Abstract
While the traditional notion of home and the concept of cosmopolitanism would at first glance seem at odds with one another, this essay demonstrates how the two are actually closely connected, and that this understanding can afford productive new insights into transcultural literature. This essay explores the notions of home, transculturality, and cosmopolitanism as theoretical concepts, and employs these concepts to analyze three characters from Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake and Octavia E. Butler’s Parable series who find themselves in a transcultural situation. Through a case study of these characters, the essay demonstrates that in this postmodern, or supermodern age, a cosmopolitan attitude may be the only way to be at home in an increasingly transcultural, digital, and mobile world.
Highlights
The development of new and widely accessible means of communication and transport have transformed formerly inconceivable distances into minor hindrances
I have attempted to redefine the concepts of home and cosmopolitanism to show how either informs the other in this supermodern era
Bringing the term back to its classical roots, I have taken cosmopolitanism away from its more imperialist tendencies, and brought it closer to the concept of transculturality, acknowledging differences but focusing on similarities, continuities, and familiarities, an attitude that sees the interconnected nature of various cultures
Summary
The development of new and widely accessible means of communication and transport have transformed formerly inconceivable distances into minor hindrances.
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