An “Enlightened” Cosmopolitanism and Globalisation
An “Enlightened” Cosmopolitanism and Globalisation
- 주제(키워드) cosmopolitanism , travel , dislocation , globalisation , Montesquieu , Goldsmith , Gulliver , cosmopolitanism , travel , dislocation , globalisation , Montesquieu , Goldsmith , Gulliver
- 발행기관 한국18세기영문학회
- 발행년도 2007
- 총서유형 Journal
- UCI G704-002011.2007.4.2.005
- KCI ID ART001249595
초록/요약
An “Enlightened” Cosmopolitanism and Globalisation Hi Kyung Moon (Korea University) The idea that travel fosters an enlightened cosmopolitanism with its belief in tolerance and human solidarity is one of the commonplaces of eighteenth-century literature. In this paper I challenge this view by showing that crossing boundaries, far from bringing wisdom and understanding, may result in the negative experience of dislocation, unease and loss of identity. Behind this unease are the conflicting claims of the need to accommodate difference and diversity and the belief in human unity, and the traveller, by virtue of the liminal position he occupies between cultures, becomes the site where such conflicts are fought out. I then go on to discuss how these conflicts are fought out today in the issues and debates surrounding the phenomenon of ‘globalisation’ with all its attendant merits and problems. By drawing out some connection between the eighteenth-century ideal of cosmopolitanism and the modern concept of globalisation, I argue that global travellers in eighteenth-century fiction are forerunners of modern globe-trotters, who suffer from similar ills.
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