David Mitchell's Post-Secular World: Buddhism, Belief and the Urgency of Compassion

Rose Harris-Birtill, PhD 2017

In this groundbreaking academic study, Rose Harris-Birtill analyses the secular reworking of Buddhist religious influences across contemporary British author David Mitchell’s complete fictions, including his novels, short stories, and libretti.

Critiquing these works, Harris-Birtill argues that their shared ethical perspectives draw them into a continuous post-secular world, and introduces the Tibetan Buddhist mandala as a fittingly post-secular comparative model through which to analyse Mitchell’s fictional worldview. Harris-Birtill demonstrates that Mitchell’s fictions cumulatively map not a physical terrain but the metaphysical world of belief, creating an interconnected world-system in order to suggest new ethical approaches to global humanitarian crises, revaluing the role of secular belief in galvanising both compassionate action and collective resistance.

Identifying shared strategies in other works of contemporary literature, Harris-Birtill analyses novels by Michael Ondaatje, Ali Smith, Yann Martel, Will Self and Margaret Atwood in order to suggest the emerging literary category of mandalic literature. This perceptive study combines Buddhist philosophy with critical theory, drawing on Jung, Derrida, Foucault and Spivak, alongside contemporary theories of metamodernism and globalization.

Taking a post-Jungian approach to the Tibetan mandala not as an ahistorical symbol but as a living socio-cultural artefact in diaspora, Harris-Birtill also identifies the wider implications of the mandala’s theorisation, noting the urgent need to resituate this ‘holistic’ symbol within the ongoing socio-political struggles that led to its increased international visibility.

Reviews:

“David Mitchell's Post-Secular World is an outstanding work of contemporary scholarship. Harris-Birtill has produced the most rigorous and comprehensive study of Mitchell's work to date. Attentive close reading and supple argument is supported by impeccable and exhaustive research. The use of the mandala as a comparative framework to map Mitchell's storyverse is an entirely original critical and theoretical approach in contemporary literary studies.

Its beauty here lies in its dual effectiveness in reconceptualising both the structure of Mitchell's work, and his ethical and philosophical concerns. This book will be the definitive critical work on Mitchell's oeuvre for many years to come, but it is also a crucial contribution to theory and criticism of the post-secular in contemporary literature more widely.”

– Dr Sarah Dillon, Clare College, University of Cambridge

“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.”

– Dr Jo Alyson Parker, Professor of English, Saint Joseph's University, USA

ISBN: 135007859X