Crisis of Liberal Democracy in Contemporary Novels - Or the Continuation of History

This book investigates how contemporary novels by Knausgård, Smith, Sansal and Houellebecq reflect a profound shift from post-Cold War optimism to new narratives of uncertainty about the future. In doing so, these works explore the political discontents of our time, capturing the anxieties that are disrupting Western democracies today.

List of contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Sense of an Ending
1. Liberal Democracy and the Modern Novel
2. Liberal Democracy and Its Discontents: Karl Ove Knausgård's Struggle at the End of History
3. The End and Continuation of History: Zadie Smith's Critique of Francis Fukuyama in White Teeth
4. The Reactionary Dystopia: Boualem Sansal's 2084 vis-à-vis George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four
5. The Decline and Fall of Liberal Democracy: Michel Houellebecq's Submission as Satire
Conclusion: Imaginary Futures and Political Realities
Index

About the author

Leander Møller Gøttcke holds a PhD from the Department for the Study of Culture at the University of Southern Denmark. He currently works as a research librarian at the University Library of Southern Denmark.

Product details

• Authors: Leander Mller Gttcke, Leander Møller Gøttcke
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 22.04.2025
• EAN: 9781032870441
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3287044-1
• No. of pages: 168
• Series: Routledge Studies in Comparative Literature
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Geopolitics, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 21st Century, LITERARY CRITICISM / Subjects & Themes / Politics, Political science & theory, Literary studies: from c 1900 -, Political science and theory, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000