Since the publication of Ghostwritten (1999), David Mitchell has rapidly established himself as one of the most inventive and important British novelists of the 21st century. In this landmark study, Rose Harris-Birtill reveals the extent to which Mitchell has created an interconnected fictional world across the full run of his writing. Covering Mitchell's complete fictions, from bestselling novels such as Cloud Atlas (2004), The Bone Clocks (2014) and number9dream (2001), to his short stories and his libretti for the operas Sunken Garden and Wake, this book examines how Buddhist influences inform the ethical worldview that permeates his writing. Using a comparative theoretical model drawn from the Tibetan mandala to map Mitchell's fictional world, Harris-Birtill positions Mitchell as central to a new generation of post-secular writers who re-examine the vital role of belief in galvanizing action amidst contemporary ecological, political and humanitarian crises.
David Mitchell's Post-Secular World features two substantial new interviews with the author, a chronology of his fictions and a selected bibliography of important critical writings on his work.
In this compellingly argued and smartly written study, Rose Harris-Birtill offers an important new perspective for assessing the work of one of this century's key writers. Unlike previous studies, David Mitchell's Post-Secular World addresses the extensive cross-cultural, cross-temporal narrative world--or macronovel--that Mitchell is still in the process of creating, and it insightfully demonstrates that not only Mitchell's novels but also his short stories and libretti are integral, vitally connected components of this world. Harris-Birtill employs the Tibetan Buddhist mandala for mapping this world-system, thus bringing to light the deeply ethical nature of Mitchell's vision. She concurrently explores the mandala's meaning, appropriation, and deployment in contemporary culture. Harris-Birtill's engaging interviews with Mitchell provide enlightening supplements to the critical analyses. This text should prove an invaluable resource to scholars interested in David Mitchell's fiction and the literature of the twenty-first century, as well as those who wish to understand the mandala's cultural significance.
