Woes of the True Global Novelist

Abstract

The global novel is one of the central stakes in the US-centered international literary field, a field that openly celebrates marginality, authenticity, and ethical bearing while still rewarding works targeted to an Anglophone, educated audience with an omnivorous aesthetic disposition. This essay reconstructs the genesis and the history of the contemporary literary field, tracing the geopolitical, social, and institutional changes that resulted in the current system of beliefs. The second part focuses on two celebrated global novelists, Elena Ferrante and Roberto Bolaño, studying the affinities in their work that reflect their similar position vis-à-vis the United States: they both disallow the centrality of the US and the legitimacy of academic institutions, make use of genre fiction, and craft their narratives around the figure of an authentic, marginal friend. These strategies prove to be particularly effective in responding to the contradictory constraints of the literary field.