Cosmopolitanism and Translation

Social theories of the new cosmopolitanism have called attention to the central importance of translation, in areas such as global democracy, human rights and social movements, but translation studies has not engaged systematically with theories of cosmopolitanism.


In Cosmopolitanism and Translation, Esperança Bielsa does just that by focussing on the lived experience of the cosmopolitan stranger, whether a traveller, migrant, refugee or homecomer. With reference to world literature, social theory and foreign news, she argues that this key figure of modernity has a central relevance in the cosmopolitanism debate.


In nine chapters organised into four thematic sections, this book examines:

theories and insights on "new cosmopolitanism"

methodological cosmopolitanism

translation as the experience of the foreign

the notion of cosmopolitanism as openness to others

living in translation and the question of the stranger.



With detailed case studies centred on Bolaño, Adorno and Terzani and their work, Cosmopolitanism and Translation places translation at the heart of cosmopolitan theory and makes an essential contribution for students and researchers of both translation studies and social theory.