Islam and Contemporary World Literature

Provides the first book-length study of Islamic referents and themes in world literature

• Reads world literature as a meeting ground for learning about Muslims, their religion and historical experiences on a global scale
• Studies works by Leila Abouela, Raja Alem, Tariq Ali, Sinan Antoon, Hassan Blasim, Amir Hassan Cheheltan, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Bensalem Himmich, Hamid Ismailov, Ahmadou Kourouma, Laila Lalami, Amin Maalouf, Yambo Ouologuem, Orhan Pamuk, Kim Stanley Robinson, Ahmed Saadawi, Elif Shafak, Laury Silvers and Hammour Ziada
• Analyses fiction about political history; Islamic religious learning and Muslim aesthetics in architecture and painting; stories of travel and exile; abduction and enslavement; resistance to imperialism and opposing postcolonial authoritarianism

How does speculative fiction and magical realism by an exiled Uzbek journalist and writer link classical Persian poetry to Artificial Intelligence, or Islamic philosophy to Muslims in the former Soviet Union? In Islam and Contemporary World Literature, Carool Kersten explores how and why a vast range of contemporary international authors, intellectuals and activists write fiction that engages prominently with Islamic themes and thought.

Featuring works spanning Asia, Africa and North America, this book engages with themes ranging from intercultural exchange and political encounters to the connection between religion, identity and violence in different parts of the Muslim world. It offers a world-historical perspective on Islam in cultural and political domains from pre-modern times to the present day.