature, Culture, Theory. Cambridge Studies in Twenty-First-Century Literature and Culture . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 9781108683722

Abstract

This book argues that, in the wake of the postmodern, contemporary culture becomes once again concerned with totality, the main focal point of expression for this being concepts of the global. It uncovers predominant ways of conceptualising the global in contemporary literature, film and theory. In so doing, it offers a fresh approach to the study of globalisation and culture, identifying four main categories under which concepts of the global can be placed: the immanent, the transcendent, the contingent and the beyond-measure. Alongside this, it discovers a confrontation between two predominant ways of figuring human relations on a global scale. Conceptualising the Global in the Wake of the Postmodern examines the works of various authors and filmmakers, such as Margaret Atwood, Don DeLillo, Kazuo Ishiguro, Douglas Coupland, David Cronenberg, Charlie Kaufman, and David Lynch, to show how the idea of totality has returned in contemporary culture.