Diplomacy and the Modern Novel

Why have so many diplomats been writers? Why have so many writers served as diplomats? This book provides some fascinating insights into the connections between literature and diplomacy.

Isabelle Daunais is a Canada Research Chair and professor in the Department of French Literature at McGill University.
Hepburn Allan :

Allan Hepburn is the James McGill Professor of Twentieth-Century Literature at McGill University.

"Diplomacy and the Modern Novel throws open a Chancery window on life today in which everyone uses personal diplomacy every day, and wants government to use more of it, while neither sector, private or public, knows what ‘it’ is. This book gives us a wider angle of vision."

Timothy Hampton, Department of French, University of California, Berkeley, Author of Fictions of Embassy; Literature and Diplomacy in Early Modern Europe:

"Diplomacy and the Modern Novel covers an important lacuna in the history of literary culture. It shows how the transition from the conventionally ‘national’ literary traditions of the nineteenth century to our modern idea of ‘global’ literature was shaped by authors who used the practices of diplomacy to engage with foreign experience. The volume explores the relationship between innovations of literary narrative and the experience of trying to ‘write’ the foreign. This book should be read by scholars of the novel, as well as students of the changing shape of the world literary scene. The essays offer a set of discrete ‘case studies’ that reimagine the work of major figures, even as the entire volume makes an important statement about the play of power and influence in both literature and politics."

Gayle Rogers, Department of English, University of Pittsburgh:

"A sharp and timely collection full of cutting-edge essays."

Ira Nadel, Department of English, University of British Columbia:

"With a dual focus on English and French literature, Diplomacy and the Modern Novel takes a fresh approach to the topic."

Ann Martin, Department of English, University of Saskatchewan:

"Diplomacy and the Modern Novel is a strong contribution to twentieth century scholarly studies and Modernism. It addresses compelling connections between diplomacy and the novel in terms of style and representation across a range of texts."